Property sale breaks six generations of history
1923 map showing the extent of the Porter family land holdings at that time. The approximate positions of the present day Meander River bridges have been added. Map supplied.
Porter land value – history, survival and conservation
Aerial view of the Porter property currently for sale.
Photo supplied by Nutrien Harcourts.
Sharon Webb
An Exton farming property owned by the same family since a land grant by the British Government in 1846 is for sale. It could attract around $4m.
Carl and Kit Porter are selling 872 hectares of Woodville Run on Porters Bridge Road after the Porter family has held it for six generations.
Mr Porter said that his four adult children Leon, Joshua, Justine and Clinton have all gone in directions other than farming. He will keep the homestead and some lots for himself.
The land being offered for sale by Nutrien Harcourts is on 10 titles on 25 to 194 hectare sized lots, all zoned rural and classified as private timber reserves.
Over the past 20 years Mr Porter has logged some land. One sale lot on Kelly Road, Reedy Marsh is contracted to Forico for a pine plantation.
Martin O’Byrne of agent Nutrien Harcourts does a balancing act in his advertisement, aiming to attract both potential buyers who may want to make money from timber on the land, or own it as environmental habitat.
He describes the land as ‘timber potential’, having been used as a sheep and cattle run until the early 1970s along with timber harvesting, including several sleeper (railway) mills and at least two sawmill sites.
But with the land being mostly Land Capability Class 5 to 7, Mr O’Byrne dwells on the substantial environmental attractions of the property.
‘A private timber reserve is land set aside for growing trees for the production of timber but a landowner is not forced to actually harvest the trees, and a PTR can be revoked giving confidence to prospective purchasers who are more interested in conservation values.’
He writes, ‘The main area has river frontage on the Meander River which contains platypus, water rats and a variety of fish life.
‘High hills give all round magnificent views to the south, Quamby Bluff and the Great Western Tiers, to the north towards Parkham and east towards Glengarry and the West Tamar.
‘The forest contains a diverse range of animal life including Tasmanian devils, quolls, wombats, wallabies, possums, sugar gliders, etc. Birdlife includes raptors with a registered wedge tail eagle nesting site.
‘Vegetation is mainly dry sclerophyll forest consisting of Eucalyptus viminalis (white gum), Eucalyptus amygdalina (black peppermint), Eucalyptus ovata (swamp gum) and Eucalyptus obliqua (brown top stringy bark) with some understory plants and native grasses.’
Should the land sell, a question mark hangs over the future of an agreement that would buffer the visual effect of logging on Woodville Run from drivers using the Bass and Meander Valley Highways.
That visual amenity agreement was signed by between the Porters, Gunns Ltd and Meander Valley Council on 7 July 2005.
Carl Porter says his ancestors John and Isabella Porter came to Woodville at Exton in 1846, from Bonney’s Plains in the Fingal Valley, when their friend Parson Anderson had heard Crown land was being released in the area and they thought they would give it a try.
According to Carl they built a house designed in a similar colonial style to that of The Willows in Westbury, and called it Woodville Hall.
The Porters were allocated 250 acres (101 hectares) which they extended with more land grants, also buying land from other grantees who the location did not suit.
According to the old family Bible, John Porter of Leith and Isabella Harvey of Grenoch married in Scotland on 14 July 1829. John and Isabella were the first of six generations of Porters on the land, but the Porter ownership of Woodville Run (as it is now known) will end when Carl sells.
Carl said he inherited 1821 hectares from his Uncle Stuart and dad Kenneth Porter.
‘It’s sad, not a thing you feel proud of,’ Carl said.
‘You feel you’re betraying them a bit. You don’t like to be the last one. I’d like to sell it in one lot rather than break it up.’
When the Porters acquired Woodville Run in 1846, it was a significant location on the route from Launceston to Alveston (Deloraine) and on to Woolnorth in the north west.
‘Semaphore troops were stationed on a ford on the Meander River at Porters Bridge because there had been skirmishes between settlers and Aboriginal people when travellers tried to cross the river,’ Carl said.
‘When the trouble was over the government released land to settlers and convicts were assigned to work there.’
Land at Woodville Run wasn’t suitable for growing many crops but Carl said the early Porters used horses and oxen to grow oats and potatoes. An orchard, Devon cattle and wethers for wool made for self-sufficiency.
Some Porters had another string to their bow. They used their military background to round up escaped horses, break them and sell them. Thus the locally named Brumby Creek, claimed Carl.
These days Tasmanian land is more to some people than just a living, as the Porter family has known it.
Reedy Marsh residents united with Meander Valley Council in opposing the Porter’s application for a private timber reserve over the land in 2005, seeking that the land be conserved rather than woodchipped. Deputy mayor (the late) Bob Loone led the council’s case before the Forest Practices Tribunal.
Reedy Marsh environmentalist Andrew Ricketts sees the land as part of the most poorly conserved area in Tasmania, the Northern Midlands Bio Region.
‘Walking the hills of this property you get an overwhelming impression of a past occupation of the land,’ he said.
‘People regularly see eagles in this area but its most important natural value is the combination of Eucalyptus ovata forest and swift parrot habitat. The Porter property probably has more Ovata forest than any in central northern Tasmania.’
The early Porters were more concerned with bodily and spiritual survival than preserving the environment.
Carl tells the story of his grandmother Frances Joyce, a staunch Catholic who invited the local priest to her house to offer mass to the locals, and to stay for a Sunday roast.
That day, as the priest came up the driveway it was discovered that Frances’ favourite dog had eaten the carefully prepared roast.
A flustered Frances decided a chook must be quickly despatched.
