NORTHERN Tasmania's historic Symmons Plains property - home to seven generations of the Youl family - is for sale.
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There has already been plenty of interest in the 1830 property, on the banks of the South Esk River near Perth, according to owner Andrew Youl.
He said yesterday that he and his wife Audrey had spent many hours agonising over the decision to sell.
"The historical aspect of it weighs on me heavily," Mr Youl said.
"We only celebrated 200 years of Youls in Tasmania in 2008.
"But the fact is that you have to look beyond what is the historical stuff and consider what is best for us and our family."
Mr Youl, 47, said he was contemplating a complete career change.
He would not comment on the financial aspect of the sale, but said instead he wanted to spend considerable time over the next few years with his youngest son, Hamish, 13, whose passion is tennis.
Mr Youl played at the elite level of the game and his brother Simon reached 80 in the world in singles.
"I want to get involved and give Hamish the opportunity to pursue his passion," he said.
He said that he would also like to follow in his father's footsteps and get involved in road safety.
"It's not possible to do that and agriculture too," he said.
Mr Youl said that the decision for a life change had been difficult and confronting.
"My whole life has been agriculture but my other love is sport," he said.
Mr Youl's wife, then Audrey Moore, was a Tasmanian Olympic swimmer who won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal.
Mr Youl said that the couple were "testing the waters", with advertisements for Symmons Plains placed in Tasmanian newspapers for the first time last week and on the internet in the past few days.
"We will think about where we might live when we see what happens," he said.
The 856-hectare, riverfront property has two options for sale.
The first would be the entire 181-year-old property, including the two-storey Georgian brick home.
It includes a tennis court, swimming pool, home gym and original stables.
The second option would be just the 808-hectare farm, which includes a manager's residence, cottage, five-stand shearing shed, machinery shed and bulk grain store.
The cropping property includes 108 hectares under pivot and linear irrigation, a 600-megalitre dam and 2732-megalitre water right.
The Reverend John Youl was the first member of the family to come to Tasmania to live, escaping the clutches of Tahitian cannibals on the journey.
His son, James Arndell Youl, developed the first 200 hectares granted to Reverend Youl, a little north of the existing Symmons Plains property.
Seventh generation Andrew Youl and his wife live there with Hamish and their other son, Nicholas, 15.
Tenders for Symmons Plains close on March 10.