Nestled behind a grove of trees off the New England Highway at Lochinvar is a property that could tell a thousand stories about the lives of thousands of people from almost every corner of the globe.
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The home of the late Robert (Bob) Kerrigan, a man of agriculture and all things equine, has been a sanctuary for the hard to find, rare and sometimes quirky collectibles and antiques for decades.
Mr Kerrigan, 80, passed away on July 19, leaving behind a lifetime of memories at his estate Marooan (Aboriginal for something good), a rural retreat brimming with tales about everything from toy soldiers to life as a Queensland jackaroo.
His huge collection, comprising 650 lots, will go under the hammer on Saturday during an onsite auction at 709 New England Highway, Lochinvar, led by Swan Murray and Hain.
Mr Kerrigan, who fought cancer for several years, amassed a huge collection mainly of horse and farm-related items over his lifetime.
Born in Maitland but later living in Scone, Mr Kerrigan built his Lochinvar property in 1971. His family owned Kerrigan and Harris Hardware, located where long time business Ken Lane’s now trades from. He created the first horse education courses at Newcastle and Maitland TAFE colleges and started the woodchop competition at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show.
Mr Kerrigan studied Agriculture at Sydney University before working as a jackaroo on a farm in Queensland. “I think that’s where the horse fascination started,” Jo said.
“He wrote horse books – one of the first on equine nutrition. He ended up as an agricultural consultant to people in the vineyards and Hunter farmers advising them on the impacts infrastructure like roads had on the agricultural environment,” she said.
Some of Mr Kerrigan’s books (one he found overseas dated 1741) are in the hands of a Sydney auction house. Other treasures like a rare collection of cedar slabs, coffee tables, axes, fine china and antique farm machinery will all go under the hammer.
“Dad would travel the world getting books from England and Europe and import them. Then he’d get in the car and go on a sale with a car load of books and while he was away he would find auctions where he would buy rare horse paraphernalia. “He’d leave with a car load of books and come home with a car full of antiques.”
