History of the subdivisions.

1908

                7,800 acres was subdivided into 37 farms and offered for sale by the A.A. Co on 18^th November, 1908.  This sale was mainly for the Company to be able to determine the value of the land for the upcoming 1912 subdivision for closer settlement which had been gazetted by the Government.

These farms were north and east of  Willow Tree, and south along the Borambil Creek valley.

1912

                84 Farms were balloted for and offered for sale by the A.A. Co on 8^th January, 1912.  Farms ranged in size between 240 acres and 1193 acres.  The total area involved was 45,006 acres.  There was a dispute between the A.A. Co and the NSW Government over the valuation of the land involved and ended up in a court-case lasting 10 weeks in both Sydney and Tamworth.  A compromise was finally reached with the average value per acre set at £4-14-9.  J. P. Hannan paid the top price of £6-19-10/acre for Farm 18 called “Warranella”, with Farm 6 valued @ £6-17-10/acre and purchased by P. F. Madden, called “Kooiyong”.

The least valued farms were Farm 35 @ £3-2-0/acre, (I. J. [Ivan] Barwick “Cedarvale”) and Farm 1 @ £3-3-0/acre  (T. W. [Tom] Avard “Warrahdale”).

A map of the 1912 subdivision, before it was subdivided and still owned by the A.A.Co.

1914

                38,000 acres was offered in 33 blocks on 29^th January, 1914.  The smaller portion started just west of Willow Tree, south of the Merriwa Road and around Old Warrah village.  The larger portion started at Big Jacks Creek on the north side of the Merriwa Road, then continued along the Blackville Road to the Cattle Lane, and north to the A.A. Co boundary.

Also in 1914, 117 small ‘choice’ lots in the Township of Willow Tree were auctioned at Quirindi on 11^th November by Wm Cadell.  Another 56 lots were either sold prior to this auction or had been allocated for town services.

1923

On 5^th December, 1923 the A.A. Co auctioned 41,734 acres subdivided into 17 blocks.  This area was west of the Cattle Lane and both sides of the Blackville-Willow Tree Road. These farms were all larger and averaged just under 2,500 acres each.  This was the auction where the Duddy and Hill families were able to accumulate multiple blocks of magnificent land to form their highly successful enterprises.  A few years later, the Cobcroft and Cropper families bought multiple blocks from the original purchasers to establish their large holdings. The top price of £4-16-0/acre was paid by the Hill family from Moree for block 16.

1935

                11,360 acres was offered for sale in this subdivision by the A.A. Co on 29^th January, 1935.  The area commenced at the Merriwa Road near the Swinging Ridges Road  junction and ran all the way to the Company’s northern boundary.  The top price of £6-15-0/acre  was paid by Ernest A. Barwick & Sons for block 47.

                Another 10,900 acres was offered for sale in 3 blocks, just two weeks before the previous sale.  This subdivision was situated in the far west of the Company’s land close to Blackville village and south of the Blackville-Willow Tree Road.

1957

            18,000 acres at the western end of A.A. Co’s “Windy” were taken over by the N.S.W. Government for Soldier Settlement Lease following the Second World War.  This area was subdivided into 18 blocks.  Members of three of the original Settler families still reside on and farm their blocks.

1967

                The final subdivision sale of Company land was held on 14^th December, 1967 in Quirindi.  7,000 acres in 6 blocks was offered for sale.  This area was situated both sides of Warrah Ridge Road and then to the  Company’s northern boundary.  The top price of $106/acre was paid for block 4 by Morgan Bros from Currabubula.