In relating the history of the FSF studs we also tell the story of the development of the Australian Merino industry, and hence the nation, as there are few more significant contributions than that made by the Peppin-Shaw Merino and subsequently the Poll Merino.

In 1861, having been unable to sell their property, George Peppin, and his sons, George Junior and Frederick, established a stud flock at Wanganella Station calling in Thomas Shaw to select the ewes and advise on rams and breeding. Forced to stay, the Peppins had decided to breed a type of sheep more suitable to their environment.

Following George Senior’s death in 1872, the Peppin Brothers purchased Boonoke in 1873, which they restocked entirely with ewes from Wanganella. It was only three years later, as the Wanganella sheep were establishing their prominence with outstanding wool prices and show success, that George Junior died at the young age of 50 leaving Fred in control. Two years later, in 1878, Fred was advertising to sell everything up.

Messrs Austin & Millear purchased Wanganella, South Boonoke and the Long Plain Run together with the 28,168 sheep, 200 cattle and horses, continuing the development of the Wanganella Stud. Mr F S Falkiner purchased North Boonoke, 26,788 sheep, 290 cattle and horses, initially in partnership with Malcolm Mackenzie and John Ross who he bought out in 1882. Falkiner started the Boonoke Stud from his draft of Wanganella sheep, utilizing the classing services of JC Darke, and within a short period of time had also risen to Merino breeding fame.

In 1895 Austin & Millear dissolved their partnership with Austin retaining Wanganella in the west and Millear taking the eastern half, which together with Millear’s Merino Stud was renamed Wanganella Estate.

When Franc Falkiner died in 1909 he had amassed in excess of half a million acres of Riverina grazing, was running a quarter of a million Boonoke blood sheep and he, and his sheep, had made an immense impact on both the pastoral industry and the Merino industry.

Although Franc Falkiner, prior to his death, had directed his sons to allow Otway (the youngest son) to assume control of the business it was in fact Bert (the eldest son) who took over and called the meeting in 1910 to consider the purchase of Wanganella Estate and its Stud Flock, which they duly bought. It was Otway though who remained in control of the stud operation, finally assuming full control for the business when Bert resigned in 1915.

In 1934 Otway tested an idea he had been developing, utilizing 13 ‘sports’ which had no horns from the Boonoke drop of nearly 9,000 rams. From the 13, Otway selected 8 to put over 400 Boonoke ewes the following year, thus beginning the Poll Boonoke Stud. Otway considered that the hornless Merino had several advantages; quicker to mature, less susceptible to blowfly strike in the head, withstood drought better, fewer losses from horns being caught in fences, etc and without the weight of horns able to search further for feed. The first offering of Poll Boonoke rams to the public was in 1937.

In the period from 1909 to 1954 Otway oversaw the sale of 320,000 rams and then in 1958 was responsible for re-uniting the Peppin properties and sheep under one ownership when F S Falkiner & Sons purchased Wanganella from Austin.

In April 1961, at Otway’s last public appearance, W A Chaffey, the deputy leader of the Country Party in NSW referred to Otway as the “ . . . Daddy of them all” and said that “History will record the great debt that Australia owes to Mr Falkiner for not only holding these studs together, but also developing them to the extent that today these bloodlines are to be found in probably 95% of the Merino sheep throughout Australia.”

On 23 October 1961, aged 88, Otway Falkiner died in his sleep at Boonoke.

By 1967 the remaining Falkiner Family were considering selling out and it was in 1971 that Cleckheaton, headed up by Frederick James, purchased all the issued capital of F S Falkiner & Sons Pty Ltd.

Cleckheaton put Alec Morrison, as Stud Master, and Bob Sefton, as General Manager, in charge of the business. Within two years Cleckheaton was enjoying a strong wool market, the end of the drought and some spectacular ram sales. However, by late 1977 the properties were again in drought, the properties were again on the market and there was a real possibility that the FSF studs might be split up.

In March 1978 it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited had acquired F S Falkiner & Sons as a whole, thereby keeping the FSF properties and studs together. Rupert Murdoch included in his announcement the following; “We have confidence in the present management of the Company. We look forward to a continuation of the existing successful policy in developing the best possible sheep.”

News Limited were to own F S Falkiner & Sons for the next 22 years, enduring the highs and lows of the wool industry, the tragedy of a major bushfire and the whims of Mother Nature.

The News Limited reign concluded in June 2000, when C, A & L Bell Commodities acquired F S Falkiner & Sons, continuing their long involvement in the pastoral industry. Brothers Colin, Andrew and Lewis Bell, along with partner, Alastair Provan, have other pastoral interests that include Burrabogie, Mulberrygong, Kolora and Wahwoon at Hay, NSW, which are run in tandem with the FSF business and are the focal point for the Bell’s cropping activities.

Eight years after the Bells’ purchased the FSF Studs, and almost 130 years to the day after Franc Falkiner took his draft from the Peppin’s Wanganella sheep to form the basis for his Boonoke flock, FSF Stud Master Forbes Murdoch was able to reunite the sheep back into the one stud flock in November 2008. The FSF breeding program had targeted a specific Merino type, with the Wanganella and Boonoke Studs moving towards the desired type as distinct individual flocks, until it was felt they had reached the point where the two could mesh as one.

The focus at FSF continues to be on refinement of the original horned Peppin Merinos and the original polled Merinos to satisfy the requirements of the modern Merino industry.