Price: Auction Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 11am on site at 1839 Etna Road, Broomehill West.
Location: Broomehill West.
Area: 1521ha
Agent: Landmark Harcourts
Contact: David Jannings 0429 332 245
STEEPED in Western Australian agricultural history is one of highest quality properties currently on the market, known as Kilburnie, Broomehill West.
Its earliest title dates back to 1899 of an 80 hectare conditional purchase block that was part of a 947ha property taken up by the McDonald family.
As the years passed, more land was acquired and the property was bought in a partnership between Frank Reeves Holland and Ralph Cecil Duttson in 1913 and together they achieved a great deal of change to Kilburnie’s landscape that would alter it forever.
In 1919 Mr Dutton took full ownership of the property and it remained in the Duttson family until it was purchased by current owners David Kinsey and Lyn O’Brien.
Despite extensive research by former owner Ralph W Duttson, it is not known how the property got its name.
The property’s rich heritage is most evident by the stunning homestead that catches your eye as you pull into the driveway.
Built in 1929 by bricks made and fired on the property and local timber, the Kilburnie homestead is regarded as one of the most notable in Broomehill of that era and has been meticulously maintained by David and Lyn and previous owners.
Upon wandering around the four-bedroom, one-bathroom homestead, the striking jarrah beams and doorways, attractive windows, old-world reading nook and modern kitchen, coupled with beautiful low-maintenance gardens, you will soon be in awe of the heritage that has been immaculately maintained to showcase character that is difficult to replicate with modern homes.
But after making your way past the striking, classic homestead, the 1521ha Kilburnie farm itself has also been maintained to the highest of standards.
Both coming from farming family heritage, David and Lyn bought Kilburnie in 2006 having previously farmed at Mt Madden for a number of years.
Despite David being from a farming family, the family business was focussed on dairy farming, so his sound knowledge of sheep and broadacre farming was mostly acquired after he migrated from England about 38 years ago.
Also a foreigner, Lyn grew up on a mixed farming property in New Zealand but trained as a nurse and lived in England before she moved to WA, where she met David.
It appeared the couple’s passion for agriculture rubbed off on their daughter Gemma who works in agribusiness and Lyn’s son Michael who works on a farm in Queensland.
Having owned and operated Kilburnie for more than 12 years, David and Lyn said that although farming can have its tough times, the rewards are worth it.
Comparing it to one of his favourite past times, David said that farming is “a bit like a game of golf – one year you might have a good year which is like having a good shot.”
Not only is Kilburnie situated within a highly productive farming area of the Great Southern, and for that matter one of the best in the State, it is also nestled close to Kojonup which is 32 kilometres away, is 38km from Katanning, 25km from Broomehill which is also has the nearest CBH receival site, 160km from Albany and is less than 300km to Perth.
Being within close proximity to thriving regional towns has enabled David and Lyn to be involved with the communities and easily develop friendships, which they said has been one of their favourite parts about living in the country.
“We’re quite well centred here (in the Great Southern) and we have a really good local community,” David said.
When they were searching for a quality property in the mid-2000s, David and Lyn wanted farmland in a reliable farming area and were drawn to Kilburnie because of its undulating landscape, quality soils and relatively consistent rainfall.
David and Lyn’s operation comprises of 25 per cent sheep for prime lamb production and 75pc cropping.
The property is at capacity, currently running 700 ewes with lambs which are mated to White Suffolk rams.
The 2018 program involved 100ha planted to wheat, 460ha sown to barley, 250ha seeded to canola, 120ha to oats with the remaining 125ha being vetch for sheep feed and as a cropping/pasture rotation tool.
The pair use a four-year rotation of vetch and peas, one year of canola, two years for cereal, as well as areas of established pasture.
With well-drained country and high fertile soil types ranging from red granite loams, gravelly loams and flooded gum, Kilburnie has the ingredients to continue as the prosperous business it has been for more than a century.
Original vegetation consists of red gum, jam, wandoo and flooded gum.
Water is in abundance with two natural springs and a historic well that services livestock, and farm water is supplied via 24 dams and five troughs which provide reliable water.
Kilburnie also has the benefit of the Great Southern’s reliable rainfall with records of the past 11 years recording an annual average of 480 millimetres.
This season Kilburnie has received 315mm of rainfall to the end of August and as with most growers in the WA agricultural region, Kilburnie had quite a late break which came in the third week of May.
An array of outbuildings on the property include a 12 metre x 24m machinery shed with a workshop; three additional machinery sheds of 11m x 14.5m, 7.3m x 18.5m, 4.5m x 29m; an 11m x 11m lean-to; 16.5m x 26m shearing shed with new Aussie Stockyards 750 head capacity sheep yards; and a 4m x 10m storage shed.
Grain storage comprises four Moylan 27.2 tonne elevated silos and three Sherwell silos with capacities of 54.4t, 65.3t and 73.5t.
An assortment of tanks consist of two rainwater tanks for domestic use; two 22,900L poly tanks each for rainwater and dam water; a 43,000L fertiliser tank and about 2700L worth of steel tank fuel storage.
Soil fertility has always had an ongoing focus at Kilburnie with the results of soil and plant tissue tests having a direct bearing on fertiliser lime and other trace applications as required.
As David and Lyn are about to close the farming chapter of their life, they were excited to begin another with aspirations to travel and move to a different area of regional WA.
“It was always on the cards that we were not going to keep it (Kilburnie) forever but with the positive sector at the moment, we thought it would be a good opportunity to sell,” David said.
“And I want to see more of Australia and Lyn wants to go to southern Africa.”
The sale of Kilburnie is being handled by Landmark Harcourts rural real estate specialist David Jannings.
Kilburnie will go under the hammer for auction on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 11am on the steps of the iconic homestead at 1839 Etna Road, Broomehill West.
Such a standout farm with a rich history and stunning facade is anticipated to be one of the most sought-after properties listed on the rural WA market for 2018.
For more information about Kilburnie, contact David Jannings on 0429 332 245.
