$300m property portfolio, including Dunk Island, set for carve-up in billionaire Cannon-Brookes split

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes are among Australia’s most active property investors, with a portfolio including numerous trophy homes and even an island.

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes have a property portfolio worth an estimated $300m. Picture: James Croucher

A $300m property portfolio spanning Point Piper to Far North Queensland is expected to become a focus of billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’s split with wife Annie after 13 years of marriage.

Should the Cannon-Brookeses follow the playbook of this month’s other billionaire split - Andrew and Nicola Forrest - Annie could emerge with half of Mike’s overall estimated fortune of $16.1bn.

The Cannon-Brookeses have been active investors since they first met at a Qantas lounge more than a decade ago. In 2021 they committed to invest $1.5bn into climate projects by 2030. But more recently Mike has become increasingly stretched.

He joined forces with Canadian private equity giant Brookfield to spearhead a failed takeover of AGL last year and has been involved in a high-profile spat with Andrew Forrest over their $30bn Sun Cable project, which resulted in the large renewable development collapsing.

But far from their Point Piper mansion Fairwater- which became Australia’s most expensive home when the Cannon-Brookeses bought it for $100m in late 2018 - is property that Annie acquired last year on her own for $24m.

Dunk Island - four kilometres off the coast from Mission Beach in Far North Queensland - has been known in recent years for its on/off again resort development, including becoming at centre of a tourist Mecca and later repossession from troubled developer Mayfair 101.

But before the island and its commercial opportunities were splashed over headlines, it was a sanctuary and one known to have prolonged one former resident’s life by more than quarter of a century.

And when Annie bought the island, she had plans to restore it to the paradise that had been lost.

E J. Banfield – the Beachcomber of Dunk Island who outlived the life expectancy advised from his doctors by 26 years.

In many respects, Dunk Island witnessed the birth of nature journalism when former Townsville Daily Bulletin reporter and senior editor Edmund Banfield arrived at the island in 1897, suffering from anxiety and exhaustion - conditions that had become so bad that doctors told him he only had six months to live.

But Banfield recovered in the exotic location, living another 26 years, and writing several books including Confessions of a Beachcomber, My Tropical Isle and Tropic Days, detailing the island’s geography, history, flora and fauna.

A spokesperson for Annie Cannon-Brookes said last year that she bought the 147 hectare island to preserve its natural beauty for years to come. A major reboot of the dilapidated resort, which Cyclone Yasi destroyed in early 2011, with plans to ditch its airstrip in favour of ferrying guests in by helicopter and boat.

Twelve months on, no more information has been shared and Annie has now split from her husband, known for crusading against fossil fuels and protecting the environment as much as his co-founding of Nasdaq-listed software firm Atlassian that made him a billionaire, who was most recently ranked as the sixth wealthiest Australian, according to The Australian’s Richest 250.

Annie Cannon-Brookes bought Dunk Island last year for a reported $24m.

The Cannon-Brookeses are also known for their privacy, and are understood to have separated a month ago after 13 years of marriage, before sources close to the family confirmed it at the weekend.

“They’re both focused on their children as their number one priority right now,” a source close to the family said in a statement. “They ask that their privacy is respected.”

The Cannon-Brookes family, including their four children, reside at Point Piper mansion Fairwater, a 1.12ha estate that had been held by the Fairfax family for more than 100 years.

The couple paid a record $100m for the property in late 2018, making it Australia’s most expensive house, and beating the previous record set by best friend Scott Farquhar who had earlier paid $71m for the house next door.

Mike and Annie are among Australia’s most active property investors and have shelled out for numerous high-end properties across NSW, including $12m for a house that backs on to Fairwater, $15m for a 155ha property in the NSW Southern Highlands, a $5.35 million purchase of the nearby 45ha Rosehill Farm, along with another Highland farm, Joadja Creek, bought for $3.3m in 2016.

In August 2020 Mr Cannon-Brookes was revealed as the $24.5m buyer of the Koichi Takada-designed Newport trophy home previously owned by model Jennifer Hawkins, after spending $8.7m in 2013 to buy a six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house set on 1107 sq m in Palm Beach.

Formerly the home of Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall, Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes purchased the Newport mansion in August 2020 for $24.5m, setting a new residential price suburb record at the time.

In August 2020 he spent $2.3m on a private getaway at Great Mackerel Beach further up the NSW coast, and in 2020 also spent $18m to buy the former official residence of the German consul-general in Woollahra, which Annie Cannon-Brookes was expected to use as an office and studio for her House of Cannon fashion enterprise.

The tech titan co-founded software firm Atlassian with his long-time friend Mr Farquhar in 2001 and while the company is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the US they have chosen to keep its headquarters in Sydney. The company builds enterprise collaboration software for teams, and its products including Jira and Confluence have racked up more than 10 million active monthly users globally.

Atlassian has been a stunning success since he and Farquhar started the business after meeting at the University of NSW. The 2015 Nasdaq float catapulted the pair into the ranks of the wealthiest people in the country. As of August 2022 the co-founders held about 43 per cent of Atlassian shares, but had planned to slowly sell a portion of those shares over the next 12 months.

The Cannon-Brookesese bought 20 Ross Smith Parade, Great Mackerel Beach for $2.3m.

In April Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar announced they were laying off 5 per cent of Atlassian‘s staff, amid a widespread “tech wreck” impacting the valuation of software companies.

Speaking exclusively on the sidelines of Atlassian’s Teams summit in Las Vegas in April, Mr Cannon-Brookes told The Australian he had no plans to depart the company he co-founded more than two decades ago.

“I’ve had a 90/10 rule for many years … And I don’t intend to change that,” Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

“Ninety per cent of my hours are spent here (at Atlassian), 10 per cent are spent outside.

“I have a lot of great teams of people outside, but this is something that’s a very intentional choice of how to spend my time, and that’s how I can have the greatest impact.”

Originally published as $300m property portfolio, including Dunk Island, set for carve-up in billionaire Cannon-Brookes split