A 77-year-old farmer has lost his last-ditch legal fight to win back two family farms worth around $4.8 million near Narrandera from his own son, ending a seven-year courtroom battle that he said has left him fearing homelessness.

Colin Protheroe launched legal action against his son Brian, seeking to overturn a 2023 judgment which found that Brian was entitled to the farms under a court-imposed arrangement.

The court had ruled that Colin holds the properties on trust for Brian, who can require them to be transferred at a time when it would reasonably be expected that his father would retire from farming, and upon paying Colin enough money to help him establish a small rural hospitality business.

The dispute began when Colin Protheroe sued his son Brian in the District Court – initially over farm machinery worth about $132,000 – but the case quickly snowballed into something far bigger. Brian hit back with a counter-claim, arguing he was the rightful owner of the two properties, and the matter was transferred to the Supreme Court.

According to the published 2023 judgment, Brian argued that his father led him over three decades to believe he would either take over the properties on Colin’s retirement or inherit them. Brian said he made major life sacrifices based on that expectation, including working at below market pay and not pursuing other opportunities. Colin disputed that he made any such promises.

The Supreme Court ruled in Brian’s favour, and the decision was later upheld on appeal. Brian took possession of the two properties — Elmore and Shannon Vale — in August 2024. The 550-hectare farms have been held and operated by the family for more than a century.

Colin returned to court in 2025 seeking to reopen the case, arguing the original judge had reached the wrong outcome. He also claimed his son had already given up his right to make the claim under an earlier settlement agreement with a bank, and alleged that false or incomplete evidence had been given at trial.

The Supreme Court rejected Colin’s application, finding the case had already been fully determined and could not be reopened.

“Colin told the court that he has had to leave his home, has had to pay significant legal costs, now has no resources and … may turn out to be homeless,” Justice David Hammerschlag said in his ruling.

“Whatever sympathies these travails may deserve (and they probably deserve some) they do not translate into grounds for reopening a case which is well and truly over.”

The judge found Colin had not proven any fraud, deliberate withholding of evidence, or other basis that would justify revisiting the earlier decision. He also noted that Brian is in fact operating the farms, and that even if circumstances had changed, this would not be enough to reopen the case.

The court also ordered that a small strip of land accidentally left out of the earlier judgment be transferred to Brian. A caveat placed on the properties by Colin was removed, and he was barred from lodging further caveats without court approval.

Colin was ordered to pay his son’s legal costs for the failed application, as well as most of the costs of a related motion.

According to property website Domain, the Elmore and Shannon Vale farms are currently advertised for sale with an asking price of $4.8 million.

An advertisement states the land is 90 per cent farmable and contains a private water scheme on both properties.

“These properties can be split, both properties are ideally suited for any agricultural enterprise with bitumen frontage and private water schemes meters on both,” the advertisement states.

- Region Riverina