A pioneering South Gippsland estate that was once home to the so-called "Ladies Of The Swamp" has been placed on the market.

Tullaree is a 1,016-acre spread in Buffalo, which is 33km south of Leongatha. The main  homestead, circa 1907, has five bedrooms and three bathrooms and according to the selling agent has “an established parklike garden setting”.

There is manager/staff accommodation, including a four-bedroom residence with separate private access.

According to the Victorian Heritage database Tullaree is the oldest homestead in the Buffalo and Tarwin district and “the most substantial Victorian-Federation house in the South Gippsland Shire”.

The mansion was constructed with brick, a building material that was difficult to access in Buffalo and Tarwin due to “distance and difficulty of the terrain”.

“Tullaree was instrumental in opening up the swampy country of the Parish of Tarwin South as a grazing area,” the database states. “It is one of the only substantial dwellings in the area.”

Annie O’Riley wrote about the history of the Tullaree estate and the Clement sisters who lived there on her Odd Australian History website, compiling much of the information from old newspaper articles.

Margaret and Jeannie Clement bought the Tullaree property in 1907, with their brother Peter.

“The land was reclaimed swamp, rich and fertile with a heavy carrying capacity for sheep and cattle,” O’Riley wrote. “The girls were living in style. They had 11 staff, a stable of beautiful horses and … later, new motorcars and a chauffeur.

“On shopping days the girls would be driven into Sale and merchants would bring goods out to their vehicle for the girls to peruse. They were treated like royalty and they loved it.”

Peter eventually remarried and left, and “the girls employed a farm manager”. But O’Riley says “a combination of mismanagement and dishonest employees began to take the toll … The sisters’ fortunes began to slide in the 1920s. Debts piled up and they were forced to mortgage the property”.

“With no money to pay employees and no idea how to run the farm, the swamp slowly reclaimed the land,” says O’Riley. “The blackberries, thistles and teatree clogged up the drains and the muddy water crept over the paddocks. The house sat on a rise and became an island on the water choked land.”

According to one newspaper report, the women lived without running water, electricity or sewerage. There was no wood to light a fire, and they lived on cold, tinned baked beans and bread.

Disaster strikes

Jeannie Clement, 71, died at the Tullaree homestead in 1950 of natural causes. It was the middle of a freezing winter and eight men were tasked with retrieving her body.

In 1952 Margaret vanished. The day after her disappearance at least 100 people were searching for her. It was feared that she had fallen and drowned while wading through the swampy marshes, but the searchers failed to find any trace of her.

“The search went on for months … but no trace of Margaret was ever found,” says O’Riley.

“For weeks police and neighbours searched the swamps round the homestead in search of her body. It was never found,” reads a newspaper report in The Argus.

Many of Margaret’s friends believed she was kidnapped or murdered.

Today the property is described by the selling agent as having “quality working infrastructure including a state-of-the-art undercover cattle handling facility, machinery shed, workshop and sundry shedding”.

It said 90 percent of the fencing had been replaced within the last five years.

The property was last sold in December 2019 for around $7.2 million. Expressions of interest closed at 4pm on Thursday, and the agent did not respond to a request for comment on a current price guide.