Daniel Petre doubles down on Southern Highlands to buy $12 million Rivendell

Tech veteran and philanthropist Daniel Petre and his wife, Carolyn, have taken to their new holiday locale of choice in the Southern Highlands with the sort of gusto expected of tech titans.

The former lieutenant of Bill Gates had already shown a penchant for the bucolic pastures of Robertson early this year when the couple purchased White Birch Farm for $6 million.

Rivendell in Robertson is set on 17 hectares on the Barrengarry Creek.

But a few weeks after they took possession of the 10-hectare property, the larger property Rivendell across town hit the market for $14 million, showcasing not only an extra seven hectares but a private patch of rainforest, orchard, swimming pool, second residence and equestrian facilities.

The couple couldn’t resist, snapping it up for about $12 million and side-stepping arduous building work given the crunch on industry supply chains and tradies.

Daniel Petre paid about $12 million for the property Rivendell.Credit: Ryan Stuart

Unlike tech industry property collector Mike Cannon-Brookes, the Petres are not kicking off a local acquisition drive.

The word is White Birch Farm is already being quietly offered to buyers by Drew Lindsay Real Estate’s Corina Nesci, who sold them into their new retreat.

Until settlement, Rivendell remains owned by Kelly Iredale, wife of another tech entrepreneur Brett Iredale, founder and former chief of global recruitment software company JobAdder.

Selling v renovating

Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Edwina McCann and her husband, investment manager David Basha, have sold their five-bedroom home on the Bellevue Hill/Rose Bay border.

Details on the sale remain under wraps given it was an off-market deal and no comment from the only agent rumoured to have been involved in the deal, Jayden Hurvitz, of One Buyers Agency.

Edwina McCann and David Basha were married in 2019.Credit: Ken Butti

The Beresford Road house last traded in 2016 for $5.6 million, and there were plans for a renovation late last year when a DA was lodged for alterations and additions.

It will be left to settlement to reveal the sale price, but it is expected to be close to the estimated $13 million recently fetched two doors away for the home of Clare Mulham, daughter of billionaire Imelda Roche and the late Bill Roche.

Roslyndale’s rare showing

The historic Woollahra residence Roslyndale long owned by the late barrister and pastoralist Frank McAlary and his widow, Patricia, is up for sale for the first time in 44 years.

The historic Roslyndale in Woollahra last traded in 1978 for $425,000.

McAlary, who was immortalised in the iconic image of the end of World War II as Sydney’s dancing man, purchased the 1850s-built house for $425,000 in 1978 from then coal company chairman John Massy-Greene, making him just the latest in a long line of prominent owners.

Built for broker William James Lennon, by the turn of last century it was owned by William Joseph Macpherson, whose family owned the nearby Hawthornden estate, and in the early 1920s, it was purchased by the family of prominent politician John Hughes.

Frank McAlary stars in the iconic image of Victory in the Pacific Day celebrations on Elizabeth Street in 1945.Credit: SMH Archives

Mark Daley and Bob Guth, of the newly minted Bradfield BadgerFox, have listed it following the death of McAlary’s widow Patricia McAlary.

A guide is yet to be set ahead of the August 16 auction, but buyers in the $15 million range should be encouraged given it is a deceased estate.

It comes soon after a run of bullish $20 million-plus sales locally, including heiress Deborah Symond O’Neil’s purchase in Centennial Park and Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s nearby home sale for $22 million.