Ballara, the home of Australia’s second Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, at 57-73 Glaneuse Rd, Point Lonsdale, has not yet found a new owner.
The historic Point Lonsdale property held by the family of early Australian prime minister Alfred Deakin for 118 years, passed in at auction.
Ballara was listed for sale after a campaign to get Commonwealth support to place the 1.69ha Bellarine Peninsula property into public hands missed a VCAT enforced deadline sought by family members wanting to sell the home.
Hopes for Commonwealth support to match $4m fundraised by several family members, led by great-grandson Tom Harley with philanthropic, community and Borough of Queenscliffe pledges evaporated this week.
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Staff for the Minister for Arts and Home Affairs, Tony Burke, reportedly withdrew the seemingly promised $3m sum to match local fundraising efforts to buy the home for posterity.
Hundreds of people attended Saturday’s auction where Elders auctioneer Nick Myer called for bids.
Two low offers were rejected: a humorous $500,000 bid and a later $3.2m offer that came as Mr Myer was calling for a $4.7m opening bid.
Mr Myer made a $5.2m vendor bid — which is at the bottom of the range, before passing in the property.
The house was constructed in 1907 as a private family coastal retreat for Alfred Deakin.
Mr Myer said the five-bedroom, two-storey Californian bungalow with a viewing deck was magnificent and offered “absolute tranquillity”.
“It was designed and built by Pattie and Alfred Deakin in 1907, a magnificent structure in a magnificent location,” he said.
“We’re ideally positioned to beaches, award-winning wineries. The Bellarine Peninsula, the Mornington Peninsula, everything is so accessible – walking tracks to two beaches, the lighthouse. You’ve got the beautiful village of Point Lonsdale only moments away.
“These are all the benefits the current vendors have enjoyed over their extended term of ownership and they’re the benefits that the new custodian of this magnificent property will have to enjoy in the coming years.
“It’s an opportunity to acquire a piece of Australian history.”
Agents were in talks with parties after the auction.
Alfred Deakin’s great-grandson Tom Harley wants to preserve the house. Picture: Jason Edwards
The house was designed and built in 1907, during Deakin’s second term as prime minister. It became an important retreat where he would read, write and develop political ideas.
It retains original furnishings, artworks, and photographs. His wife, Pattie, designed the native gardens and established the Point Lonsdale War Memorial on the property, which has since been passed down through descendants.
Ballara is protected by local heritage and vegetation controls, and the home is heritage listed, but the community fears the property could be subdivided in the future.
Alfred Deakin in the garden at Ballara with his grandson, Wilfred Brookes. Picture: Supplied
According to PropTrack, Victoria recorded a preliminary 66.9 per cent clearance rate from 952 early auction results this week.
For Melbourne, the 1674 homes which went under the hammer this week amounted to a 25 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.
Ray White chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis said homeowners looking to sell before another potential rate rise from the Reserve Bank could be a major factor behind the auction spike.
Mr Banitsiotis said that pre-Covid, rate rises traditionally meant Australian home prices would go backwards – but that has not been the case since the pandemic.
She-oaks, moonahs and tea trees grow on the property.
He said that while it was impossible to predict exactly what property values would do in the future, buyers hoping rate increases would lead to lower prices might be disappointed.
“We might find that if buyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for these interest rate rises, in two or three months’ time they actually haven’t seen the change in the market that they were hoping for and they’re paying more as a result,” Mr Banitsiotis noted.
Other ingredients in the mix include not enough homes being built to meet demand from Victoria’s population growth, and an increased number of investors selling up since the state government increased land taxes and embarked on a large-scale rental regulations’ reform.
Ray White chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis says that a rise in Melbourne auctions could mean sellers are hoping to get deals done before rates potentially rise again.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Toby Balazs said this week’s auction hike had followed a record January for the state.
REIV figures show 556 properties were sold at auctions across Victoria in 2026’s first month, surpassing the former 540 sale record set in January 2021.
“It’s probably not surprising this last week in February that we’re seeing such large volumes of auctions,” Mr Balazs said.
‘Particularly middle and outer-ring suburbs have performed particularly well in terms of both volume and clearance rates.”
He said real estate agencies were continuing to report that investors were leaving the market.
“We have to be aware that if it’s investor stock that’s being sold then obviously that’s going to put even more strain 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.
However, a lot of interstate-based investors are snapping up Melbourne homes as it’s looking good for them from a capital growth perspective, Mr Balazs noted.
Apollo Auctions Victoria director Andy Reid said March would likely be “absolutely mental” in terms of auction numbers and more vendors coming into the market, particularly after some of Australia’s banks raised their fixed interest rates this week.
Mr Reid said buyers were also getting confused by how many similar homes in the same suburb were selling for different prices – sometimes up to $150,000 difference – without seeming rhyme or reason, at the moment.
Apollo Auctions Victoria director and auctioneer Andy Reid in action.
As well, he said many home hunters were using internet Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) platforms to assist them with advice about the property market.
But Mr Reid warned that having access more data did not necessarily translate into understanding every detail when it came to buying or selling, although GenAI could be a helpful tool for general information gathering and insights.
However, not everything AI produces is 100 per cent accurate or correct either.
“It gives information based on the popularity of how many hits it’s got online – it just gathers this information and gives it to you, therefore it often doesn’t know whether it’s right or wrong,” Mr Reid said.
A total of 598 auctions are slated across Victoria next week with the Labour Day public holiday on Monday, March 9.
Additional reporting by Alesha Capone.
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