Australia’s ‘Schitt’s Creek’: Entire Victorian town with its own pub up for sale in Gippsland
The town of Coopers Creek, including the pub, is for sale – much like in the television show Schitt’s Creek.
A unique opportunity to purchase an entire Gippsland town complete with a picturesque pub is being as described as “Australia’s Schitt’s Creek”.
The popular television show followed the adventures of a family who lost their fortunes and relocated to a small town they had previously bought as a joke.
Fans of the program now have the chance to acquire 21 lots across 4.45ha in Coopers Creek, a former mining town on the Thomson River settled during the 1860s Victorian Gold Rush.
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During its heyday, Coopers Creek was home to about 250 people.
The site is now occupied by a couple of caretakers, two camp sites, a two-bedroom home, a closed hotel and the mining town’s ruins.
The area, where lime quarrying ceased in 1952, is being sold via expressions of interest.
Mason White McDougall director Ian Mason said was hard to put a price on an entire town but that it might sell for around $2.5-$3m.
The town’s hotel, which is now closed to the public, is included in the sale.
The pub is full of historic pictures and curiosities.
Mr Mason said a family, the Holyoaks, were selling Coopers Creek.
In the 1960s, the Holyoak patriarch fell in love with the area while visiting nearby Walhalla.
The man and his wife were trying to find overnight accommodation when they met a lady from the Coopers Creek hotel who offered them a place to stay, according to family lore.
“He woke up the next day and said: ‘This was what I’m looking for and how I want to live my life’,” Mr Mason said.
The Holyoak entrepreneur spent the next four decades or so buying all the town’s titles which range in size from 660sq m to 12,000sq m.
Coopers Creek is set on 4.45ha.
The pub was rebuilt after burning down in 1999.
The man passed the property onto one of his sons who ended up running the hotel for several years.
The pub burned down in 1999 but the son rebuilt a replica of the historic Copper Mine Hotel, complete with a pool room, dining area, stage, open fireplaces and commercial kitchen.
The hotel closed to the public in 2007.
Since then, the family has leased Coopers Creek to music festival operators with up to 1000 visitors attending events onsite.
Mr Mason said Coopers Creek was also popular with bushwalkers, 4WD enthusiasts, kayakers, fishermen and horse riders.
Green views.
Get back to nature.
He has already received inquiries from interstate and overseas buyers about the town.
“Like the Rose family in Schitt’s Creek, Coopers Creek could be a life-changing move for the right buyer,” Mr Mason added.
A member of the Grollo property developer family, Diana Grollo, wrote a book titled Cooper’s Creek Gippsland – The Trevisani about the Italian immigrants who worked in the town’s mines between 1930 and 1950.
Many of the migrants came from Italy’s Treviso area, the region Luigi Grollo lived in before coming to Australia.
Luigi was father to Diana’s husband, Rino Grollo, and Bruno Grollo.
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