Entire Australian village up for sale

The rare opportunity has arisen to be your own landlord of a quaint village that is home to a 1830s built mill, cottages and shops in a small New South Wales dairy farming locale. And believe it or not, it’s not the only tiny town currently listed for sale on realestate.com.au. The sprawling and quaint Jindyandy Mill Estate, at 719 Greenwell Point Road, Pyree in the picturesque Shoalhaven region, spans just over 3 hectares of lush green pasture. A booming tourist attraction, the property is being sold via an expression of interest campaign, with offers over $6 million. The sale includes a mix of residential and commercial spaces, including a lolly shop, hairdresser, antiques store, market and cafe, plus a two bedroom home with shed, and two charming cottages each with two bedrooms and a spa ensuite. Located just 10 minutes from the regional centre of Nowra, about three hours from Canberra and Sydney, sales agent Jane Zwar from Belle Property Berry said the village was a popular destination for visitors on their way to the famous Jervis Bay and Culburra Beach. She said the cottages, which are both leased, have been used as holiday accommodation in the past. “We think it could carry on as it is, but we also think it would make a fantastic venue or a distillery because the infrastructure is there,” she said. “There’s so many different options that this property could be used for.” After 21 years of being Jindyandy’s owner, Sally Marshman said making the decision to sell was not an easy one. In the time she has lived there, she has established the popular lolly shop, built a large shed behind it, as well as a studio near the main house, in addition to maintaining pathways and the gardens. “It’s sort of like owning your own town,” she said. “Sometimes when I am on a cruise ship or something, when people say to me, ‘What do you do?’ I say, ‘Well, I own a town!’” “It’s very peaceful. The view is just beautiful out over all the farming flats, the cows come right into that paddock.” The mill, which was originally constructed in the 1830s by the convicts of Alexander Berry as a grain mill to provide flour to Sydney, is used as an artisan market. Endless opportunities abound for the future new owner of Jindyandy, as Ms Marshman said it could be kept operating as it is, or it had the potential to be turned into a wedding venue, a winery, brewery or as accommodation destination. “I think its best suited to someone wanting to make a lifestyle move down here,” Ms Zwar said. “Somebody who has vision of what it could be, someone who possibly has brewery or distillery experience, or function venue experience.”

Owning a village a true rarity

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said the opportunity to purchase an entire village, or community was very rare and presented a unique opportunity to shape a community. “If you own it you have power over the potential development of the whole complex, or even things in terms of how the buildings are designed, how they’re painted,” she said. “Particularly in a small community if you have different properties owned by different owners then you might get a mishmash of ideas, whereas with a single owner, you can create a cohesive environment. “If you have a mix of different businesses operating in the town, a single owner can ensure that you have a good mix maintained. For example, not getting two hairdressers in, or two of the same thing and making sure that they keep a diverse mix there.”

Step back in time to the Wild West era

A village of a different kind is also up for grabs near Daylesford, Victoria with a Wild West/Gold Rush property, which has been a 23 year project for its owners. “[The owner] basically based it off an old western village and he started with one little house and then it just grew,” sales agent Kim McQueen from at McQueen Real Estate, Daylesford said. Located at 35 Mystic Drive, Yandoit, Ms McQueen said the property has been an absolute labour of love for the owner. “They just had a ball doing it. He and his wife have done it together.” Dubbed ‘Cheyenne,’ its sprawling village, known as “Cross Creek” in honour of a town from the 1956 movie The Fastest Gun Alive, features its own shops including a general store, a butcher shop, as well as a church, a blacksmith and a brothel – all complete with their very own mannequin residents. “It’s incredible when you’re there,” Ms McQueen said. “You seriously feel like you’re on the set in a western movie.” The property has an asking price of $1.395 to $1.45 million, and the price includes all the memorabilia and collectibles. “You’ve got to have a need for a village, or be an absolute village enthusiast and it would be fantastic for someone for weddings, or some sort of conference type thing,” Ms McQueen said. Offering spectacular views of Mt Franklin, the 5ha property includes a three-bedroom home, two dams, a double garage and a storage shed.

Sold: Entire colonial village with 40 buildings

While owning an entire village is a rare prospect in Australia, just outside of Bendigo, another Wild West style village, located at 8 Allans Road, Maldon, appealed to a keen buyer who paid $1,750,000 in December 2020 for their own colonial style community. Spanning 6ha, and comprising of 40 buildings, the abandoned village included some original dwellings and others as replicas for tourists, including an old hotel, restaurant, general store as well as an undertaker — complete with coffins. Constructed in the early 1990s, the village was built as a local tourism attraction where buses of visitors would explore how people lived in rural Victoria during the gold rush.

Sold: Australia’s Schitt’s Creek snapped up this year

In June this year, a buyer snapped up an entire Gippsland town with a charming pub that was described as “Australia’s Schitt’s Creek”. The new owner acquired 21 lots across 4.45ha in Coopers Creek, a former mining town on the Thomson River, which settled during the 1860s Victorian Gold Rush. The town’s hotel, which was closed to the public, was included in the sale.

Sold: Tasmanian tourist village returns to hydro workers

Originally built to house Hydro workers in the 1930s, the Tasmanian town of Tarraleah fell into disrepair in the 1980s and ‘90s. Over the past 17 years, it’s been redeveloped into a tourism icon, complete with a church, restaurants, cafes, luxury accommodation and a caravan park. But an $11.2m deal with Hyrdo Tasmania this year will now see the remote village return to its original purpose, housing the company’s workforce as it undertakes a planned redevelopment of the Tarraleah hydropower scheme’s capacity.

Sold: Arizona ghost town

Meanwhile, overseas, a 16ha ghost town in Arizona with its own bar, general store and 20 buildings presented a unique opportunity for just $1.75 ($US1.25m) to own the entire 1864 established town. It included a bar, general store and about 20 other buildings mainly made up of the town’s original homes.