An auctioneer was run off his feet fielding 248 offers from five bidders at the onsite auction of a well-known small farm in south-west Victoria on Friday.
The historic property had been bequeathed to the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by the Nehill brothers many years ago.
Ray White Camperdown director Alistair Tune said the 48 hectare (119 acre) property at 97 Nehill and Alexanders roads, in South Purrumbete, sold at the on-site auction on Friday for a surprise $1.205 million.
At that price, the farm near Cobden sold for $10,126 per acre.
It sold for $405,000 above its reserve price.
Mr Tune said 248 bids were made between five parties.
He said Alex and Peter Nehill left the property to the trust in their wills more than a decade ago in the hopes for it to be developed into a tourism venture.
Alex and his brothers, Peter and Joe were the third generation to live there.
Their grandfather, Patrick Nehill, bought the property in 1874 after leasing it for six years.
The brothers famously used draught horses to work the land until 1978, and used traditional farming practices to manage their property which they had opened to the public.
Their plan was to showcase a number of rare breeds of farming animals, provide a relaxing picnic spot and information panels depicting the story of farming practices relative to the area.
The siblings, alongside their late brother Joe, were known for breeding black pigs and Sussex sheep plus heritage fruit tree species.
They worked the land relying mainly using Clydesdale horses rather than tractors.
The original three-bedroom cottage featured high ceilings, polished pine boards and bull nose verandah.
It had its own orchard, quality fencing, nine large paddocks plus eight smaller holding paddocks with shelters, cattle yards including crush, hay shed and other shedding.
Mains water supplies concrete troughs in most paddocks.
Mr Tune said 248 bids were made between five parties, with the property selling for $405,000 above the reserve price.
"I opened the bidding at $750,000 then it went in increments of about $5000 for a bit, then it got down to $1000 bids for close to a couple of hundred bids," he said.
"That much above reserve is something I have never experienced.
"Then even the bidding sequence, I was standing there for more than half an hour."
He said about 35 people attended the auction with the purchaser being a local.
The National Trust had opened the Nehill Brothers Living Heritage Reserve in 2011 and stated in 2013 it planned to take over direct management.
It was listed as closed in 2019.
- with Warrnambool Standard
