“Rainham”, on the Vale Road between Bathurst and Perthville, went under the hammer on Thursday night.

A Sydney-based couple involved in the music industry – who also own a weekender at Rockley – were the successful bidders on the night, which saw two of the six properties offered by Raine and Horne snapped up.

Those homes which did not achieve a result will now be placed on the market for sums ranging from $540,000 to $745,000.

However, for Richard and Suzy Miller from Sydney, the night was one they will always remember.

“Rainham was just what we were looking for and we’d been looking for a long time in many different places,” Mrs Miller said. “My husband and I live at Stanmore. He plays the timpani in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. I am a retired flute player who now teaches.

“We own a little holiday house at Rockley – the old parsonage which we purchased in 1972. But we’ll be putting that on the market.

“We were always driving backward and forward past Rainham and all of a sudden there was a for sale sign on it.

“Tony Hatch from Vale Creek Wines first drew our attention to it when he sent us the front page clipping from the Western Advocate that it was on the market.”

Mr Miller said auction night was exciting.

“There was a full house, there were people everywhere. We thought we were out of our depth,” he said. “Rainham was the last one of the agenda and nobody had left the building.

“We thought we had no hope in this and suddenly we were opening the Moet champagne.”

The Millers said they intend on moving to Bathurst to live in the future.

In the meantime, they are looking forward to preserving the property to its historic glory.

“We want it to stay in the wonderful time war it’s in,” they said. 

According to John Fagan from Raine and Horne Bathurst, auction night was a success despite four properties being passed in.

“Auctions are still a very popular, productive way to go. You don’t have to sell every home at auction to get a good result,” he said. 

“Sure, some of the homes didn’t sell, but the night sets in train a marketing campaign which I am sure will see them sold by the end of January.”

Mr Fagan said interest in Rainham was strong, with 60-70 inquiries and about 30 inspections.

He said the homes not sold will now be placed on the market.