Alfred Deakin’s Point Lonsdale home listed for sale

The historic Point Lonsdale home of Australia’s second prime minister Alfred Deakin has been listed for sale despite a long-running campaign to bring it into public hands.

The heritage-listed house named Ballara, meaning resting place, was designed and built during Deakin’s second term as prime minister in 1907 and became an important retreat where he would read, write and develop political ideas.

His wife Pattie designed the native gardens and established the Point Lonsdale War Memorial on the property, which has been passed down through descendants and is now retained by 10 brothers and cousins.

But in recent years some had sought to sell their stake in the 1.68ha property, which sparked a long-running campaign to have Ballara bought into public hands.

But VCAT set a deadline for the campaign to save the property after one of the owners asked for an order a sale.

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The historic Point Lonsdale home of Australia’s second prime minister Alfred Deakin has been listed for sale.

Alfred Deakin’s house Ballara in Point Lonsdale Alfred in the garden at Ballara with his grandson, Wilfred Brookes Picture: Supplied

The heritage-listed house named Ballara became an important retreat where Deakin would read, write and develop political ideas.

The property had been valued at $8m but great-grandson Tom Harley said $4m has been raised in pledges from locals, family members, the Borough of Queenscliffe, philanthropic supporters, with the understanding of a matched commitment from the Commonwealth needed to secure the property for community use.

Mr Harley said agreement had been secured with Deakin University to manage Ballara for the community, while family will also establish a $500,000 trust to support future upkeep.

The property is listed for sale with price hopes from $7.5m to $8.25m, with expressions of interest closing on December 9.

Elders Geelong agent Peter Lindeman said the property is of exceptional national, cultural, and environmental significance.

“Offered for the first time in 117 years, this estate embodies the rare harmony of heritage, nature, and legacy.

“To own Ballara is to become a custodian of a story woven into the very fabric of our nation,” he said.

The property had been valued at $8m but great-grandson Tom Harley said $4m has been raised in pledges from locals.

The property’s 1.68ha scale is one of the last original bush blocks.

Mr Lindeman said its walls quietly hold the echoes of conversation, contemplation, and nation-making.

“Ballara is more than a home, it’s a living chapter of Australia’s history, crafted by Alfred and Pattie Deakin as their coastal sanctuary and place of reflection.

Within its rooms, original furnishings, artworks, and photographs remain as they were left, preserving the very essence of Deakin himself, Mr Lindeman said.

The property’s 1.68ha scale is one of the last original bush blocks within the Point Lonsdale township, which Mr Harley had feared could be lost.

Mr Lindeman said the native garden holds she-oaks, grass trees, moonahs and tea trees shelter heaths and rare orchids, forming a living museum of coastal flora and is a precious remnant of Bellarine heathland.

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