HISTORIANS and potential home buyers alike should keep their eyes peeled as one of Warwick's oldest homes goes up for auction later this month.

Built in 1850, Rosenthal Homestead has a rich history and will be put up for auction for the first time since 1919.

The homestead itself has been continuously occupied, with furniture such as the dining room table in the home since its construction.

Owner Jim Mulcahy has lived in the home since he was a child when the property was a sprawling dairy farm.

"My grandfather (Stanley Mitchell) went there in 1900 and started off share farming before buying it in 1919," Mr Mulcahy said.

"The homestead was left to me by my grandfather, so I started to work there when I was 14 when I left school.

"When I first started working it was with draught horses because we didn't have a tractor then and during World War Two my father had a milk cart running.

"We stopped dairying in 1980 when they had an incentive to get people to go out of it."

Stanley Mitchell's oldest daughter Hazel, Jim's mother, married into the Mulcahy family, which has kept the now 24-hectare (60-acre) property that spans either side of Rosenthal Creek.

When it was initially settled, the property had boundaries as far as Pikedale and Greymare and has since been council heritage listed, remaining unchanged for almost a century.

Now nearly 82, Jim, along with his wife Diane have made the decision to sell the home that has been in the family for three generations.

"We don't really want to go but it's getting to be a big job to clean the gutters and mow the lawns," Mrs Mulcahy said.

"But we don't have any children, so it's time to turn the page regrettably.

"It took me 12 months to make up my mind, but we just can't continue with it.

"I hope someone buys it who has the money and the time to restore it back."

Southern Downs Realty principal licensee Brent Bowles said he was humbled by the chance to sell the historic home.

"This place is older the Glengallan - Canning Downs is the only homestead that's older and people don't realise its history," Mr Bowles said.

"We're really excited about having the opportunity to market it."

The auction for the homestead will be held at Warwick RSL on Friday, February 26 from 1.30pm.