High-flyer pays $1.54m for charity home

ABOUT 50 people turned up last weekend for the state's first auction of a charity home in the booming Pilbara.

ABOUT 50 people turned up last weekend for the state's first auction of a charity home in the booming Pilbara.

The bidding started off strongly, with an initial bid of $1.2 million for the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Port Hedland's new Pretty Pool Estate.

The home, on 693sq m, sold 25 minutes later for $1.54 million to Clark Butson, owner of Polar Aviation.

The company has a fleet of aircraft delivering services in the North-West and Mr Butson is a grade one flying instructor with more than 18,500 hours flying experience.

Mr Butson is also a supporter of children's charity Variety WA and has previously donated the use of his hangar to the Variety WA Pilbara Committee Black Tie event.

Mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy'' Forrest's Fortescue Metals stumped up an interest-free loan of up to $400,000, which a Variety spokeswoman said allowed the charity to procure essential materials and labour not donated to the project, to be repaid from the sale.

Attending the auction last Saturday were Deidre Willmott and Vicki James, of Fortescue Metals Group, LandCorp's Brad Pawlenko, and Michael Pailthorpe, Geoff Garside and Peter Broad, of Variety WA.

Brett Philp, of Jan Ford Real Estate, was the auctioneer.

The property will have bamboo flooring and a big open-plan living area leading to an outdoor area and pool.

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