Riverina couple pay millions to buy the family farm

A western Riverina duo have purchased a 5771ha portion of the family pastoral and cropping property, extending its ownership to a third generation.

Pat and Sharon Bunyan have sold the 5771ha Mutherumbung Station, near Booligal NSW, to son Simon and wife Sarah.

A western NSW Riverina pastoral and cropping property has changed hands, but will stay in the same family after trading a sheep station of their own.

Pat and Sharon Bunyan have sold the 5771ha Mutherumbung Station, home to their Merino sheep and cotton farming enterprise, after listing it for sale last November, priced at $10 million.

In total the Mutherumbung Station spans 12,141ha near Booligal, 110km north of Hay, with Patrick and Sharon’s son Simon and wife Sarah, farming on the remainder of the Mutherumbung not offered for sale.

However, Simon and Sarah have since sold their 4630ha Clancy property, allowing them to purchase the 5771ha Mutherumbung Station offering and giving them ownership over the entire property.

The transaction keeps the Mutherumbung Station in the Bunyan family for a third generation, dating back to when Pat’s father owned part of the property since 1952.

Pat took the reigns of the property in 1987 alongside his brother, before the family unlocked the potential for irrigated cropping at their Hay Plains property by installing a bore about 20 years ago.

The Bunyan family expanded to cotton production at Mutherumbung Station after installing a bore two decades ago.

“We put in a bore in 2002 in what was the middle of a terrible drought out here,” Pat Bunyan said when the Mutherumbung Station was listed for sale.

“We put in our first cotton crop in 2010 and we have grown eight or nine since then.

“We have since added another bore and this gives us reliable water for irrigation and has allowed us to diversify.”

The inter-family sale of the property also included 1043ML of Lower Lachlan Groundwater Source water entitlements.

To facilitate the sale, Simon and Sarah Bunyan sold the nearby Clancy’s property to the Morphett family of Alma Station.

Clancy’s, located 50km northwest of Booligal, adds to their expansive Hay Plains country on which the Morphett family have run their Alma Merinos enterprise since the 1960s.

Clancy’s offered a mix of native pasture suited to breeding and backgrounding sheep, goats, and cattle.

Elders Real Estate Riverina selling agent Matt Horne, handled the sale of Clancy’s alongside Inglis Rural Property rural CEO Sam Triggs.