The Avoca Homestead Complex is a heritage-listed former station homestead and station facilities which was used for catered accommodation and visitor attraction. It is on the west bank of the Darling River near Wentworth, in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. It was built between 1871 and 1879. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 8 April 2016. The original 1871 half of the homestead destroyed by fire in May 2024. New owners have purchased the property in May 2025 with plans to commence the clean-up and restoration of the 1879 building which remains.
History There is an extensive and rich archaeological heritage that documents Aboriginal occupation of the lower Darling and Murray River areas. The earliest dates for Aboriginal occupation in the local region date back some 45,000 years, and there are numerous locations along the Murray and Darling Rivers that contain evidence of Aboriginal occupation from around 20,000 years ago up to the present. In 1829 the Government of New South Wales dispatched an exploratory party to trace the Murrumbidgee River under the leadership of Charles Sturt. Sturt, the first European to venture into the Murray - Darling region, followed the Murrumbidgee to its junction with a larger stream, then followed this larger stream (the Murray River) to its junction with the Darling River. Sturt encountered large numbers of Aboriginal people near the Murray/Darling junction, but his expedition featured generally peaceful, though wary, meetings and interactions. Subsequent expeditions, like that led by Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836, were marred by violence. In 1836 Mitchell commenced his 3rd expedition into the interior of Australia with the aim of completing a survey of the Darling River. Between Euston and Mildura, at a location now known as Mt Dispersion, the exploratory group were followed by a group of up to 180 Aborigines. Mitchell organised an ambush and at least seven Aborigines were killed, and 70 or 80 shots fired.
In 1838 Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney, the first of the "overlanders", drove cattle from New South Wales to Adelaide along the northern bank of the Murray River, crossing the lower Darling River en route. Other overlanders began to follow the same route, and the Murray/Darling junction became an established camp site known as Hawdon's Ford. The settlement was later referred to as the Darling Junction. Small scale conflicts between overlanders and Aboriginal people developed as more and more overlanders passed through, grazed and damaged the traditional lands of the Paakantyi/Barkindji and Maraura peoples. The conflicts with overlanders escalated, culminating in the infamous 1841 Rufus River massacre, at Lake Victoria, where some 35 Aborigines were shot by Police and overlanders.
Conflict between Aboriginal people and overlanders/pastoralists slowed after this massacre, Aboriginal people were dispossessed of their lands, and were forced to join the workforce of the expanding pastoral industry. In the 1840s squatters became established over the land along the Darling and Murray Rivers; they gradually expanded their holdings westwards from the Murrumbidgee and north eastwards from South Australia.
The Wentworth town site was approved in 1859 and was named after the New South Wales explorer and politician William Charles Wentworth on 21 June 1859. It was in this context that, in 1871, Daniel H. Cudmore purchased the western half of Tapio Station on the Darling from Messrs. Menzies and Douglas, and is said to have named it Avoca after his father's hometown in Ireland. (However, his father, Daniel M.P. Cudmore, was from Limerick, Ireland). Cudmore initially built a pine log homestead and, seven years later, added an adjoining stone extension.
A brief timeline of subsequent events at Avoca is as follows: 1876 Daniel M.P. Cudmore purchased Popiltah, combining it with Avoca to give an area of 1,100 sq. miles. 1880 Avoca and Popiltah Stations were transferred to Daniel M.P. Cudmore sons: Milo and Arthur took ownership of Popiltah; Daniel H. Cudmore remained on Avoca. 1885 The combined area of land managed by the Cudmore brothers (Daniel Henry, Milo Robert and Arthur) was some 709,000 acres. 1895 Daniel H. Cudmore leaves Avoca, building and retiring to a prominent residence (Adare House) at Victor Harbor, S.A. in 1895. Arthur Cudmore moves from Popiltah, and takes up residence at Avoca. 1902 Milo and Arthur Cudmore applied for a Western Lands Lease over Avoca Station. This leased commenced on 27.6.1905. 1911 Avoca advertised for sale; lease transferred to A.F. (Arthur) Cudmore, R.F. Roberts and H.C. Drew. 1915 Lease transferred to Ben Chaffey. 1917 Lease transferred to Ben Chaffey and R.E. Hope 1918 R.E. Hope purchased Avoca from Chaffey, worked it in conjunction with Para Station, owned by Hope family since 1867. 1935 Lease transferred to R.E. Hope and Sons. 1947 Avoca and Para Stations purchased by John Parker; then transferred to Avoca Para Pty Ltd. 1968 Mary (Parker) and Alan Christopher Dawes took up Avoca Holding (27,000 acres of Avoca and 48,000 acres of Para); W.J. Parker retained Central Para (86,000 acres). 1974 W.J. Parker sold his holding, a year before the 99-year period expired. One-third was surrendered to the Western Lands Commission. A.C. & M.J. Dawes granted 99-year lease on the combined Avoca-Para (86,000 acres) 1984 Dawes family purchased the adjoining Dunvegan Station (32,000 acres), taken up by son David Dawes and wife Dr Elizabeth Mickan. 2000 Ian and Barbara Law purchased the 40-hectare Avoca homestead and outbuildings. Robert Lochhead purchased 12,500 hectares of adjoining land, including part of Avoca, at the same time. In 2024 the original pine log part of the homestead was destroyed by fire. 2025 Zac and Tiffany Martin purchased the 40-hectare property as is, including all outbuildings, with plans to commence the clean-up and restore what remains of the 1879 stone building.
Avoca was primarily a sheep grazing property, and was initially run in association with the neighbouring Popiltah Station. The homestead complex was the hub of the station, providing accommodation and facilities for the pastoral operations. 120,000 sheep were shorn at Avoca in 1888 with new Wolseley shearing machines. The wool clip was transported by paddle steamer from the woolshed downstream via the Darling River to the Murray River. Daniel H. Cudmore developed the station and installed pumps to irrigate lucerne and other fodder crops adjacent to the homestead. Parts of the irrigation system were established early, and irrigation is mentioned in records in the 1880s. Large timber plugs in the collection in the office were for controlling water flow through pipes in the earth banks. The Mildura Irrigation Colony (Victoria, 1887) and the Curlwaa irrigation schemeNSW, 1890 did not commence until after Avoca was established and Avoca may represent one of the earliest irrigation systems on the Murray/Darling.
Daniel H. Cudmore was a leader in the Wentworth region in the 1870s and 1880s. He was honorary magistrate, and served as sheriff of the county and chairman of the Wentworth District Council and Agricultural Society, helped fund construction of the State Heritage Registered St John's Anglican Churchin Wentworth, and paid its vicar. His obituary includes the following details: 'Daniel Henry Cudmore (1844-1913) acquired Avoca Station in 1870, with frontages of to the Murray and to the Darling. He was fascinated by technology and spent many thousands draining the Darling's anabranch, making water storages and erecting fences. On 20 February 1872 at Glen Osmond, he had married Harriet Garrett Smedley who bore him two sons and a daughter before her death on 16 March 1879. On 15 November 1882 he married Martha Earle McCracken, by whom he had another four sons, the second of these being Sir Collier Robert Cudmore (1885-1971), who won a gold medal for rowing at the 1908 Olympics and was long prominent in South Australian politics. Besides their numerous progeny (used as dummies in the free-selection era), the Cudmores (Daniel and brother James) left two abiding legacies: the improvements they effected on their Yongala and Riverland leaseholds paved the way for the later success of numerous small-holders; and their great houses, Tara, Avoca, Claremont, Paringa Hall, Popiltah and Adare, though now bereft of the elaborate formal gardens which once graced them, are still a wonder to behold.' (Australian Dictionary of Biography).
Avoca was home to Sara Kathleen de Lacy Roberts (née Cudmore) as a teenager and young adult from 1895 until her marriage in 1909. She was educated at boarding school in Melbourne and travelled to and from school via train and the paddle steamer, Trafalgar. Her recollections of Avoca, when she was 88 years old in 1971, were as follows:
'One cook, one housemaid one nurse at Popiltah. No Aborigines in the house at Popiltah, one at Avoca. A camp of 30 as stockmen. There was a staff of 10 men at Avoca, jackaroo and overseer. Bred horses there - had about 100. Every second year, one of the men spent two or three months breaking in - always gently. The Avoca vegetable garden was on the river. A huge steam engine, between the vegetable and flower gardens, pumped river water to them. In the hot weather this was done at night and made a terrible noise. A Chinaman worked full time on these gardens and would come to the kitchen door every morning to enquire on what vegetables were required that day. All the linen was made at Avoca, the girls spending their time sewing, making visitors beds and preserving.'.Ritchie 2000:253 - 4
The Cudmore family is also associated with Nanya's people, the last group of Aborigines living traditionally in the Scotia country west of Popiltah; they were encouraged to move in from the backblocks by Harry Mitchell and other Aboriginal station workers in 1893. Arthur Cudmore of Popiltah, Daniel's brother, presented a paper on the group at the Fifth Meeting of Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (Adel) 1894. Arthur Cudmore's daughter, Sara Kathleen, witnessed Nanya's group merger with pastoralism. She made invaluable observations of their hunting practices and on their integration into the Cudmore's station operations: 'The young men of the tribe became expert stockmen and were employed by Cudmore Bros. on the station for some years. Especially after the colt breaking was finished they would be given the newly broken horses to ride and were kind and adept at handling them'.Ritchie 2000:251
Between 1915 and 1918 Avoca was owned by Ben Chaffey, son of George Chaffey, co-founder of the Mildura irrigation colony in 1887, as part of his portfolio of stations along the Murray and lower Darling (Tolarno, Moorara, Moorna, Bunnerungie, Tapio, and Garnpung).
Description Avoca is located on the west bank of the Darling River. Along the main road and the entrance drive are irrigated paddocks and banks that now extend over ca. 300 hectares. The station group is laid out along the river bank with the homestead at the south and outbuildings extending to the north. The buildings are generally oriented towards the river. The original woolshed was located some 3 km to the south near Tapio Station woolshed, and is reputed to have been burnt down during a shearers uprising.