Mt Fyans farm listed by dinky-di Earl and Countess of Stradbroke
One of the largest farms in the Western district of Victoria has been listed for sale at Dundonnell on a walk in walk out basis.
The Mt Fyans Aggregation covers 5,900 hectares amassed over 25 years by the Earl and Countess of Stradbroke.
There is an 1880s eight bedroom historic homestead featuring a 70 foot hallway. In 1883 William Cumming commissioned Warrnambool architect Andrew Kerr to design the elaborate homestead, which was completed the following year. An earlier homestead, and woodshed, had featured in a Louis Buvelot painting held by the National Gallery of Australia.
Water is a dominant feature of the property, which boasts springs, dams, bores and a storage capacity of over 800,000 litres.
A pumping system drives water through some 90 kilometres of 50mm poly pipe and feeds approximately 190 troughs.
CBRE’s Danny Thomas and Duncan McCulloch have the listing, taking offers until 24 April.
"This is a once in a generation opportunity to acquire an institutional-scale asset in this region, along with a renowned Black Angus herd of some 2,800 breeders and 2,000 sheep for prime lamb production,” Thomas said.
“The recent shift in currency settings has activated a large pool of new buyers and we are anticipating strong interest from a multitude of investors looking to secure one of Victoria’s most distinguished properties.”
The homestead at 1037 Darlington-Nerrin Road, Dundonnell, in the Moyne Shire, was built on the back of the success of Geelong Brewery.
Title Tattle recalls the Earl prefers to go by the name Keith Rous. He left England and his family’s Suffolk estate more than five decades ago to settle in Sydney.
“We bought it because we were in NSW during the drought, so we wanted somewhere with a good water supply," his wife, Rosie Rous told News Ltd.
“And because we could put the large family portraits in it.”
Title Tattle hadn't realised where the couple had been for the past two decades or so since selling up in Paddington in 1989 when they sold to Sir Eric and Lady Neal.
Not quite as far back, Title Tattle recalls the Earl of Stradbroke's bought a three-hectare Khancoban snowfields retreat. It was the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority's Visitors Cottage - the Queen stayed there for three days in 1963 - which cost $211,000 in 1994.
There was a story of course behind why the young Earl came to Australia - he'd been asked to leave Harrow, the exclusive English public school, for running a book.
His father was a former Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk and had been private secretary to the Governor of Victoria in 1946-47.