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NNiinnddooooiinnbbaahh HHoommeesstteeaadd

The stunning Nindooinbah Homestead, with owners Euan and Kaye Murdoch on the verandah.

Restoration a labour of lovefoundations, white ant and moisturedamage, heritage-listed buildingrenovation restrictions, cost overruns,sourcing tradesmen competent in age-oldskills ... the list of potential problems goeson and on. But there are alwaysexceptions to every situation, just askEuan and Kaye Murdoch.

The former owners of HerronPharmaceuticals, the Murdochs havebeen the proud owners of iconicNindooinbah Homestead since 2005.

The property, which sits on 3000 acres

of prime grazing land in the Kerry Valley,was purchased following the death ofprevious owners Margaret de BurghPersse and gentleman painter, grazier andbon vivant Patrick Hockey.

Originally built in the 1850s by AlfredWilliam Compigne and later purchased byJohn Collins & Sons for William Collins whointended to use the property to fattencattle for the frozen meat trade which hehad helped to pioneer in the 1870s,Nindooinbah has a long and proud historyin the Beaudesert district.

But unfortunately the ravages of time,neglect and a number of unsympatheticattempts at renovation over the years hadleft the once proud NindooinbahHomestead - and the wider Nindooinbahproperty - in a far from pristine condition.

But then came Euan and KayeMurdoch. After eyeing off the property formonths at a discreet distance prior topurchasing it at auction, they proceededto pour millions of dollars into therejuvenation project (they prefer the wordrejuvenate, as opposed to renovate).

Undaunted at the prospect of returningNindooinbah to its former glory, theyenlisted a small army of local contractorsto rejuvenate the homestead and turn theproperty into a world class Angus,Brangus and Ultrablack stud cattlebreeding facility.

ANYONE who has beeninvolved with the restorationof a crumbling historicbuilding will tell you in nouncertain terms it is not anundertaking for the faint-hearted.

Cost aside, it can be the stuff ofnightmares, with hidden dramas lurking inevery room constantly poised to test eventhe most patient of renovators.

Unseen structural problems, rotting

The rejuvenated Nindooinbah dining room.

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The responsibility for the totalrejuvenation of the homestead and myriadof outbuildings was handed to RodAndersen of Rod Andersen Constructions,while Nick Cameron was employed tomanage the rural renovation and establishthe farm’s cattle breeding program.

Euan and Kaye lived in two small roomsin the house for two years while the workstook place and were intimately involvedwith the project on a day-to-day basis.

The result after five years of painstakingwork is best summed up in a word -amazing.

While official confirmation of the highstandard of the rejuvenation is, to anextent, unnecessary, the finished projectrecently gained recognition for itsexcellence with a National Trust ofQueensland Heritage Silver Award.

After working so closely with theNational Trust for so many years to complywith hundreds of guidelines demanded tocomplete a “sympathetic” rejuvenation inkeeping with the original character of thehomestead, it was an award that wasreceived with much enthusiasm.

After recently enjoying a guided tourthrough the finished homestead with Euanand Kaye and the wider Nindooinbahproperty with Nick Cameron, it is easy tosee why there is suchpride in what has beenachieved.

To walk around thehomestead is to take astep back in time to thelate 1800s - with amodern twist.

Every originalaspect of the buildinghas been faithfullyretained, down to returning silky oakpanels, doors and windows and all cedar

timber throughout the house to its originalcondition. But it is not a musty museum,the homestead has had many 21st

Century additionsincluded in themakeover.

The entire buildingwas restumped - a majorundertaking in itself withall 200-plus stumps putinto place by hand -every room was totallystripped back to itsframe, most of the roof

was replaced and modern bathrooms andkitchens were installed.

Over the course of the five years ofreconstruction, countless coats of paintand wallpaper were peeled back to reveala building of exceptional beauty, withKaye’s interior decorating expertise usedafter all the work was done to furnish andimpeccably decorate the building.

Now that they are able to sit back andenjoy the labours of five years of hardwork, Euan and Kaye readily admit thatthey were “stunned” when they first sawthe derelict condition of the building andwere overwhelmed by the extent of thework required to restore the property to itsformer glory.

But not a couple to shirk a challenge,they enthusiastically threw themselves intothe fray.

“It was just overwhelming the amount ofwork that was required,” Kaye said.

“The house was very run down, therewas hardly a fence post standing uprightand there were even barnacles in thetoilet.

“I am certainly not making anycriticisms of the previous owners, but theproperty had not had any money spent onit for several decades.

“Initially I thought ‘what have we letourselves in for’, but we now think it wasthe best thing we have ever done.”

As far as Euan is concerned, the aimfrom day one was to bring Nindooinbahback to its original condition, but not toleave it in a time warp.

On the face of it a straightforwardrequirement, but necessarily so.

“The result after fiveyears of painstakingwork is best summed

up in one word -amazing.”

>> Continued next pageKaye and Euan Murdoch relax under a beautiful Jacaranda tree on the property.

Nindooinbah Homestead from the air.

- By Gary Corbett

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Nindooinbah Homestead

Important to ensureit had a homely feel

Workers in the Nindooinbah dining roomduring restoration.

Prior to restoration Nindooinbah Homesteadwas in a badly run down condition.

The Nindooinbah kitchen prior to the start ofthe rejuvenation project.

Given that the homestead is heritagelisted, the reality of the situation was that ittook years and many, many meetings withheritage officials to receive all relevantapprovals.

“I think the Heritage Council is nowextremely happy with what we have done,all along it was important to us that we de-formalised it,” he said.

“We have children and grandchildrenand it is a working farm, so the house hadto be practically orientated.

“As it is now, every room is used as itwas and the colours are similar, but it is ahome, not a museum.”

Euan and Kaye did not see the projectas simply for now, but rather for the entiredistrict well beyond their own lifetimes.

It is, they say, a responsibility they tookto heart.

“When we first started we thought itwould set the house up for another 25years, but really it is now set up for another100 or more years with the work that hasbeen done,” Euan said.

“Rod Andersen was here for five yearsand the quality of work that he and histeam put into the place is extraordinary.

“I actually don’t recall a ‘quality’conversation with Rod, I think it was acombined expectation, we worked verywell together.”

To get the project off the ground, aconservation team of eight people wasemployed who would meet monthly to mapout the way forward for the project.

The “conservation team” included threeex-chairpersons of the QueenslandHeritage Council, an architect, a heritagelandscape architect, a wallpaper andfabric conservator and others.

At any given time there was anything upto 30 different tradesmen working on thehouse, with the project providing a majorboost for the local economy.

Throughout the project there wasconstant dialogue between the heritagecouncil and the conservation team to findcommon negotiated ground overproposed changes to the building.

The Nindooinbah manager’s house had to be moved to a new location.

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“Initially they said there had to be nochanges, it had to stay as it is,” Euan said.

“That included light fittings, wallcoverings, curtains, taps, carpets andlights, but we went back to them and said,‘this is not a museum’.

“Our dream was to make it a home sothat when our grandkids came here theycould jump up and down with excitementthat they were going to stay here.

“That was never going to happen inwhat was a closed in, musty old buildingthat many people of our vintageexperienced as children when we weretold to sit on the couch and don’t swingyour legs.

“We wanted a home and fortunatelyover a period of time that fact was finallyunderstood.”

Understandably Euan and Kaye areextremely proud of the final product.

Not only have they saved one of theScenic Rim’s most iconic buildings froman uncertain future, but they have ensuredthat it will live on for many, many moreyears.

As Euan said, they “wanted to make adifference”. All evidence clearly points tothem having succeeded.

>> Property transformed,see article p10-11 Nindooinbah House prior to being rejuvenated.

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WHILE work was slowlyprogressing on therejuvenation of NindooinbahHomestead, an equally awe-inspiring transformation washappening to the 3000 acreNindooinbah property.

Years of neglect had left the propertyovergrown, run down and seriously inneed of major improvements.

Clearly Euan and Kaye Murdoch withthe help of the expertise of farm managerNick Cameron were the right people forthe job.

As was the case with the homesteadrejuvenation, a master plan was initiallyprepared with just one aim in mind - to turnthe property into a cattle breedingshowpiece.

Roads were bulldozed across theproperty, new farm buildings wereerected, other older buildings were eitherupgraded, demolished or moved, damswere dug and an extensive irrigationsystem was installed.

As well, pasture was improved, land

Nindooinbah Homestead

Transformation awe-inspiring

Farm manager Nick Cameron has been at the forefront of establishing the new-lookNindooinbah property.

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Overcomingyears of

neglect thechallenge

abutting the Albert River was laserlevelled, scrub and long-dead tree stumpswere removed and an extensive range offarm equipment was purchased.

Effectively Nick was given a blankcanvas by Euan and Kaye along with anedict to “establish Nindooinbah as one ofAustralia’s pre-eminent cattle breedingfacilities”.

While it is still early days, seven yearsdown the track cattlemen from throughoutthe country are already starting to sit upand take serious notice of the quality ofNindooinbah’s Angus, Brangus andUltrablack stud cattle.

For Nick, being able to establish theNindooinbah farm from scratch was aunique opportunity that he grabbed withboth hands.

Given that the property had never seenany pasture improvement in the past, oneof the first jobs was to stick rake the entireproperty in conjunction with an excavatorthat removed hundreds of old tree stumps.

Next came the erection of kilometres offencing, bulldozing internal roads,digging a huge dam, installing asophisticated irrigation system on about200 hectares of land to drought proof theproperty and the construction of the nervecentre of the property - a fully automatedcattle yard and embryo transfer facility.

“The property was very tired and justhadn’t had any money spent on it for manyyears,” Nick said.

“The aim from day one was to set up theplace for the artificial reproduction ofcattle.”

After years of running his ownproperties, Nick said it had been a dreamcome true to establish Nindooinbah fromscratch.

“It has been a dream for somebody likeme to be able to create what I believe is theideal farm,” he said.

“It has been a great opportunity andhas been fantastic.

“What we have focussed on from dayone has been cattle reproduction and ithas been a fascinating journey ... to seethings get transformed on almost a dailybasis has been incredibly exciting.

“It has been a very rewarding process.”Now that the majority of work to

establish the property is complete, the aimnow is to concentrate on breeding top

quality stud bulls in volume for commercialproducers throughout Australia.

In many ways Nick believes theestablishment of the Nindooinbahbreeding program is a return to the earlydays when the Collins family bred cattle onthe property, only in a more technologicalage.

With two successful recent cattleauctions under their belt, Euan and KayeMurdoch and Nick Cameron are nowconfident all of their hard work is beingvindicated.

And all current indications point toNindooinbah-bred cattle playing an ever-increasing role in the evolution of theAngus, Brangus and Ultrablack breeds inAustralia.

The beautiful rural outlook at Nindooinbah.

A highly prized Nindooinbah stud bull.Farm manager Nick Cameron with a herd of

cattle on the farm.

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