POIDEVIN ‘Braemar’ Goulburn, New South Wales | 1921
By Kelly Aitken In Awardees On November 2, 2023
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 way to Collector near Goulburn and became a respected innkeeper.
He married Irish girl Rebecca Sheridan and their children became part of a well-known multi generational sporting dynasty in the fields of cricket and rugby.
Braemar House, one of the oldest on the Southern Tablelands of NSW, was built in 1821 by Joshua Moore of Cambridgeshire.
Braemar was later owned by Augustus Onslow Gibbs who bought the property in 1892 and lived there with his wife and four sons until he died in 1897.
Pierre’s great grandson Paul purchased the property in 1921 and today it is farmed by his widow Ann and son Paul.
Ann, now 95 years of age, wrote and assembled the Poidevin history for the Australian Century Farm Collection.
Throughout the years the family has carried out many improvements to pastures, watering systems and fencing. Today Braemar runs beef cattle.
