Monday, October 19, 2015

Brindabella Homestead

Brindabella Station in Brindabella Valley


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Brindabella Valley NSW
Brindabella Valley NSW

Brindabella Station, 308 Brindabella Valley Road BRINDABELLA NSW

Brindabella Station is a turn-of-the-century homestead and the childhood home of Miles Franklin, author of 'My Brilliant Career'.
Brindabella National Park
Brindabella National Park

  • This picturesque, self catering accommodation is ideal for fishing, canoeing, horse riding, bushwalking and enjoying the Australian bush with plenty of native animals and birds in the valley.
  • Located in the high country, Brindabella is a working farm, running both sheep and Murray Grey cattle. The homestead overlooks a stream and mature gardens.
  • Accommodation is restricted to non-smoking guests. Adults only in the cottage. Family accommodation available in the lodge.
  • Note: The last 20 kilometres to Brindabella Station is gravel road.

“Many years later in 1984 I had the opportunity to buy the homestead and we just couldn’t let it go by,” Mr Barlin says.
  • “We have loved every minute of being here, the beauty, the peace and quiet, the wildlife and the history.
  • “It’s been a privilege to have lived here.”
  • Kosciuszko National Park sits to the west of the homestead.
  • To the north is Brindabella National Park and to the east is Bimberi Nature Reserve. It is being sold through McGrath Estate Agents Woden.

Oct 9, 2015 Sonja Koremans
Mr Barlin says Brindabella's most famous resident Miles Franklin came to the property as a baby in the late 1870s.
Mr Barlin says Brindabella's most famous resident Miles Franklin came to the property as a baby in the late 1870s.

It was 100,000 hectares that Miles Franklin’s family squatted on 100 years ago – about the size of Bahrain or Hong Kong – but now it’s a much smaller parcel of land that current owners Brian and Guillermina Barlin are selling. Brindabella’s five-bedroom homestead, two large cottages, a fishing hut and 40 hectares are on the market for more than $1.8 million. 
  • “We have lived here for over 30 years and would do anything to stay but family circumstances are forcing us to move closer to Canberra,” says Mr Barlin.

  • “But we plan to keep a block of Brindabella for our children so we aren’t letting go altogether.”

  • For their part the Barlins have embraced Brindabella’s history, restoring the rendered rammed earth homestead, built in 1900 after the original house burnt down in the 1800s.

  • The property, on the Goodradigbee River, also has two cottages beautifully restored by Brian and Guillermina.
  • “Brindabella Station was a cattle property in the 1840s and sheep substantially from 1900 through to the 1960s,” Mr Barlin says.
  • “But it was the trout fishing that it became so well known for and that is what attracted people to the property such as Malcolm Fraser, Richard Carleton, WC Wentworth and Banjo Paterson.”
  • Mr Barlin says Brindabella’s most famous resident Miles Franklin came to the property as a baby in the late 1870s.
  • “I understand her father employed a tutor for Miles who took a liking to her and certainly encouraged her writing.
  • “If you read Childhood at Brindabella or any of Miles Franklin’s books which are supposedly fiction, there’s so much real history of her upbringing in them.”
  • While the property is 66 kilometres from Canberra and feels remote, it’s certainly a different lifestyle today than when Miles was a child. Many in the area commute daily to the city on a road that didn’t exist in the Franklin family’s era
Back garden overlooking the stream
Back garden overlooking the stream
Mist on the dam
Mist on the dam
Sweeping vistas
Sweeping vistas
Ideal fishing spots
Ideal fishing spots
Brindabella Station owner Brian Barlin believes rising popularity of four-wheel-drive vehicles is causing more wear and tear on the road.
Brindabella Station owner Brian Barlin believes rising popularity of four-wheel-drive vehicles is causing more wear and tear on the road.

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Slideshow image

Brindabella Station, the onetime home of author Miles Franklin who wrote My Brilliant Career, has been listed for sale.
Brindabella Station in Brindabella Valley listed
Brindabella Station in Brindabella Valley listed

The property sits on the ACT and NSW border. More than $1.8 million is expected for the property that failed to sell on 2010 marketing.
  • It has been listed by vendors Brian and Guillermina Barlin who are selling after three decades plus ownership.
  • They bought it from the late journalist Richard Carleton.
  • It comes with restored rendered rammed earth five-bedroom homestead, built in 1900 after the original house burnt down in the 1800s.
  • The property, on the Goodradigbee River, also has two two-bedroom cottages and a fishing hut.
  • The property is 66 kilometres from Canberra at 308 Brindabella Valley Road.
    Brindabella Valley
    Brindabella Valley
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Brindabella’s most famous resident Miles Franklin came to the property as a baby in the late 1870s when the farm was 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres).
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Goodrabigbee River at the Flea Creek Camping Area, near Brindabella, NSW Australia
Goodrabigbee River at the Flea Creek Camping Area, near Brindabella, NSW Australia
The Franklin Family, 1894; Miles is at the far left
The Franklin Family, 1894; Miles is at the far left
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879-1954), writer, was born on 14 October 1879 at Talbingo, New South Wales, eldest child of native-born parents John Maurice Franklin, of Brindabella station, and his wife Margaret Susannah Helena, née Lampe, who was the great-granddaughter of Edward Miles (or Moyle) who had arrived with the First Fleet in the Scarborough with a seven years sentence for theft.
Childhood at Brindabella (1963) illuminates Stella's first decade amongst pioneering families of the Monaro. She was educated at home and at Thornford Public School after 1889, when her family moved to Stillwater, an unrewarding small holding near Goulburn. 
About 1902 the family took up unspecified farming enterprises at Cranebrook, near Penrith, and later at Chesterfield, and finally by 1915, giving up the land altogether, went to the modest south-west Sydney suburb of Carlton: her much diminished inheritance.


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Miles Franklin with the possible inspiration for her crime novel, Bring the MonkeyMITCHELL LIBRARY, STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Miles Franklin with the possible inspiration for her crime novel, Bring the MonkeyMITCHELL LIBRARY, STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Brindabella Station and Homestead (circa. 1900's) now available after being restored and cared for by the current owners for the past 30 years. Surrounded by National Parks this generous 40ha parcel is bordered by the Goodradigbee River.
Brindabella National Park. Photo: NSW Government
Brindabella National Park. Photo: NSW Government
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Goodradigbee River in the Brindabella Valley
Goodradigbee River Billy Grace Reserve
Goodradigbee River Billy Grace Reserve
Previous valley residents have included Author Miles Franklin and Richard Carlton. 
You will feel a world away while still able to take advantage of the proximity to Canberra only approximately 65kms away. A unique and very rare opportunity indeed.

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  • The Homestead offers 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and additional wc.
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  • Garden Cottage with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, kitchen and living.
  • Echidna lodge with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living/kitchen/meals.
    Slideshow image
    Slideshow image
  • Substantial river frontage to the Goodradigbee River.
  • Ample water tanks run water to the homestead and buildings.
  • Grid electricity supply with immediate vicinity supply underground.
  • Shearing and machinery sheds, silos, cattle yards and dams.

Cradle of Australian culture on offer as Miles Franklin’s former home Brindabella Station for sale

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Brian and Guillermina Barlin are selling Brindabella Station, their home of more than 30 years. Photo: Rohan Thomson
  • A farm which was the genesis of Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award, is entering a new chapter in its rich history.
  • Brindabella Station, the former home of author Miles Franklin who wroteMy Brilliant Career, is for sale.
  • The property on the ACT and NSW border has been a cradle of national culture, loved and lived in by an assembly of notable Australians including Banjo Paterson, Malcolm Fraser and Richard Carleton.
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Mr Barlin says Brindabella’s most famous resident Miles Franklin came to the property as a baby in the late 1870s. Photo: Rohan Thomson

Brindabella Station owner Brian Barlin wants Brindabella Road sealed


  • Date February 11, 2015
Brian Barlin. Photo: Andrew Sheargold
Brian Barlin. Photo: Andrew Sheargold
John Thistleton
John Thistleton
John Thistleton Reporter for The Canberra Times.
  • Brindabella Station owner Brian Barlin believes rising popularity of four-wheel-drive vehicles is causing more wear and tear on the road.
Photo: supplied
The owner of the region's historic Brindabella Station wants better road access for tourists, and is reluctant to advertise holiday accommodation because of the state of the Brindabella Road.
  • Brian Barlin has run a working farm and holiday cottages at Brindabella Station for 30 years and believes rising popularity of four-wheel-drive vehicles is causing more wear and tear on the road, which is also used by people taking the scenic route from Canberra to Tumut, Wagga and in some cases Melbourne.
"It is extremely bad and there's a lot of dust and pollution going into the Cotter catchment," Mr Barlin said.
Brian Barlin. 
  • The ACT Government has no plans to upgrade the road.

One of the mountains' best known valleys, the Goodradigbee River weaves a glistening silver ribbon through the farming area where author Miles Franklin went to school and playwright Gwen Meredith wrote many episodes of the radio serial Blue Hills.
  • Mr Barlin said the worst sections of the Brindabella Road were around an area known as Piccadilly Circus.
  • He said the government had been able to find a huge amount of money for cycling in the mountains, and Brindabella Road was an important access for bushfire fighting vehicles.
Mr Barlin said if the ACT Government came up with an amount of $3.2 million for sealing a small section on the ACT border, Tumut Shire Council would probably upgrade the road on the NSW side.
  • Brindabella Road has 16.8 kilometres of sealed road followed by 8.7 kilometres of gravel road to the ACT/NSW border. According to Territory and Municipal Services a traffic count in March, 2014 recorded on average 25 vehicles a day.
  • A spokesman said traffic had not increased over the long term.
  • "TAMS is currently conducting an upgrade of the Mount Franklin Road. This requires heavy vehicle access via Brindabella Road, so there is a short term increase in traffic in the area," the spokesman said.
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