Southside Retreat | From Turf Farm to Luxury Estate
Author // Shannon Edwards, Place Bulimba
Surrounded by the natural beauty of untouched bushland, freshwater streams and billabongs, Araluen the Estates has a truly fascinating history.
The now exclusive bountiful gated community was once known as Rochedale Turf, a working turf farm on Brisbane’s south less than 20 klms from the CBD.
Owner and manager of the turf farm, Bob Greasley, shares with us some history of the farm and what inspired the luxurious high-end country estate.
Tell us about the history of the property - how did it begin?
For many years I practiced as a chartered accountant and always had an interest in the land.
One day I just happened to fall into this farming operation.
I became aware of a block of land in Rochedale and thought it would be a nice place to grow some grass.
For about 30 years, the property operated as Rochedale Turf.
I lived on site at the turf farm for many years and had a tremendous team - in excess of 30 permanent employees at one stage.
We were the real deal with all the talent and equipment that a successful turf operation required.
So… how does turf farming work?
As you can imagine, Turf farming is a completely different lifestyle from accounting.
The business is much more complicated and demanding than one would think.
Rochedale Turf specialised in project management, site preparations, turf development and landscaping.
We offered a complete turn-key service.
We gained extensive knowledge in soil & plant nutrition over the years.
We altered our farming practices from the standard method of merely throwing on more salt based fertilizers (eg urea) and expecting wonderful results.
By regularly having our soils analysed by laboratories we were able to determine exactly what nutrients the soils needed.
By applying the exact nutrients that the soils required, we were not only producing stronger, healthier turf but the general health and wellbeing of the soils were improving.
We discovered over the years that salt based fertilizers, often applied in many farming practices without any thought, actually destroyed a soil’s health over time.
With extensive experience in the refurbishment of sports fields, school ovals, recreational areas and parks combined with our excellent knowledge in soil and plant nutrition, Rochedale Turf was for many years selected as one of the preferred suppliers to the Brisbane City Council.
How would you describe an average day in the life of a turf farmer?
As the overall business involved many activities (ie production, harvesting, freight, installations, marketing, administration etc) each of which could easily have been a business on its own, each day provided many varied challenges.
A typical day, however, would start very early (well before sunrise) and often end well and truly after sundown.
The team would harvest loads of turf the day before and trucks would be loaded at 4 am the next morning for delivery.
This allowed time to beat the traffic and be onsite for the first delivery at 7am.
How did Araluen come about?
After 25 years, Rochedale Turf’s farming operations ceased in February 2012.
It was decided that the land be reconfigured into eight separate freehold estates for exclusive residential use.
It has been a tremendously enjoyable journey, with this year being my 29th. on this property.
The natural beauty and facilities that Araluen The Estates offers can now be enjoyed by the eight extremely fortunate residents.
What are the lands specialties you love?
The Araluen property is unique in that it’s the only one of its kind in the region and can never be duplicated.
The land is private and secluded yet with quick and easy access to the city and all its amenities.
The lakes on the land are an important aspect of the property, supplying an abundant amount of good quality water to the Estate.
This abundant supply of water, previously used for turf farming operations, is now freely available to the residents for their exclusive use.
I am confident that the new owners of the properties will come to appreciate the value of this water and how significant it is especially as it is of very high quality.
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We also spoke with one of the lucky owners of the sought after property, Jenny and Lee Watt, who’ve developed a beautiful high-set home for their family, nestled among their 15 acres of rolling green space.
What attracted you to the property?
The land’s rolling hills, all landscaped with flowers and strategically placed trees form the perfect amount of shade.
Araluen is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
The clear acreage and open spaces are what attracted us to the property.
It’s very hard to find that sort of land, which perfectly suits our family’s lifestyle.
We fell in love right away.
We were the first ones to buy the land - choosing which block was a very hard decision.
Each estate has something really special and unique about it.
How does it suit your lifestyle?
As a location, Burbank is within close proximity to the CBD, which is convenient when it comes to work and the children’s schooling.
Although being close to the city, the property is really relaxing - away from the hustle and bustle.
As a family we enjoy our down time but also live an active lifestyle.
Lee loves his ‘boys’ toys’ and enjoys going around on the tractor and mowing the lot.
I have horses, so the open acreage is perfect for paddocks and riding.
The kids can have their friends over and go canoeing on the lake.
As a family, we love to go fishing in the billabongs or for treks in the bushland.
There’s always something different to see with the land occupying so much wildlife.
We’re neighbours to families of wallabies, kangaroos, goannas and koalas.
In the beginning we weren’t looking to move, but now that we’re here we can’t imagine being anywhere else.
It’s home.