Yippyio! Invermien, the grandest of NSW pastoral estates, at Scone sold
Invermien, the iconic Hunter Valley thoroughbred horse stud, has been sold by the late horse breeder Geoff White and his widow, Beryl. The Scone property comes with an 1831 homestead on 313 hectares.
Title Tattle gathers it's been bought by the MacIntyre family, who were sellers recently of Tinagroo Station, a cattle grazing property. Duncan and Jilly Macintyre along with their two children, Hector and Florence, have reputedly sold Tingagroo to a fund manager.
The districts' first settlers included ship's surgeon Dr William Bell Carlyle, who took up a 2,000-acre grant in 1822 in the Kingdom Ponds area. His nephew Francis Little also moved into the area and called his property Invermien. In 1881 the Maitland Mercury dubbed it one of the grandest pastoral estates in NSW.
Work began on the handsome single-storey homestead in the late 1820s with the historic twin gabled homestead now a showcase of the early colonial period, with high pressed metal ceilings, quality cedar joinery, marble fireplaces and an underground cellar. Made of sandstock brick in a timber frame, it comes with hipped, corrugated iron roof, French windows, and a six-panel main door. In 1895 the gables at the front were added, the stone-flagged veranda was extended and the rear wings lengthened to form a courtyard with the dairy and the kitchen. The Whites set up their operation around 1994, having previously run their horses at the Castlereagh property Robrick Lodge.
The 313-hectare Invermein – mentioned in the G Nesta Griffiths book Some Northern Homes of NSW (Sydney: The Shepherd Press, 1954) – was offered by the Whites for sale in April along with another historic property, Bhima, with 160 hectares.
Bhima remains listed through Michael Burke and Jamie Inglis at MacCallum Inglis Scone in conjunction with Gavin Beard at Landmark Harcourt Scone.
The two adjoining Scone properties had a combined $12 million asking price.
Bhima alone, given it's impressive thoroughbred setup, is listed with $6 million expectations.Geoff White died at the age of 81 on July 8 this year.
The couple won the Golden Slipper 30 years ago with Marscay, one of the first horses they raced, and in 2000 finished second in the Melbourne Cup with Yippyio, which won 14 races including the Queensland Derby, Guineas, Brisbane Cup and Moonee Valley Cup. Other group 1 winners carrying the white, purple star and hooped sleeves were Jetball, Euclase, Filante and Reenact.
The White Thoroughbred empire had its beginnings at the 20-hectare Robrick Lodge near Richmond, on the outskirts of Sydney, before the family purchased the 160-hectare Bhima and neighbouring 313-hectare Invermein in 1994, rejuvenating and merging the two properties. The Whites also made a significant contribution to racing at Scone and was instrumental in helping establish the Hunter Valley Equine Research Centre. He served as a director of the Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association of NSW and also on the Royal Agricultural Association on Sydney.
Born at the small western NSW town of Hillston, Geoff White became one of Australia’s leading civil engineers and White Industries constructed numerous buildings, including the National Art Gallery, High Court of Australia and the National Mint in Canberra.
