The history of the Arrowfield and Strowan properties begins with the discovery and early exploration of the Hunter Valley itself. Although the coastal end of the river, named after the colony’s second Governor, was discovered before 1800, the Upper Hunter Valley was not explored until 1819 when George Bowman and John Howe reached the present site of Singleton. Bowman is also said to have explored the region in the company of the famed Gregory Blaxland, and to have been the first white man to follow the course of the Hunter River from Singleton to Muswellbrook.

Bowman on one occasion led a party of settlers by foot to Muswellbrook and, taking a detour to avoid hostile natives, camped on the Strowan land overlooking Arrowfield. He must have liked what he saw, for by 1824 he was firmly squatting on Arrowfield. He finally got around to the formality of purchasing the land by grant in installments between 1834 and 1841. In the meantime the first Arrowfield farm was established and the stone homestead was constructed by convict labour in 1832. The original convict cells still comprise the homestead’s cellars, and convict irons are still anchored to the stone walls.

Bowman was the son of a free settler who arrived in the colony in 1798 and became one of the wealthiest settlers in the Richmond area. At various times George Bowman was an explorer, a pastoralist, a wine maker, a founder of the Bank of New South Wales, a member of the first parliament, the first mayor of Richmond, a magistrate, an employer of bushrangers (Martin Cash), and a victim of bushrangers (de-robed by the famous Bold Jack Donohue). His many properties in the Richmond area and Hunter Valley areas tended to have names (“Arrowfield” and “Archerfield”, for instance), which are highly suggestive of his own surname.

Bowman’s holdings included both Strowan and Arrowfield. Strowan remained in the Bowman family until 1986, but Arrowfield was sold around 1893 and has since passed through many hands.

Arrowfield and Strowan have supported an extraordinary variety of successful pastoral ventures during the last 160 years. These included pig farming, dairying, lucerne growing, barley growing, wheat growing, wine production, cattle breeding, sheep breeding, thoroughbred horse breeding and Clydesdale horse breeding. More recently, in the late 1960s, the property became the home of Arrowfield Wines, where it remains in its historic location founded almost two centuries ago.