Our people
Good people lay at the heart of a successful enterprise and we have been fortunate to work alongside some of the best here at Goolgumbla.
With a farming history stretching back generations, our family has shared its journey with many and today, Goolgumbla's Manager Bruce Rollinson continues to uphold this collective and proud heritage.
The property had made an impression on him as a young boy when he visited decades earlier with his father, and it was almost serendipitous that he would return later in life, to run the place himself.
After leaving school, Bruce spent several years working the family's various properties and took over Goolgumbla in 1998 when his family purchased the holdings. From that point onwards, he set to work installing the essential infrastructure to support a successful merino sheep stud.
A network of arterial laneways was constructed to connect the various sections of the property and streamline stock movement. In addition, a new state of the art woolshed was built and 1,200 tonnes of silo storage were installed.
Today, Bruce lives on the property with recently married wife Adriana - a psychologist who loves animals - especially the horses, calves and pet lambs. He has four children Sam, Claire, Emma and Willow.
Bruce Rollinson has been running Goolgumbla for over twenty years.
“The Rollinson family has been dedicated to the sheep industry for more than a century.”
Lindsay 'Darby' Rollinson pictured with his trademark pipe.
A Proud Sheep Breeding Heritage
One way or another, the Rollinson family have always been involved with sheep.
Growing up on his family property 'Selisian Downs' in Victoria, Bruce recalls mustering, racing around the paddocks on motorbikes and handling sheep in the yards from a young age.
Riding as a young boy with the rams in the back of the ute to various sheep shows was a highlight and he often shared in his father's pride when Bob Rollinson was awarded a swag of ribbons at various shows.
In 1920, Lindsay 'Darby' Rollinson founded the Victorian based Concordia Merino Stud on Wanganella ewes and rams.
His son, Bob Rollinson, grew up on the property and from the moment he could walk, took the opportunity to join the rest of his family in the yards whenever he could.
Bob learned quickly and by the time he had grown up in the 1950s, he had taken over the management and classing of the stud, averaging 22.5 microns and achieving yields in the 70s.
Bob Rollinson at three years of age
(pictured front right)
“Bob Rollinson's stud success was evident through the growth of his holdings and industry recognition.”
In 1958, Bob married Anne Weaver, who was literally living next door on an adjoining sheep and wheat property, called 'Southerton Vale'. Together they had five children, including Bruce. In 1965 the family moved to 'Selisian Downs' acquiring more suitable land to run the Concordia sheep and expand the business.
Further growth in 1979 extended to the Riverina, when the Rollinson family purchased 'Hawks Nest' and in doing so, secured an important grazing foothold near Jerilderie.
Bob Rollinson's stud success was evident through the growth of his holdings and industry recognition. He was a man who was widely regarded as 'a gentleman on the circuit' and in 1998, he instigated the purchased of the Goolgumbla Stud in the Riverina.
Anne passed away in 2008 and Bob still continues to class the sheep on her family property at 'Southerton Vale' every year, as he has done for the past 65 years.
To this day, he saddles up to shear around 6,000 Concordia sheep at Mysia annually, and continues classing. He is still regarded as 'one of the best' when it comes to accurately reading and breeding sheep in Australia.
Shearing time provides the Rollinson family with an opportunity to come together and Bruce's sister Margaret regularly travels to Goolgumbla from Hollbrook, to join the team in the shearing shed.
Bruce Rollinson and his sister Margaret
Our Stud Classer – Chris Bowman
Chris Bowman has been classing at Goolgumbla for more than a decade, bringing with him a wealth of breeding knowledge and experience.
Having worked with the best merino stud masters and stud classers over the years, he has honed his stock selection skills and has built an independent classing run of 190,000 stud and commercial sheep, across Australia and New Zealand.
Chris works with Goolgumbla to achieve a good free growing, plainer type animal, describing the stud's flock as "very, very commercial and highly fertile".
Before joining Goolgumbla in 2008, Chris spent 18 years at Uardry as the Stud Manager and Stud Master, which is recognised as one of the most influential merino parent studs in Australia. Prior to managing Uardry at the age of 28, Chris managed Eenaweena (the Egelabra ram depot) at Warren, where he also selected 600 rams for 45 clients annually.
Chris and his wife Beth have two daughters and live on the Murrumbidgee River near Hay. He has devoted his working career to the merino sheep industry and rates wool as one of our nation's greatest commodities and 'the world's miracle fibre'.
Chris Bowman has been classing at Goolgumbla for more than a decade, bringing with him a wealth of breeding knowledge and experience.
“Goolgumbla started focussing on free growing, long-bodied, fertile sheep under previous classer, Duncan McDonald - putting them well ahead of the curve.”
Chris Bowman, Current Stud Classer
Meet some of our clients
Nick McKindlay runs 7,000 merino ewes and around 120 rams on 65,000 acres at 'Moulamein' in the Riverina. He regularly tops the Hay sales with his Goolgumbla-blood Merino ewes.
"Our family has been buying rams from Goolgumbla for the past 30 years.
Goolgumbla produces ideal rams for our area. We look for a strong constitution to handle our tough conditions, including good, strong walking legs. We are trying to create an easy-care ewe and reduce wrinkles, plus keep up our fertility rates.
We appreciate coming to Goolgumbla and buy around 25 rams each year. Bruce is a trustworthy and straightforward person and we always enjoy a yarn. The atmosphere is casual and there is no pressure selling.
Goolgumbla has got the runs on the board and offers a very good choice of quality rams for a good price. They have the right genetics and the results speak for themselves.
Our fertility rate in 2020 was 129% to ewes joined, which we attribute largely to the rams sourced from Goolgumbla.
The Rollinson family is to be commended for their contribution and commitment to the sheep industry."
Goolgumbla's sheep classer Chris Bowman with Nick McKindlay
Alister McCoy with an Elders agent
Alister McCoy runs a mix of sheep and cattle on 3,030 hectares on 'Ohio' at Holbrook and his family has been buying rams from Goolgumbla for around 85 years.
"Our family would have to be one of Goolgumbla's longest running clients.
My father started buying rams from the stud before the second world war. I remember making the trip with him as a little fella and spending time in the ram sheds, waiting for Dad to choose the stock. He was always impressed with the selection which suited our type of country very well.
Today we run 9,000 merino sheep and buy around eight rams from Goolgumbla each year.
We appreciate the size and boldness of their stock and the fertility rates are good. They cut well per head with an average fibre dimension of 21 microns across the flock.
I like dealing with Bruce Rollinson and buying straight out of the paddock. He's a down to earth country bloke who knows what we want.
Having sourced rams from the stud all of my life, I can confidently vouch for Goolgumbla's first-rate bloodline."
Graham Golder and his sons own and operate 'Kegra' – a 2,000 hectare property near Temora in the Riverina farming grain and running sheep. The family operation joins 2,400 merino ewes to Border Leicesters each year and also runs 330 registered Border Leicester ewes, as part of their stud operations.
"I bought my first merino ewes from Bruce Rollinson at the Jerilderie sale 18 years ago. At the time we both agreed that buying and selling out of the paddock was a better option for bio-security reasons, and I've been happy to travel to Goolgumbla to buy stock every year since then!
On average, I buy 350-500 ewes and I can always count on these western bred sheep being good survivors. Goolgumbla has very good health standards and their stock are accredited free risk for Ovine Brucellosis and Johnes disease, which is important to us.
Bruce always gives us the pick of the best ewes that are not going into his stud. We cut on average 21 microns and in 2020, our lambing percentages were 130%.
I only like to deal with good, fair people who do the right thing and that is how I would describe Bruce Rollinson. He quietly goes about his business and does things properly.
In the end the proof is in the results and our lambing rates and carcass weights speak for themselves. There is no doubt that combing our Border Leicesters with Goolgumbla genetics is giving us excellent results."
Goolgumbla Merinos