A sufferer of tuberculosis,[2] Farrer hoped to find Australia's drier warmer climate more agreeable to his then delicate medical condition.

[3] Initially, Farrer lived with friends at Parramatta but was later employed as a tutor in Duntroon,[3] then in regional New South Wales (now part of the Australian Capital Territory).

In 1882 Farrer married Henrietta Nina, the only daughter of Leopold Fane de Salis, the then Member of Parliament for Queanbeyan, NSW.

A farm rather than a station "Lambrigg" (named for Farrer's home district), formerly part of "Cuppacumbalong"", was located on the Murrumbidgee River, near Tharwa in the present day Australian Capital Territory.

Farrer's initial attempts at establishing a vineyard were thwarted as the soil proved unsuitable and he turned his attention to wheat cultivation.

Frederick Bickell Guthrie developed small-scale procedures that emulated a flour-mill and bakehouse; Farrer used these to assess the yield from the wheat strains.

By selective breeding of varieties such as "Professor Blount's Hybrid No.38, Gypsum", Canadian Fife, Etawah and Purple Straw, Farrer aimed to produce a wheat cultivar that had the best qualities of each.

[2] He then developed a series of other strains such as Canberra, Firbank, Cleveland, Pearlie White (named after a child in the neighbourhood who was very interested in his work) and Florence (resistant to flag smut).

Farrer died at his home "Lambrigg" near Tharwa, Australian Capital Territory on 16 April 1906 after suffering a major heart attack, and was buried on his property at dusk the next day.