Council forcibly bought the Georges’ land in 2012. They just sold it to the biggest pub in town for less

A family whose property was forcibly taken by a south-east Queensland council a decade ago is up in arms that the land has now been sold at a loss to the pub next door.

In 2012, the City of Moreton Bay Council acquired a 10-hectare, C-shaped block from the George family, who operated a 10–hole golf course and an 18-hole putt-putt at the site.

The land in Eatons Hill, roughly half an hour north of the Brisbane CBD, was zoned sports and recreation. While the golf course continued operating, the council wanted to own the land to limit “further potentially unsuitable development”.

The land wraps around Eatons Hill Hotel.Credit: Ray White

Another block of land, wrapped on three sides by the golf course and also zoned for sports and recreation, was bought by developers Comiskey Group in 2006. After protracted court proceedings, they built a giant pub – the Eatons Hill Hotel – and shopping centre.

Bordering the golf course to the north and east is a large sporting complex. “The only way of effectively securing the land for open space/sporting purposes is to have it in public ownership,” a council committee said in December 2011.

Carolyn Taylor was a student living with her parents Dawn and Gary George when the council decided to resume the land where they operated the Albany Links.

Carolyn Taylor is perplexed that the land has sold for less. Credit: Julius Dennis

“I guess everyone was pretty shocked … predominantly because of the purpose that was stated, that it was to be for the same purpose that it was already being used for,” she said.

“Initially shock, followed by upset. My mum in particular was very upset about what was unfolding.”

Gary and Dawn loved their work, Taylor said, and intended to run the course for years to come.

The Georges did not want to give up the land – and not for the $1.8 million the council was offering. The matter went to the Land Court of Queensland, where the council’s value was confirmed.

The family appealed and won, and were awarded $4.1 million in 2016.

The decision touched on previous offers made to the Georges for the golf course, some of which were said to have been made by the Comiskeys between 2006 and 2009.

The offers, accepted by the appeals court as being made verbally to Dawn George, ranged between $4 million and $4.5 million, although Rob Comiskey maintains they were never made.

The council appealed the $4.1 million price tag but lost. The Georges moved out and new operators moved in. In January 2019, the links were no more.

Carolyn Taylor and her now-husband Neil celebrating their engagement with her mum Dawn at the Albany Links restaurant.

Between then and now, the council have knocked down the four-bedroom groundskeepers’ home where the Georges lived, the clubhouse and a restaurant on the land.

Last week, the block – minus two hectares of land bordering the South Pine River – was sold at auction for $3.5 million to the Comiskey Group.

“The biggest hotel in Australia just got a little bit bigger,” Comiskey said, a can of XXXX Gold in hand, in a video posted on Facebook.

“We have been eyeing out the site behind Eatons Hill Hotel for years,” he said in a statement on the group’s website. “Strategically we always knew it would be a great buy and it’s a dream realised to be able to have secured it.”

This masthead does not suggest the developer has acted wrongly in purchasing the block.

However, Taylor and her sister Elle George were shocked to see the price of the land after a decade of skyrocketing property prices.

“I would have thought that given the history of offers that he’d previously made for the property and that the council were aware of, that it was indeed very surprising to find out that the land had sold for less than what the council had paid for it over 10 years earlier,” Taylor said.

Comiskey said the property was a “natural fit” for the group. He suggested the family was bitter, pointing to an apology by Dawn George just last year, after she received a defamation letter over comments she made about him online.

Dawn George was also involved in a court matter fighting the establishment of the shopping centre next to the hotel while the family still operated the golf course.

Comiskey said the land was purchased at auction, not through a private deal with the council.

“Anyone could bid on it last Wednesday, and we did,” Comiskey said.

He considered the price fair, given the block was 20 per cent smaller than what the council bought from the Georges, and stripped of the golf course’s greens and amenities.

“What did I just buy? Eight hectares of grass is what I bought,” he said, adding the group was not sure what they will do with the land.

A council spokesperson said the land was surplus to their requirements, and the reserve price was met at the publicly advertised auction.

“Previously the land had an active golf course, a habitated house and was valued as an operating business with assets,” they said.

“Comparing to previous sales and valuations are incorrect due to the lesser size of land and ceasing of activities.

“Previous owners had the ability to participate in the public auction. It is understood they have chosen not to do so.”

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