James and Felicity Carr to sell historic Funny Hill farm

One of Australia’s most historic pastoral farms, the 3877ha Funny Hill, is for sale and is expected to fetch a premium price.

One of the leading pastoral holdings in eastern Australia, the 3877ha Funny Hill farm, is for sale and could command some whopping offers after being held by one family for 162 years.

For the past 50 years owners and vendors James and Felicity Carr have continued the family legacy, developing Funny Hill and establishing its commercial herd of more than 2000 Angus cattle.

The historic property is located in the Southern Tablelands region of NSW, in the Binda-Crookwell district where farmland has sold for about $14,825 to $19,767 a hectare ($6000-$8000 an acre).

The expansive cattle farm could field offers of about $57.5 million to $76.6 million.

Meares and Associates selling agent Chris Meares said Funny Hill was an “outstanding property”.

Farmland near Funny Hill has been selling for about $14,825 to $19,767 a hectare.

“Funny Hill has been one of the landmarks in rural eastern Australia for generations,” he said.

“With its history dating back to the 1860s, and at one stage comprising 24,000 acres (9700ha), the property today is one of the largest holdings within a four-hour radius of Sydney, in one of the outstanding agricultural regions of the state.

“The physical features and improvements on Funny Hill represent a ‘time walk’ from the original land grant in 1860 to the present day.

“This includes the magnificent six-bedroom homestead set in seven acres (2.8ha) of award-winning gardens, the old schoolhouse (circa 1875), the 16-stand woolshed (circa 1906) and the shearers mess and stables (circa 1907).”

With the listing of Funny Hill, there are now several historic and first-class cattle farms for sale in NSW.

Further north Plumthorpe Station near Barraba, NSW, is for sale with an $80 million price tag, while in the in the Niangala-Walcha region, cattle country with Kentucky Blue and The Flags is for sale for about $55-$65 million.

With more than 160 years of history, Funny Hill includes a circa 1864 six-bedroom stone and brick homestead and three cottages.

A 1864 six-bedroom stone and brick homestead stands at Funny Hill.

The farm is rated at a carrying capacity of 45,000 dry sheep equivalents, or 2000-plus cows, and has six cattle yards, sheep yards, machinery and haysheds, silos and a two-way airstrip.

Funny Hill has also been heavily top-dressed annually since 1954 and has a reliable 763mm rainfall, 9.8km frontage to the Crookwell River, nine spring-fed creeks and 63 dams.

The farm is 22km from Crookwell, 64km from Goulburn and 133km from Canberra and comprises rich granite soils with 920ha of “high performance pasture”.

Funny Hill is for sale via a Meares Online Auction commencing at 11am Wednesday, December 14 and concluding at noon AEST Thursday, December 15.

Earlier this month two first-class farms in Victoria’s west also hit the market, likely to command offers of about $18 million each.