GRAND PLAN

A genteel homestead and gardens on this Queensland grazing property are enjoying a new lease of life, thanks to their ‘retired’ owners.

- Kim Woods Rabbidge

Birds warbling across the misty valley herald morning at Nindooinbah near Beaudesert in South East Queensland. In the outer garden, century-old bunya pines, eucalypts and silky oaks frame views of the lagoon and fertile flats by the Albert River.

“It’s quite a spiritual place,” says Euan Murdoch, who moved here 15 years ago with his wife Kaye. There’s a sense of past generations who’ve loved this place, but the Murdochs have breathed new life into the grand old home, garden and grazing property that had been in a state of refined dilapidation.

They bought Nindooinbah, affectionately known as Nindy, in 2005. Selected for grazing in 1842, the property had had several owners before being run by four generations of the influential Collins and Persse families. In the late 1800s, William Collins fattened cattle for the frozen-meat export industry he helped pioneer. (Now, 150 years later, the Murdochs run one of the world’s most innovative Angus, Brangus and Ultrablack stud cattle breeding facilities.)

The magnificent old home evolved when, in 1908, an original 1858 dwelling was extended by renowned architect Robin Dods. Influenced by the Arts and Crafts architectural style, Dods was known for extra-wide verandahs and high-pitched, ventilated roofs – perfect in a hot climate. The Collins family developed expansive gardens featuring an avenue of palms, a tennis court, trellises, round flower beds, bush houses and glasshouses.