NANGUNIA
It was by droving a mob of sheep from Queensland, picked up for a song in the drought of the 1890’s, that E J Gorman made his fortune. When sheep prices rose again, Gorman found that he had ample funds to purchase the property of “Nangunia”, and to construct the homestead of his dreams near Berrigan, NSW. A sprawling 100 square mansion, a ravishing country abode with all the modern conveniences of it’s day.
E J Gorman had become a wealthy landowner through ingenuity in a time of depravation, and now the fitting out of his homestead became an embracement of squatacracy in it’s fullest. Elaborate internal fittings were brought from England – garlanded plaster rosettes, generous amounts of stained glass, pressed metal, ornate fireplaces and overmantels. Ensuite and septic system were installed in this castle of the sunlit plains, a rare find in a remote station homestead built in 1896. The 19 rooms, all with 14 foot ceilings, had hot and cold water throughout. And for much loved summer coolness, the double brick walls had a hollow middle section with opening and closing vents to allow air from underneath the homestead to circulate during hotter months. For winter warmth, the ceiling cavity held piles of sawdust for insulation.
As was the fashion of the time, the local brick – made on site – was rendered to give the appearance of sandstone, and pressed tin domes perching above box bay windows gave the house a distinct Nangunia flare. Each room in the house was built to sit on it’s own foundation and local Murray Pine was used extensively throughout.
Gas lighting was fitted, although this did not deter the installation of a wondrous stained glass ceiling and skylight above the enormous billiard table. It seems that the Gorman family held a passion for the pastime of billiards, with the table embedded in the floor of the largest room in Nangunia Homestead.
The five sprawling bedrooms, servants kitchen, main kitchen and butlers room also form a part of the spaciousness that is so in keeping with the encircling countryside.
Rolling outwards from the bullnosed verandah, 5 original acres of gardens spread themselves. Formal rose and flower beds for scent and beauty. Tennis court, croquet lawn and private golf course for recreation.
With his beautiful homestead completed, E J Gorman began improving his property. Nangunia had its start as a cattle station, but E J turned his 30,000 acres into a successful cropping property, focusing mainly on the production of oats and wheat.
50 draft horses were kept for working the land and Gorman also dabbled in the breding of a few thoroughbreds for “picnic racing” . The foundations of a high-class merino stud were also laid at the 19th century’s turn.
Prior to the Gorman era, Nangunia’s owner had resided in England which left the wandering acres in very poor repair. Gorman employed up to 100 men during his first two years as master of the property, their chief role being to clear the land. Scrub cutting, fencing and tank sinking were also included in their job description.
The Gorman family lived well, in style and prosperity at their Berrigan homestead, with many Gormans decendents still populating the area today. They were a family of honest hard work and pleasure. However, in 1938, E J Gormans beloved Nangunia Estate passed from the family line and was sold off. Following ownerships remained largely absentee, the undulating property becoming a secondary, neglected and ignored station. Until now.
Warwick and Helen Ashby arrived at Nangunia in 1997. An astute business man, Warwick has been engrossed with turning the seemingly sad fate of Nangunia around. The 60 years following the Gorman family’s sale of Nangunia in 1938 had been very empty ones in the life of the station. E J Gorman would have wept at the sight of a pitiful piece of grass which made do for a garden, where once it had been so picturesque and ravishing. Cows had eaten away grounds that had been resplendent with roses and irises. Ornate iron lace panels, which had at one time encased the entire verandah, were practically all gone since the residence of an elderly spinster. Warwick humorously shares that she would come outside “all mad and full of sherry and shoot at them ( the iron lace panels ). Or people would come to visit and say ‘Oh arnt they nice’ and she’d give them away.”
Adding to the detriment suffered by the pastoral station, the nearby hamlet of Tocumwal provided the largest US airforce base in the Southern Hemisphere during the Second World War, and the Nangunia swamp was used as a practise bombing range.
But Warwick Ashby has mighty plans for his station. He is a man with a keen mind and great love of farming – both the business and the practical aspects of his career as a pastoralist, as well as the aesthetic and historical aspects of his beautiful property. Self confessed ‘outdoorsy’ people, Warwick and Helen began restoring their garden first. It now boasts 3 acres of lush lawns and easy care rose beds. English trees have been planted, complimenting the established peppercorns which encircle the grounds and at one time provided a grand carriageway endurance. A waterfountian adds an extra touch of refinement, replacing an old tree in the circular front lawn. Foxgloves and daises mingle like old friends in the verandah gardens, hemmed in by original terra-cotta edging.
The first winter of the Ashby’s residence at Nangunia, Warwick and Helen found bulbs cautiously popping their heads up all over the front lawn, as if afraid some marauding cow might come along and much off their infant beauty. With delight Warwick and Helen relocated these daffodils and jonquils to garden beds where they can now bloom fearlessly brilliant each spring.
The grand old Murray has also buoyed Nangunia. In the 1930’s windmills pumped water from the Murray Irrigation Channel all the way to the house. Today the large estate’s frontage to the channel has enabled rice cropping to be added to the list of canola, wheat and barley already produced successfully.
Sheep idle in paddocks that are swaggering with billy buttons. But there is someone with a watchful gaze fixed on their every move. From the back of HIS ute, Shrapnel the kelpie sheep dog makes sure all is as it should be. He is a one-man dog, his master’s faithful friend. Shrapnel’s flock of sheep are attended to in a shearing shed that is older than the Nangunia Homestead. It is now a seven-stand shed, but in times of blade sheers, the stands numbered 14 in total. Once relieved of their heavy coats, the fine Nangunia wool was driven by bullock wagon to Cobram where it boarded paddlesteamers on the Murray, bound for the Melbourne markets.
Through a little farm gate, by the remains of an old blacksmiths shed and some golden bales of hay, down a little ancient hill that is tossing native grasses like a sea of golden waves, is a graveyard. Three little headstones peacefully sit in the shade of native trees, disturbed only by intrusive weeds and the buzzing of birds and bees. One, the grave of Richard Polwhele, owner of Nangunia in the 1860’s - well prior to E J Gormans purchase - was killed when run down by a horse bolting with a dray in tow. His daughter, name unknown, rests beside him, she too perishing in a horsing accident. The last is the grave of Mr Edward Townsend, owner of Nangunia in the 1880’s. Little is known about these three, and buried all about them are many more unmarked graves, hidden away from the world raging past them, lying in a corner that has felt the rain and the sun but little change since the earth there was freshly turned up.
“And in the place of lowing cattle I can hear the fiendish rattle of the tramways and the busses making hurray down the street……..
And somehow I rather fancy that I’d like to change with Clancy, Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go.”
A one time accountant with Ernst and Young in Sydney, Warwick felt the call of the bush and moved his family to properties near Armadale, Emerald (QLD) and finally to Berrigan. It is here that the Ashbys have taken their turn at the Riverina Pastoral way of life. Their home was built with love and pride, their land Clancy’s vision of sunlit plains and everlasting stars. They look to their future with a confident assurance, for they are people of skill and wisdom and under their tender care, Nangunia is again the glorious station it was created to be.
** All photographs used in this article are by the incomparable Brooke Orchard at
Brooke Orchard Photography - check out her highly awarded and nationally acclaimed talent !!
