Familiar Sydney pastoral investor buys Tongy Station at Merriwa

Details on the sale of Tongy Station, the 4,637 ha property located in northern NSW at Merriwa, have started to emerge.

Property Observer reported last week it was under offer having been offered with $20 million plus hopes. The bush telegraph suggests close to $24 million.

Its buyer has been confirmed as an Sydney investor, amidst strong competition from across Australia and abroad, selling agent, Richard Royle of Colliers International said.

“The buyers, who wish to remain confidential, are a Sydney family with existing rural interests in Australia. It will provide the new owners with an enviable lifestyle and a premium agricultural asset.” 

“We conducted 27 inspections over the five week campaign, and received 13 offers.

"Some  85% of the offers submitted were from domestic buyers, however, we experienced interest from across the globe, ranging from wealthy individuals, to family offices, companies and funds.“

The talk is it has stayed within the establishment family, a familial buyer.

Tongy Station, professionaly managed by Mutual Trust who also assisted with the sale, dates back to the 1820’s, when Richard Fitzgerald, an ex-convict who arrived on the third fleet in 1791, was lead to Tongy by local Aborigines. 

In 1825 he was granted freehold title of Tongy by Governor Bourke for his services to the colony through Agricultural management. W. L. Baillieu, relative to one of the oldest families in Victoria, purchased Tongy in the 1920’s from Richard Fitzgerald’s five granddaughters and it has remained in the Baillieu family ever since.