Brougham family to sell Crofton Park, O’Donoghue family to sell Kamarooka farms

An 824ha rural estate has been listed for sale with an $18m price tag, while a cropping family are selling their tightly held seven-farm aggregation north of Bendigo.

The undulating Crofton Park, located in central Victoria, has been listed for sale by the Brougham family.

Two prized central Victorian farms, including a first class rural estate and a seperate tightly held family cropping aggregation, have hit the market.

Located near Barfold, 16km north of Kyneton, Crofton Park comprises a 517ha main block as well as neighbouring 307ha holding.

Purchased by the director of Melbourne-based Ceres Capital Sam Brougham and his wife Tania in the late 1990s, the pair constructed a striking homestead, combining it with 824ha of grazing country, to form the estate.

Crofton Park is for sale with CBRE via expressions of interest as a whole or as two separate properties and is expected to receive offers worth about $18 million.

“Sam has a farming background, he grew up in South Australia on a property in the Adelaide Hills and so we were looking for a rural property, but I was not expecting a working farm,” Mrs Brougham said.

Crofton Park can run a mix of cropping and livestock ventures.

“We absolutely have loved it. My husband loves sheep and farming and looking at ways to be innovative and improve soils.”

About 86 per cent (708ha) of the property is considered arable and grazing farmland or suitable irrigated cropping terrain, including the recent installation of a centre pivot irrigation project that has an area of 62ha able to be cropped with a supply of recycled water from the Coliban Region Water Corporation.

The centrepiece of the property is a striking homestead designed by Melbourne architect Russell Barrett and completed in 2004.

Crofton Park at Barfold has been owned by the Brougham family since 1997.

Alongside the Campaspe River frontage the southern boundary of the property has access to Turpin Waterfalls, while there are also 30 dams and eight working bores.

Meanwhile, an hour north of Crofton Park, the O’Donoghue family are selling their seven-farm cropping aggregation, located about 50km north of Bendigo at Kamarooka.

Carl and Dinah O’Donoghue alongside their son Brendan have gradually expanded their 916ha portfolio, parts of which have been held in the family for four generations, dating back to the 1880s.

Offered to the market as part of succession planning, the portfolio comprises seven lots located in close vicinity including Home Block (186.3ha), Murphys (158.23ha), Russells-Steads Rd (15.73ha), Russells (97.49ha), Matchetts (246.11ha), Huntleyburn (126.28ha) and Morsheads (85.91ha).

Elders Real Estate Echuca selling agent Oliver Boyd said the properties were once used for a mix of sheep and cropping, but were transitioned to all cropping in recent seasons, with a mix of canola, wheat and barley sown this season.

The O’Donoghue family have transitioned their seven-farm portfolio to a full cropping venture.

Recent sales of cropping country in the Loddon-northern Victorian region have reached values of $12,354-$14,825 a hectare ($5000-$6000 an acre).

Offered as a whole or seven non-contiguous lots, the O’Donoghue portfolio is for sale via expressions of interest closing October 11.

Meanwhile across the border, the 649ha The Pinnacles and the 443ha Maybank properties, located 14km north of Holbrook and just 5km apart, have been listed for sale where they are expected to field offers worth $25 million.