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19/09/2025
Rob and Hanna O’Connor with children Zoe, Lucy, Hugh and Ollie.
Rob and Hanna O’Connor are pioneering a new era on their family’s seventh generation Tasmanian operation, with an investment in water unlocking boundless opportunity and growth potential.
This precious resource also underpins the family’s refocus on livestock, a historic nod to the property’s origins, today balanced by a fresh modern approach.
Everything old is new again
Upon their 2003 return to the family property “Benham” in the Northern Midlands, Rob and Hanna, together with his parents Frank and Prue, concentrated on converting the traditional dryland property to irrigation.
Over the past 20 years the family has embarked on a significant redevelopment across their 19,000 hectares, transforming and diversifying the operation into dryland and irrigated cropping.
And in what Rob describes as a “full circle” scenario, the enterprise’s focus is once again on livestock – beef and sheep – as its central venture.
“In the early days we explored intensive cropping, chasing high value opportunities,” Rob explains. “With one pivot you rely on one crop – so it has to be high value, yet now we have a fairly significant pivot network, scale takes that pressure off.”
Today the operation also leverages its vast land and water capacity for broadacre cropping and increased livestock production, running greater numbers for efficiency, and simplicity.
“We run a fairly simple system – it’s still complicated enough – but nothing near the complexity of an intensive higher input cropping enterprise.”
Rob is leveraging his geography and irrigation capacity for a comprehensive and streamlined operation.
“We’ve realised that we’re actually pretty good at livestock and broadacre farming, our soils and temperature are beneficial, and we’re a bit too far off the beaten track for intensive crops such as vegetables.”
“It feels right to have slipped back into what this farm does best, and scaled it up.”
Generations of progression
Thought to be one of Tasmania’s oldest continually operating businesses, the O’Connors have been farming “Benham” since it was settled in the early 1830s.
While there’s enormous tradition in the O’Connor family’s production of superfine wool – it’s been an industry leader for almost two centuries – Rob and Hanna have transitioned to a more dual purpose Merino.
“Merino wool is still our main sheep enterprise, yet we now chase extra production value through sheep meat, finishing lambs on fodder crops afforded thanks to our pivots.”
Currently "Benham" runs over 24,000 sheep, producing around 90,000 kgs of wool with a 16.5 to 17 micron average, and Rob breeds a more fertile, larger-framed animal with heavier cutting high-quality fine wool.
Rob is proud to continue the O’Connor family’s farming legacy.
“I enjoy producing quality traditional type superfine wool, but there just isn’t as much of it as there used to be, and this new direction is more profitable and better suited to our operation – the quality of the wool is just as good, if not better.”
Water investment for an assured future
Farming in a historically regarded dry region, Rob’s investment in water and storage infrastructure “makes work a lot more enjoyable”.
While in hindsight the investment was a no-brainer, he admits the proposition was overwhelming at the time.
“It took us ten years to finally push the button on our main dam site, but we knew it was what we needed to do to grow and evolve the operation.”
Without a water scheme in reach, the O’Connors purchased water and invested heavily developing pipelines and storage dams, with the farm’s storage capability today exceeding 10,000 mL.
“I look back and wonder what I was so worried about!” Rob smiles, humble in the enormous opportunity he created.
Having “broken the back” of their irrigation ambitions, Rob believes there’s still plenty of scope to further develop the property over the coming years.
Long-term relationship, for long-term success
The O’Connor family’s relationship with Rabobank also enjoys impressive longevity, with Frank and Prue having joined the bank in 1995 when it was still under the PIBA banner.
Rob said the easy working relationship they share with their manager, Helene Gunn out of the Launceston branch, made doing business easy – particularly in a region as complex as Tasmania.
Rabobank’s Annick Upchurch and Helene Gunn, with Rob.
“People underestimate how complicated it can be to run an agricultural operation here in Tassie, the intensity and the climate can place some fairly intense timing pressures, in some cases you can be sowing and harvesting on the same day.”
“What works on the mainland doesn’t necessarily work here, and the single greatest benefit of being with Rabobank is that it understands Tasmanian agriculture.”
Certainly Rob believes that throughout their water development and expansion period it was valuable to have Helene, who understands local agriculture so intrinsically, and he’s grateful that she, and the wider Launceston team, shared in their vision.
And now with four children of their own, Ollie, Lucy, Zoe and Hugh, “Benham” is edging towards an eight generation on farm.
Rob and his eldest son, Ollie.
“There’s a certain pressure that comes with the custodianship of a family property such as ours, yet I’ve been grateful to have Rabobank by our side for every step,” Rob says.