Iconic Darwin fish-feeding tourist attraction for sale

THE iconic Darwin fish-feeding tourist attraction Aquascene at Doctors Gully is on the market and is attracting plenty of interest

The iconic Aquascene Doctors Gully fish feeding attraction is for sale. Picture: Supplied

THE iconic Darwin fish-feeding tourist attraction Aquascene at Doctors Gully is on the market and attracting plenty of interest.

The property sits on prime waterfront land adjacent to the Darwin CBD.

LJ Hooker’s Brendan Dunn, who is joint marketing agent alongside KG Young and Associates’ Tony Pickering, said despite the property being on the market for little more than a week, it has attracted local and interstate interest.

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“It is a prime site with a prime tourist attraction on it,” Mr Dunn said.

“Not only is there the popular fish feeding tourist business, but there is also a large private residence on the block.”

The site covers an area of 3290 square metres and is being offered for sale by expression of interest.

The Doctors Gully property was sold by former Chief Minister Marshall Perron in 2003 in a private sale for close to $3 million.

The sale in 2003 was the biggest residential sale in the NT at the time, surpassing the $2.5 million May sale of a Cullen Bay home. Mr Perron bought Doctors Gully in 1979.

Current trading figures show an annual net profit of $400,000.

Improvements located on the property comprise an elevated three bedroom home and adjacent garage/workshop together with a separate souvenir shop building.

Mr Pickering said the Doctors Gully site is zoned OR (Organised Recreation).

The primary purpose of zone OR is to provide areas for organised recreational activities. OR development is to be limited to “that which is consistent with the recreational opportunities of the land”.

This adds to its tourism potential.

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Doctors Gully has had a colourful place in Darwin history.

The first permanent town market garden was planted there in 1869 and Darwin’s first brewery was situated there in 1873. Darwin’s first hospital was built on the clifftop above the gully in 1874 and our first Chinese temple was erected on the foreshore.

A Catalina flying boat base operated out of Doctors Gully during the Second World War.

Since 1980 it has been the home of the interactive Aquascene Fish Feeding Sanctuary.

The closing date for the lodgement of expressions of interest is 5pm Wednesday, September 4 at either the office of KG Young and Associates at 74 Cavenagh Street, Darwin or LJ Hooker Commercial at Suite 1/25 Parap Road, Parap.