Chisholm descendants list Goulburn district property after 180 years of family ownership

Jonathan ChancellorNovember 6, 2011

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Descendants of the pioneer Chisholm family have listed South Raeburn, their 632-hectare NSW farm.

The Breadalbane property has had the single family ownership since colonial settlement.

The Chisholm family opened up the Goulburn district and once commanded a grazing run that extended over 100,000 acres (about 40,470 hectares). Their family ownership commenced with the original selection at Kippilaw at Goulburn in the 1830s when James Chisholm and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to the Goulburn district, taking up a grant of 1,280 acres (518 hectares) given to her as a marriage portion from Governor Ralph Darling , a custom begun by Governor Lachlan Macquarie for settlers on their marriage.

Carrying a 6,500 dry sheep equivalent producing prime lambs, wool and beef, and with a history of growing high-yielding cereals, canola and forage crops, South Raeburn has been listed for December 15 auction through Tronn Alstergren of Tronn Alstergren Real Estate inc onjunction with  Col Medway from Landmark Copeland Medway.

It is located 20 minutes from Goulburn,  40 minutes to Canberra and two hours 15 minutes to Sydney.

The agents sold North Raeburn last year for $2.4 million, also on behalf of Chisholm family descendants. It too was an original land grant and had been in the Chisholm family since the early 1800s. The 770-hectare North Raeburn was reluctantly offered by descendants of James Chisholm only to finalise family succession plans. It was bought by the Newby family.

The historic Goulburn district homestead Kippilaw, set on 160 hectares, has only had the three owners. Until 1989 it was owned by the descendants of James and Eizabeth Chisholm. In 1989 it was bought from James Triggs, who had inherited it from the last of the Chisholms, Tom Chisholm.

Chris Meares, of Meares & Associates, secured $2.6 million  in 1997 for the colonial mansion that dates back to the 1830s when James and Elizabeth Chisholm took up a 1,280 acre (517 hectare) grant.

Kippilaw was named by Elizabeth after her birthplace in Scotland, Kippilaw, near Melrose Abbey. Its meaning comes from “Kippi” which is Pictish for "little" and "law" which is Saxon for "hill".

Set at the end of an avenue of oak trees, the house looks over Italian-style gardens and the Wollondilly River.

The property also features a seven-bedroom shearers' quarters, a two-bedroom schoolhouse, a two-bedroom guest cottage and a 20-pew private church, St James, which contains a cairn built of stones said to include some from the cave that sheltered Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.

At the back of the Kippilaw property is an 1840s coach house that could hold four coaches.

Mary Durack, in her seminal Australian pioneering history Kings in Grass Castles, devotes pages to the generosity of the Chisholms at Kippilaw.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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