* Rural

ONE of Victoria’s finest rural properties and sheep studs, Roxby Park, is to be auctioned next month with an expected price of over $4.5 million.

It was bought by the wealthy Vizard family in 1990.

Once a well-known TV personality, Steve Vizard is now president of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, chairman of theVictorian Major Events Company and a patron, director or member of many charities.

His family’s 1247ha property lies in the foothills of the Barrabool Hills outside Geelong. The 6km frontage to the Barwon River has been fenced to regenerate native vegetation and help protect families of platypus and the rare Peregrine Falcon. The 70- square bluestone slate-roofed homestead was built between 1850 and 1890. It has been restored and renovated and is surrounded by verandahs overlooking landscaped gardens and a lake.

The master bedroom wing includes an open fireplace, ensuite, marble bathroom and a dressing room looking over an orchard. There are four extra double bedrooms.

The original bluestone “Rabbiter’s Hut” is now the pavilion on a “village green” cricket field adjoining the homestead.

Roxby Park is full of history. It was originally home to the Wathaurong tribe who are believed to have sheltered the celebrated wild man William Buckley, who escaped a nearby convict settlement in the very early 1800s.

The first sales of surveyed land in Victoria took place in 1840 and Sir Charles Nicholson became Roxby’s first official owner.

Another early owner was Captain Robson Coltish, a pioneer of Victoria’s sheep industry. He bought the land in 1847 and named it Roxby, after his native village in Lincolnshire.

During their 50 years at Roxby the Coltish family developed the property into a major wool-growing enterprise, building thehomestead and many of the outbuildings that remain on the property.

The Vizard family came along in 1990.

Alongside famous Steve is brother Andrew Vizard, who is strategic director at Roxby Park. Andrew is an associate professor of veterinary science at the University of Melbourne and internationally recognised as an authority in wool production research.

The purchaser will have first option to buy the elite Roxby fine wool stud flock.

Roxby has undergone a detailed 10-year management strategy which has resulted in the planting of 80,000 trees and thedevelopment of 40km of laneways covering the entire property. It has focused on advanced agricultural research including world-class genetics, and is home to the World’s Finest Ram Project.

Mr Vizard said his family is selling Roxby reluctantly but with a sense of achievement — having turned it into one of Australia’s most productive wool growing enterprises.

“When we came here, we had this grand vision of developing Roxby into a really outstanding world-class fine wool sheep property. That vision is now completed. It’s time to move forward and go and do it all again somewhere else. The country is in our blood, so we are on the lookout for another venture.”

Mr Vizard said that as part of his family’s commitment to rural Victoria, the Vizard Foundation would direct more financial resources to its two properties in East Melbourne, which provide accommodation for country people visiting sick relatives in nearby major hospitals.

Roxby Park will be auctioned on site at 2pm on Friday, October 25 by agents Wesfarmers Landmark.