Tasmanian farm changes hands for the first time in over 120 years

It’s the end of an era for a long-held slice of Tasmanian farmland at 540 Valleyfield Road, less than an hour south of Launceston.

The Muirhead family had bought the property way back in 1895. Back then, Rudyard Kipling was writing novels, automobiles were in their infancy and Australia had not yet created the office of Prime Minister.

Through the many generations of the Muirhead family that owned the property over the next 124 years, the house remained a constant — until last Friday, October 25, when it finally went under the hammer.

The 832-hectare block with its four-bedroom house, shearing shed, Dutch barn and Macquarie River frontage, scored a whopping $4.45 million at auction.

Records show the next highest sale in the area, 1418 Barton Road, changed hands for $2.9 million in 2016.

Guy Archer from Bushby Property Group said he wasn’t surprised that the holding had been snapped up, with 23 individual parties coming to inspect the farm, some more than once.

“Commodity prices on the farm have never been higher, and interest rates have never been lower,” Mr Archer said.

“It probably exceeded expectations a little bit. We always thought it would make $4 million.”

The property had come up for sale after the owner had passed away, with the buyer a next door neighbour who intended on joining it to his existing property.

“It gives him more economy of scale,” said Mr Archer, adding that the underbidder was the neighbour on the other side.

“Someone has been sitting across the fence looking at it for 124 years!” he joked.

Records show there have been 11 sales in Campbell Town this year, with the area recording a population of 996 in the 2016 census.

The colonial era-town was established in 1826, with the site named by Lachlan Macquarie in honour of his wife – Campbell was her maiden name.