History of LarnOO

& Terangaville Station:

LarnOO

Major Alfred Aitken, and his brother Norman owned both LarnOO and the nearby Switzerland Stations from 1901. The pair had inherited vast wealth from their father Thomas Aitken, who had owned the Victoria Brewery in Melbourne (now Tribeca Apartments), before selling the business to Carleton United Brewery. Thomas left 70,000 pounds and about 80 real estate titles (pubs). Norman lived with his wife and mother at LarnOO Homestead (built 1904).

In 1908 Alfred sold his interest in both Switzerland and LarnOO to Norman.

 Extract: Yea Chronicle July 1910 : ………….. we regret to report Mr Alfred Aitken, the present owner, who with his genial wife will be very much missed at the homestead and also in the social life of Yea, where they have always been to the front with assistance (both pecuniary and otherwise) for anything that was taken in hand for the advancement and social wellbeing of the district generally.

Whilst at LarnOO, the Aitken’s leased part of their land holding to Charles (Chas) Pratt who produced an award-winning racehorse named Preston who would stand on the property at Ghin Ghin for multiple seasons.

Historically the property has grazed sheep and cattle over the years.

Terangaville Station

In 1876, Mr Stowwell Marshall purchased "Terangaville Station" where he lived up to the time of his demise in 1911.

Mr and Mrs Marshall, both Victorians claimed to be the first native-born Victorians to be married in the State of Victoria. Mr Marshall was a keen enthusiast in all sorts of pastoral pursuits but confined his attention principally to wool growing and beef production at Terangaville Station.

He also devoted considerable attention to racing horses and the breeding of draught horses. His real pride was the pure-bred Clydesdale stallion named King Hero that gained first prize and was the decorated champion of Australia at the famed National Agricultural Society’s Show in Melbourne from 1886 to1890.

In 1910 Mr Marshall established the Terangaville Cricket Club and appointed himself as President! Keeping it in the family his sons were also appointed as secretary and treasurer. The association of local cricket clubs included Yea, Homewood, and the Mills (Cheviot). Many local games were played on the river flats between the Terangaville Homestead and the Goulburn River.

TOday, @LarnOO

Today, the LarnOO and Terangaville properties are combined to form a large-scale beef breeding and fattening operation. The properties complement each other and benefit from the Goulburn River water security, lush river flat paddocks, undulating pastures, and upper native forests with remnant grazing.

The combination delivers an exceptional environment to produce pure grass-fed Black Angus beef for our local and international markets.