Home of failed commune goes under hammer for $2 million

THE company behind a failed “intentional community” in northern NSW is selling its property for $2 million through its liquidation firm.

3222 Kyogle Rd, Mount Burrell sold for $2 million.

THE company behind a failed "intentional community" in northern NSW is selling its property for $2 million through its liquidation firm.

The land at 3222 Kyogle Rd in the Tweed Valley suburb of Mount Burrell has been owned by Wollumbin Horizons Pty Ltd, the company behind plans for the Bhula Bhula community.

From 2014 onwards, this slated commune was touted as a place that would provide "a halcyon, alternative communal lifestyle, operating free of the usual societal norms", a Federal Court hearing last year heard.

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Prospective residents bought into the project, but after Tweed Shire Council took action against the unapproved development, including numerous dwellings, the community was discontinued.

The property sold at a public auction for $2 million on Friday, June 19 and it is understood deposits totalling $300,000 have been paid into a real estate agent's trust account.

 

3222 Kyogle Rd, Mount Burrell sold for $2 million.

Settlement has been delayed by a month and it's understood this is now scheduled for October 19.

Steven Staatz of Queensland-based firm Vincents has been handling the liquidation of Wollumbin Horizons.

Mr Staatz was appointed voluntary administrator of Wollumbin Horizons on July 4, 2017.

He was appointed as liquidator the following month and receiver on June 20 last year.

While he could not confirm how many beneficiaries there are attached to the company's trust, or how much they are owed in total, he said he would be considering the matter of beneficiaries once settlement was completed.

In a June 19, 2019 Federal Court decision, Justice Roger Derrington said Mr Staatz was justified in treating a trust formed for funds paid into Bhula Bhula - formed in June, 2015 - as "ineffective" and "invalid".

 

3222 Kyogle Rd, Mount Burrell sold for $2 million.

Justice Derrington said Mr Staatz was also justified "in treating the beneficiaries of the Trust as those persons (who) … subscribed to become members of the Bhula Bhula Community where the funds … were, or were intended to be used by, the subscriber in relation to the costs of acquisition of the property, the purchase price of the property, the discharge of the mortgage over the property, or for the maintenance or improvement of the property".

He found the company "had very poor and limited record-keeping and acted by or through solicitors with, apparently, equally poor attention to detail".

"The company's operations as a purported trustee were often legally misconceived and it engaged in activities in disregard or ignorance of the legal rights and obligations between it and others, including persons who depended on it," he said.

At that time, the court heard Bhula Bhula was promoted from early 2014 by its "driving force and controller", Mark Darwin, along with his "close associate" Adrian Brennock.

 

Pete Evans in a Youtube video promoting the proposed Nightcap on Minjungbul community.

3222 Kyogle Rd, is being purchased by the proponents of a new proposed "intentional community", known as Nightcap on Minjungbul.

Mr Brennock has appeared in promotional material advertising that new proposal, which also involves a neighbouring property and all of Mount Burrell's commercial properties.

 

Gunham Badi Jakamarra and Adrian Brennock in a Youtube video promoting the proposed Nightcap on Minjungbul community.