TOP SIRE 2026–2027 VALE Stuart Beveridge OAM NSW SMBA wishes to acknowledge Stuart Beveridge OAM’s contribution to the Merino industry At only 16 years old, Stuart Beveridge OAM stepped into shoes far too big for his age, leaving Scots College just a year before graduation to take on the weighty responsibility of managing the family property at Curban. Having lost his older brother just a few years before and his father now battling illness, it was a heavy time in his life. Stuart’s legacy as a Merino breeder is remarkable. He was a proud fourth-generation farmer, whose lineage traced back to Tasmania in the 1890s when his grandparents, Edward and Mary, spent their honeymoon sailing from Launceston to Brisbane to participate in a land claim at Mitchell. After an extended drought in Mitchell, Queensland, Edward was contacted by his brothers Jim and Norman, who resided in the Narromine district. They told him of a nice place for sale in the Gilgandra area named “Tuglands” and offered to lend him the money to purchase it. After a quick trip to Roma for the birth of Stuart’s father, Don, Edward and Mary started their journey toward Gilgandra with eight children, 80 heavy horses, 60 saddle ponies and a long list of farm equipment in tow. Edward’s three eldest boys, Scott, Ian and Don, became keen Merino breeders and secured some of the Riverina’s top genetics at the Sydney Sheep Show and Sale during the early 1900s. Looking to expand operations, they purchased “Wyuna”, located to the west of “Tuglands”, in 1925, with the Wyuna Merino Stud founded not long afterwards in 1931. Stuart was born in Melbourne in 1940 to parents Don and Catherine Jesse, “Tubby” to her mates. He was a “purple tag”, as the sheep breeders might say. With older brother Donald and younger brother Bob, Stuart spent his childhood at “Wyuna” with fond memories of mustering, walking sheep to be shorn at “Tuglands” before the shed was built at “Wyuna” and riding to school on horses just down the road. He would often joke that he “walked ten miles to school on a hardboiled egg”. During the war, there was a lot of rationing, but the Merino kept things ticking. Life took a turn in 1951 when Stuart witnessed the death of his older brother Donald after a shooting accident at “Wyuna”. Shortly after, Stuart and Bob were sent to boarding school at Scots College, Sydney, where they lived in Fairfax House. That same year, when Stuart was just 11, a disastrous fire burning from Collie to Gulargambone threatened to wipe the stud out. Fortunately, the 250 stud ewes and lambs were found in a small ten-acre pocket, the only part of the property that was left untouched by the fire. The following year, 1952, floods would cause more setbacks for the family. The story of Stuart Beveridge OAM is one of extraordinary resilience and undeniable passion. Photo caption. Stuart Beveridge OAM holding Wyuna’s Grand Champion Poll Merino Ram exhibit at the 2017 Rabobank National Merino Show. Bomber Moxham, Mullengudgery, Nyngan, presented the ribbon alongside judges Peter Stockman and Alex Wilson. – 54 –
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