Kelly Aitken – Century Farms

D’ASCENZO “Benhar” Wanganderry, New South Wales | 1882

William and Fanny Malcolm acquired their land in the Parish of Wanganderry, High Range District of New South Wales in 1882, naming the property Benhar after the coal mining area of Scotland from whence they came. Their still standing, slab hut home was built in 1890. Fanny Malcolm did much of the farm work in [...][...read more ]

WILLIAMSON Whittlesea, Victoria | 1909

Mary Williamson aged 89 submitted the history of the dairy farm at Whittlesea Vic. which she and husband Mervyn have owned and run since 1959. In 1919 her grandfather Aaron Cockcroft had purchased the property for the sum of £7.30 shillings per acre. In time the land was inherited by his son George and his [...][...read more ]

ATKINSON “Natone Hills” Burnie, Tasmania | 1901

The barque Kingston docked in Hobart on 26 August 1854. On board were the Atkinson family, Thomas and his wife Eliza and their four children. They had left Terryglass in Tipperary Ireland in desperate economic circumstances and Thomas was indentured for two years labour to the Rev. Zebediah Pocock of Emu Bay. Thomas finished his [...][...read more ]

WEGNER Wirrabara, South Australia | 1916

Australian born of German farming stock, Maria Martha Edelgarde and Heinrich Carl Wilhelm Wegner purchased the original farm of 745 acres in 1916. Located in the mid north of South Australia, there would have been plenty to do regarding clearing land and sewing crops. They grew oats for their horse stud and sold oaten chaff [...][...read more ]

CLEARY Smeaton, Victoria | 1877

The Cleary farm near Smeaton ,Victoria was founded in 1877 by Irish immigrant Denis Cleary and his bride Ellen Doyle. It is today farmed by their great, great grandson Shaun. The highly productive mixed farm has a history of many different crops. The rich red volcanic soil growing excellent, potatoes, canola and lucerne and supporting [...][...read more ]

WARD “Erin’s Home” Bromelton, QLD | 1873

Charles Corcoran of Irish farming stock left Montmellick, County Laois, Ireland on the sailing ship ‘Erin Go Bragh’ after the potato famine had ravished the country. He arrived in Moreton Bay in 1862. Foregoing familiar farming, he went to work on the railways and by 1873 had amassed capital to purchase his own property on [...][...read more ]

POIDEVIN ‘Braemar’ Goulburn, New South Wales | 1921

Unlike so many farming families who trace their history back to the United Kingdom and Ireland, this family’s story begins in the Channel Island of Guernsey. French national Pierre Le Poidevin, arrested by the English during the Napoleonic Wars ostensibly for forging passports and currency, was shipped to the colony in 1835. Eventually he found his [...][...read more ]

BLAIR Proserpine, Queensland | 1919

Alfred and his bride Wilhemina Blair commenced sugarcane farming in the North Gregory district in 1918. They farmed the total area of 45 acres, all of which was cleared by hand. In 1920 they built their home where they raised their five children Edward, George, Alfred, Robert and Mabel. In the beginning the farm work [...][...read more ]

BANFF “Clinton” Coominya, Queensland | 1880

The Bond Room at Banff Brothers Clinton Winery, Coominya Queensland circa early 1900. Pictured: Henry, and John Banff left and on the right Mr Serisier, who was both winemaker and Excise Officer. Brandy was stored in the Bond Room and only Mr.Serisier had a key! Founder Jacob Banff originally from Ernsthausen, Hassan, Germany, at that time [...][...read more ]

BRANSON Titchmarsh, Alma, South Australia 1876

The Branson family left Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire and made the perilous sea journey to South Australia. Purchasing several blocks of land on the rolling plains north of Adelaide in 1876. Still later this land near Stockton was traded in 1898 for other blocks, which today form “Titchmarsh” and are central to the Branson’s grain and livestock [...][...read more ]