Over the past 7 years, John and Kate Corcoran have been buying up most of the 180-year-old Nowendoc Run, making it – once again – one of the premier properties in New England.
Story + Photos Ken Eastwood
From almost the moment you leave the tiny hamlet of Nowendoc and turn into the long, curving dirt driveway of the Nowendoc Run, you get a sense that this is a property being upgraded to a glorious state. Maybe it’s the new signage, or the saplings planted on either side of the driveway, but more likely it’s the exquisite garden at the top of the rise, surrounding the immaculate homestead.
Autonomous, electric lawnmowers are keeping the lush grass manicured, and the garden pathways wind past bright flower displays and sharply trimmed hedges to hidden art pieces. A large outdoor eating area alongside the house has almost clear electric insect blinds, allowing sensational views over the rolling green paddocks. Down the hill from the other side of the house a shiny new jetty extends into the large house dam, enticing a swim. It’s all so tidy, trim, well thought out and brilliantly designed.
More than 180 years old, the Nowendoc Run has gone through many changes – from carrying sheep to cattle, and being split up into smaller parcels and partly invaded with weeds. But from 2018, John and Kate Corcoran began buying 10 chunks of the original run, which sits at 1,000m above sea level along the top of the Great Dividing Range. They now have more than 4,800ha, running 2,000 breeding cows and 2,500 trading cattle in rich pastures. “When we’ve finished the improvements, we should get to a carrying capacity of 7–8,000 steers, which would make us one of the more substantial properties in this New England area,” John says.
The strategic investment and carefully planned infrastructure doesn’t stop at the main homestead. Everything has been designed to make things simple and labour-saving – from almost 30km of 30m-wide laneways, in which one fairly inexperienced farmhand in a side-by-side can easily move cattle on their own, through to the 204 concrete troughs covering all 193 paddocks, with the waters on a telemetry system that indicates if water is flowing freely, so the troughs don’t have to be constantly manually checked.
This story excerpt is from Issue #160
Outback Magazine: April/May 2025
