Coolana was originally inspected in 1929 by John Down Gubbins, as a potential property to be purchased by his son, Arthur (Mark’s Grandfather).  At the time, rabbits far outnumbered livestock.  It is said that when John Gubbins made the inspection, the current owner, Mr Gordon Kiddle, arranged with some of the Chatsworth locals to go round making a lot of noise, ensuring a vast number of the rabbits would go down their burrows!

The homestead, stables and woolshed had already been built between 1920 and 1922 by a previous owner, Mr Noske.

Arthur Gubbins took delivery of Coolana on 1st February, 1930 – 2964 acres (1200 ha), and a lease of further 2000 acres (810 ha).  He originally stocked the property with 5000 Merino sheep.  When the leasehold country came up for sale in 1932, Arthur decided not to purchase this block.

In March, 1930, Arthur married Betty Lawson, of Brighton, Victoria.  They had three children, Judith, John and Susan.  John, born at Coolana in 1934, married Jennifer Young, of Murroa, Hamilton, in 1959.  They subsequently had four children, Simon, Mark, Georgina and Dimitie.

Over the years many additions have been made to the Coolana ‘stable’ of properties.  The additional blocks that remain today are as follows:

• 1975 – 1200 acres (486 ha) of nearby Chatsworth House was purchased and subsequently called Northside
• 1981 – 400 acres (162 ha) north of Coolana – named Smalls
• 1994 – 2000 acres (810 ha) of Lime Creek on the Chatsworth/Hexham road – named Woop Woop

Coolana is now run by Mark and Anna Gubbins and their youngest son Max.  Eldest son Ben is a helicopter pilot based in Geelong, Victoria.

For more details see Property Profiles and Who We Are.