BELLEVUE PASTORAL CO.

Pushing the boundaries of broadacre cropping across New South Wales

For six generations the Eather family have developed their farming practices on their property, Bellevue, located near Narrabri, New South Wales. Their story is one of innovation, aspiration and hard work.

Thomas Eather travelled from England to Australia aboard the second fleet . Doing things his own way from the outset, it is thought the family originally bore the surname Heather, dropping the H to become Eather upon Thomas’ arrival in Australia. It was Thomas’ son Michael who first crossed the Murrurundi Gap, droving his cattle over the range to Tamworth, then across the plains, eventually settling at Henriendi (Baan Baa NSW). Once again, it seemed Michael had to do things his own way, with some accounts of his travels stating he took his cattle in the opposite direction to most others crossing the Murrurundi Gap. Nonetheless, the family made their home at Henriendi.

It was the fourth generation of Eathers who established what would become the Bellevue property we find today. Sid Eather, the youngest of his brothers, was gifted a small parcel of land on the Namoi River, which he named Bellevue in honour of his new wife Isobel. There he built a modest home and woolshed to support a small flock of sheep, establishing Bellevue Pastoral Company in 1938. When his elder brother decided to sell and move to Moree, Sid took the opportunity to increase his land holding and bought his brother’s share, making Bellevue 800 acres in total. In no time at all, he once again added to his property portfolio with the purchase of neighbouring land at Amaroo.

In 1956 Sid’s only son, Warren, left school and began working the property which remained a sheep grazing operation. However, large floods impacted the Narrabri region throughout the 1970s on an unprecedented scale, and it soon become clear that the sheep grazing operation was limited by Bellevue’s proximity to the river, sheep being less productive in wetter localities and more prone to blowfly strike. A shift to cattle production proved a more favorable endeavour for the Eather family, with the fertile river soils having the ability to fatten just about anything. The family maintained a few sheep but shifted their farming practices to push their cattle production forward, growing crops to feed more cattle and soon setting up a small feedlot to boost production even more.

Darren Eather recalls fond memories of working with his father, Warren, in the early years, sheering sheep during his school holidays. But as a young man, leaving Gatton college in the early 1990’s, it was clear to Darren that the land at Bellevue could be doing much more. With easy access to river water on the 800 acres at Bellevue and a further 1000 acres down the road at Amaroo, Darren developed a business case for an irrigation farm.

Upon his grandmother’s passing in 1993, Darren bought into Bellevue Pastoral Company aged just 20. His aspiration for growth in the company was clear. He identified a weakness in their beef production, limited by the number of cattle produced by their breeding herd each year, and already pushing their feedlot about as far as it could go. Darren was intrigued by the emergence and growing popularity of cotton cropping in the Narrabri region. Darren’s father, Warren, was just as ambitious and supported his son’s plans wholeheartedly. So, in the spring of 1995, their first cotton crop at Bellevue was planted.

With much of the farm’s budget being ploughed into their new cotton crop, and money needed to keep their livestock operations afloat, that did not leave much in the purse for new machinery. So, Darren and his father got to work assembling their own machinery to grow and pick their cotton, whilst also adding to their feedlot and growing fodder crops for the cattle. The 1990’s were a particularly busy time for the Eather’s at Bellevue, and an early glimpse of their enterprising spirit.

In 1996 Darren met country music queen of Tamworth, Leanne. Shortly after, Leanne moved to Narrabri and quickly become the powerhouse of operations at Bellevue, with Darren assuming the helm as ideas man, and Warren still working on the farm. The dream team came together, a team that would drive Bellevue pastoral company forward at an amazing rate over the coming years.