Photographer Douglass Baglin’s former Mudgee farm up for sale: Title Tattle

Merrendee Station, the Mudgee farm of the late Douglass Baglin, the revered photographer, has been listed for sale at $3.25 million.

With a carrying capacity of 350 to 400 cows and 2,000 sheep, the property has been listed at $2,238 per hectare through Geoff Bartlett at O’Brien Bartlett First National Real Estate Mudgee.

Baglin, who was at the forefront of heritage property preservation starting in Hunters Hill in the 1960s, died in late 2010 aged 84 at Redleaf Manor, Concord.

He left one of Australia’s most extensive image libraries. Many of his photos were donated to the State Library, including more than 7,000 Hunters Hill negatives and transparencies.

He had been part of the vanguard of the Australian conservation movement, having lived in one of the oldest homes in the area, Villa Floridiana, from 1956-88. More than 80 books feature his photos, including Sandstone Sydney and Dinky-di Dunnies. He was Australia’s official photographer for The America’s Cup Challenge in 1967. One of his first commissions was as part of Sir Edward Hallstrom’s 1959 expedition, where he filmed the first European contact with New Guinea’s pygmies in Jimmi River Valley.

Douglass and his late wife, Elaine Baglin, bought the property in 1987.

He is buried next to his wife at Merrendee Station.

The first owner of Merrendee was Sarah Lowe, who came to the Mudgee region following the 1832 death of her husband, who had been the chief magistrate of Camden and Campbelltown.

After the 1857 gold discovery, a town soon sprung up on the banks of Meroo River, with the township of Merrendee hitting about 6,000 people. About one-third of those were Chinese.

The Lowe family ownership ceased in the early 1900s, when Sydney Webb purchased the property and commissioned the architectural firm Hudson and Carmichel to design a stone home in 1918. The manager’s residence was built in 1993.

NSW Valuer-General Philip Western today released fresh valuations for the 12,824 properties in the Mid-Western Regional local government area, which had rural land values generally remaining steady over the past three year, with larger rural holdings showing a slight increase in value.

He noted the value of rural residential land had generally shown a moderate increase in value due to continued local demand.

Hobby farms south of Mudgee, around Rylstone and Bylong, however, had experienced a slight fall in value.

Village land values had generally remained steady over the three-year period, with the exception of land in Ulan, which showed a slight increase in value, mainly due to demand from the Ulan coal mine.

Typical rural land values were:

•             296 hectares at Dolomite Road, Mount Knowles valued at $246,000

•             215 hectares at Glen Alice Road, Dabee valued at $363,000

Typical rural residential land values were:

•             10.2 hectares at Castlereagh Highway, Galambine valued at $200,000

•             10.2 hectares at Adelong Road, Tallawang valued at $86,500.

Typical hobby farm land values were:

•             106 hectares at Kyewong Road, Windeyer valued at $86,000

•             64.8 hectares at Coxs Creek Road, Coxs Creek valued at $85,000

•             41.6 hectares at Razorback Road, Running Stream valued at $107,000

•             64.8 hectares at Cliffdale Road, Turill valued at $101,000