Rare opportunity to secure rustic sandstone homestead, Edgerton, in Yass

Beautifully crafted from stone with an air of rustic charm, this Yass homestead has etched its place in history – serving as an Aboriginal mission, school and a sheep station over more than 160 years.

Long-known as Edgerton, the sprawling 44ha property at 1040 Yass River Road is itself a local icon with a long legacy that spans back to the 1860s.

Named after Joseph Edgerton who arrived in the valley to take up a small block of land around the 1840s, the homestead was built by Henry Dodds in the 1860s before it came under government ownership in 1909 and used as an Aboriginal mission until 1919.

It was then held by one family from 1925, before current owners Darlene and David bought it in 2017 and embarked on an ambitious and extensive renovation project to breathe new life into the grand old Georgian-style farmhouse.

“It’s a very well-known property,” Darlene says. “Everybody knows it.

“We’d been driving past the property for ages because we were looking to buy somewhere up the road, and every time we went past we just really loved it.

“We thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to own a home like that’ and then it came on the market.

“It needed a lot of love when we bought it – but the history of it, it’s just such a beautiful house, you just can’t buy places like this anymore.

“It’s been a really fabulous place to live – I absolutely love it.”

Darlene says the home is a rare find with a rich and diverse history.

“It’s got a very long history. It was owned by Henry Dodds and they called it Dodds’ Folly because it was so ostentatious for the area and because he wanted to be a farmer, but failed miserably because it wasn’t good farming land,” she says.

“It was then bought by the government and they turned it into an Aboriginal mission. It had little accommodation shacks and the headmaster of the school lived in the stone house, but it failed as a mission and it was sold by ballot to the Johnson family who owned it until when we bought it. George Johnson was a big sheep shearer in town.”

The homestead has retained its stone walls and is still clad with original horsehair plasterboard and timber skirtings, while each of the four generously sized bedrooms feature its own fireplace – a welcome hallmark of the vintage.

There are deep sash windows, timber joinery and a wrap-around veranda perfect for enjoying the peacefulness of the property.

The residence has been sympathetically renovated, with an opportunity for the new owners to put a personal stamp on the property with some cosmetic finishing.

Windrose Property Principal Sam McGregor says the extensive renovation work was testament to the owners’ love of the homestead, and would ensure the property’s longevity and the preservation of its character and charm.

“This is an outstanding piece of real estate,” Sam says.

“The land itself is what everyone’s dream is when they’re looking to buy in the country. It’s about 120 acres, it’s got good river frontage, it’s got amazing pasture, which you could either crop or graze. It’s got a creek down the back of the property and when you go there you just feel like your own private bush sanctuary.

“They have spent a lot of money on rebuilding the property to make sure it lasts another 100 years, so the money they have spent has really been to make sure the house stands the test of time.

“The hard work has definitely been done, and there are some cosmetics left for the new owners to choose.”

Sam says the 100-year-old orchard, planted by Aboriginal children more than a century ago, remarkably still produces fruit.

The estate also includes a 130,000-litre water tank, two additional 22,500-litre tanks.

There are several paddocks of varying sizes for stock holding and feed, including a paddock with extensive river frontage, as well as holding yards and pens attached to the original shearing sheds.

Windrose Property is marketing 1040 Yass River Road, Yass for sale with a price guide ranging from $1.6 million to $1.7 million.