Future of Alfred Deakin’s childhood home in doubt after auction – realestate.com.au

The historic Point Lonsdale estate, owned by the family of early Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin for 118 years, has been put up for auction.

Ballara was put up for sale after a campaign to gain Commonwealth support to bring the 1.69 hectare estate on the Bellarine Peninsula into public hands missed a VCAT-imposed deadline requested by relatives wanting to sell the house.

Hopes of Commonwealth support to match the $4 million raised by several family members, led by great-grandson Tom Harley with pledges to philanthropies, the community and the Borough of Queenscliffe, evaporated this week.

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Arts and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s staff have reportedly withdrawn the apparently promised $3 million sum to fund local fundraising to purchase the house for posterity.

Hundreds of people attended the auction on Saturday where Elders auctioneer Nick Myer called for bids.

Two low bids were rejected: a humorous bid of $500,000 and a later bid of $3.2 million that came when Mr Myer called for an opening bid of $4.7 million.

Mr Myer made an offer of $5.2 million, which is at the lower end of the range, before moving into the property.

The house was built in 1907 as a private family retreat on the seafront for Alfred Deakin.

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Mr Myer said the five-bedroom, two-storey Californian bungalow with a viewing platform was beautiful and offered “absolute tranquility”.

“It was designed and built in 1907 by Pattie and Alfred Deakin, a beautiful structure in a beautiful location,” he said.

“We are ideally positioned for beaches and award-winning wineries. The Bellarine Peninsula, the Mornington Peninsula, everything is so accessible: walking trails to two beaches, the lighthouse. You have the beautiful village of Point Lonsdale just a stone’s throw away.

“These are all the benefits that the current sellers have enjoyed during their extended ownership period and are the benefits that the new custodian of this beautiful property should enjoy for years to come.

“It’s an opportunity to acquire a piece of Australian history.”

Agents were in discussions with parties after the auction.

Alfred Deakin’s great-grandson, Tom Harley, wants to keep the house. Photo: Jason Edwards

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The house was designed and built in 1907, during Deakin’s second term as Prime Minister. It became an important refuge where he would read, write and develop political ideas.

It retains original furnishings, artwork and photographs. His wife, Pattie, designed the native gardens and established the Point Lonsdale War Memorial on the site, which has since been passed down through descendants.

Ballara is protected by local heritage and vegetation controls, and the house is Grade II listed, but the community fears the property could be subdivided in the future.

Alfred Deakin in the Ballara garden with his grandson Wilfred Brookes. Image: supplied

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According to PropTrack, Victoria recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 66.9 per cent this week based on 952 early auction results.

For Melbourne, the 1674 homes that went under the hammer this week was a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Ray White chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis said homeowners looking to sell ahead of another potential rate hike by the Reserve Bank could be a major factor behind the auction spike.

Mr Banitsiotis said pre-Covid interest rate rises traditionally meant Australian house prices would decline – but that has not been the case since the pandemic.

Female oaks, moonahs and tea trees grow on the property.

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He said that while it is impossible to predict exactly what property values ​​will do in the future, buyers hoping that interest rate increases will lead to lower prices may be disappointed.

“It could be that if buyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for these rate hikes, in two or three months they will actually not have seen the change in the market that they were hoping for and will end up paying more as a result,” Banitsiotis said.

Other ingredients in the mix include not enough houses being built to meet the demand of Victoria’s population growth, and a greater number of investors selling their homes since the state government increased land taxes and implemented a major reform of rental regulations.

Ray White head auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis says a rise in auctions in Melbourne could mean sellers are hoping to get deals done before interest rates potentially rise again.

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Toby Balazs, director of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, said this week’s auction increase followed a record January for the state.

REIV figures show 556 properties were sold at auction in Victoria in the first month of 2026, surpassing the previous record of 540 sales set in January 2021.

“It is probably not surprising that we are seeing such high auction volumes in the last week of February,” Mr Balazs said.

‘The middle and outer ring districts in particular have performed particularly well, both in terms of volume and clearance rates.’

He said brokerage firms continued to report investors leaving the market.

“We have to be aware that if it is investor shares that are being sold, this will obviously put even more pressure on an already difficult rental market,” Mr Balazs said.

REIV chief executive Toby Balazs REIV says January 2026 was a record month for auction sales in Victoria.

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However, many interstate investors are buying homes in Melbourne because it looks good for them from a capital growth perspective, Mr Balazs noted.

Andy Reid, director of Apollo Auctions Victoria, said March was likely to be “absolutely mental” in terms of auction numbers and more sellers coming to market, especially after some Australian banks increased their fixed interest rates this week.

Mr Reid said buyers were also confused by how many similar homes in the same suburb were currently selling for different prices – sometimes as much as $150,000 difference – with no apparent rhyme or reason.

Apollo Auctions Victoria director and auctioneer Andy Reid in action.

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He also said that many house hunters were using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) internet platforms to help them with real estate market advice.

But Mr Reid cautioned that having access to more data doesn’t necessarily translate into understanding every detail when it comes to buying or selling, although GenAI could be a useful tool for gathering general information and insights.

However, not everything AI produces is 100 percent accurate or correct.

“It provides information based on the popularity of the number of hits it has online. It just collects this information and gives it to you, therefore it often doesn’t know if it’s right or wrong,” Mr Reid said.

A total of 598 auctions are planned in Victoria next week, with the Labor Day holiday on Monday, March 9.

Additional reporting by Alesha Capone.

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