The Barooga Station homestead.

HISTORIC Riverina property Barooga Station has been listed for sale via an expression of interest campaign up 22 March 2023.

The 495-hectare pastoral property on the banks of the Murray River anabranch in New South Wales has been listed for sale by the Jarrett family.

Barooga Station was founded in 1847 and originally employed 44 blade shearers, playing a significant role in the development of Merino wool in Australia, selling agents CBRE said. CBRE’s Shane McIntyre and Matt Childs are managing the sale.

During World War II, the New South Wales station was chosen as a hospital site for Australian and American army and air force personnel, with a since demolished 43-building hospital housing 34 doctors and nurses throughout the war.

About 78 percent of Barooga Station is considered arable and it has been used for livestock grazing and winter row cropping.

Barooga Station has significant water assets.

Mr Mcintyre said Barooga Station is an untouched cropping and grazing property that is suitable for development into a highly productive horticultural or irrigated cropping enterprise,” Mr McIntyre said.

“The Jarrett family has been conservative in their approach with an inclination to preserve the property and its strong district connections.”

The property features include fertile and alluvial sandy soils, a large irrigation water entitlement, a self-contained one bedroom worker’s cottage, a machinery shed, a hay shed and cattle yards.

It also includes a historic seven-bedroom, five-bathroom homestead, with 15-foot ceilings, wide verandahs, ornate open fireplaces and a formal dining and ‘ballroom’.

Mr Childs said the southern Riverina region is known for cropping, livestock breeding and grazing due to its climate and soil types.

“We expect ‘Barooga Station’ to have wide appeal because of this, underpinned by its prime position on the banks of the Bullanginya Lagoon, immediate access to irrigation water via its six kilometres of water frontage, and the rich heritage of its classical Revival-style homestead.”