The historic Bronte House in Sydney’s east has been listed for lease by Waverley Council, although its tenants, Anna van der Gardner and husband Wes, are keen to remain.
They have been there for five years, with Waverley Council technically obliged to accept applications from prospective tenants every five years.
Offers are due on September 23. The earliest tenants paid only a peppercorn rent but were required to pay for extensive repairs of the heritage property in the Bronte gully.
It seems there’s now the prospect of higher revenues from any tenants who are also required to have the home open to the public.
There are two weekends a year, one in autumn and one in the spring, with the council advising that planning was under way for smaller booked tours than usual to ensure COVID-19 social distancing.
Keeping the home in public hands via a lease remains the priority for the council.
The home dates back to 1836, when William Mortimer Lewis, colonial architect, bought 42 acres of land. He began a house on his land, but the 1843 depression hit, so he was forced to sell the property before its completion. Robert Lowe, an English barrister and later NSW parliamentarian, bought the property as a country residence for himself and his wife, Georgiana, who finished the house in 1845.
The house was built of sandstone with a slate roof in the Gothic picturesque style. A second storey was added to the house in the 1880s by the Ebsworth family, who bought the property in 1882, and were the longest private owners.
In 1948, the Ebsworths sold the house and its grounds to Waverley Council, which leased it to the Red Cross until 1969.
Most notable among recent lessees was Leo Schofield, whose love of the gardens was explored in his book The Garden at Bronte. He was in residence from 1994 to 2004. Then followed Matt Handbury and Clare Strang, who were obliged to spend $200,000 a year on the upkeep as part of their repairing lease.
Van der Gardner, an interior designer and former florist, has been making her contributions to the garden with rare plants, new beds, and many more dahlias with gardeners from Pepo Botanic Design, which has the maintenance contract.
A dazzling auction
Leonard Joel’s new recruit, Hamish Sharma,secured an Australian auction record for a piece of jewellery last week with the sale of an impressive 17.34- carat emerald-cut diamond ring set in platinum. It sold for $575,000, including buyers’ premium.
Friday morning will see Sharma’s lawyers front Waverley Court in Sydney over the ongoing matter of AVOs that arose from his departure to Joel’s from Smith & Singer.
Both David Mackay, the office manager at Smith & Singer, and his former colleague, Sharma, have AVOs afoot after the incident that dates back to mid-March, when the jewellery specialist was poached.
There was a struggle, caught on video, between the two that spilt out onto Queen Street, with Sharma spending three nights in hospital.
Their offices are just a few doors apart down Queen Street, so Sharma successfully had the Mackay AVO varied to be allowed to work in his new offices once he started at Joels.
Pandemic hull hell for Blackmore
Yachting enthusiast Marcus Blackmore has missed the christening of his newest boat given the COVID-19 travel restrictions. His latest hull hit the water in South Africa this week.
It is the 31.5m SW96 Ammonite, the second yacht the Blackmores founder has had built in Cape Town.
The sparkling yacht already has a packed schedule in the lead-up to Christmas, heading first to Sydney after its trials, and then on to New Zealand for the Millennium Cup title.
Apparently from there the Ammonite will sail off either for a tour of Southeast Asia combined with some regattas or for a cruise to Alaska combined with the 2022 Transpacific Yacht Race.
Blackmore took delivery of his first Ammonite in 2016.
“I will always do another boat! I am always kicking tyres and attending boat shows — that’s just my fun!” he told Super Yacht Times.
Blackmore and wife Caroline have been hands-on in the design process of their boats. Indeed, their prior 24.7m Ammonite had a coffee table custom-built to include a Scrabble board as Caroline loves to play Scrabble.
The latest Southern Wind Yacht-built yacht features an exterior designed by Farr Yacht Design and interiors by Nauta Design. The cockpits are teak-clad.
Its key features include a lifting keel, twin rudders and a fixed bowsprit, carbon boom and carbon mast.
The accommodation is for six guests in three cabins, plus a large owner’s suite. The crew area includes a double bunk and pullman bunk crew cabin.
It also features a garage big enough to store a 3.95m tender.
The couple have spent six to eight weeks a year on board since taking delivery in 2016, mostly long-distance cruising but sometimes breathtaking racing.
Their new Bayview home is nearly ready, so Blackmore, the former chairman of his family’s listed company, recently sold his longhead Pittwater waterfront through LJ Hooker Mona Vale agent Lachlan Elder, who had a $9m guide. It was bought in 1995, when he swapped his home in Manly with a friend so he could be on the water.
His passion for the new yacht and his next Pittwater home meant he decided to steer clear of the vitamin company’s $117m capital raising in May.
The share placement price was at $72.50. The shares now trade at $62.47.
Ellison’s pay dirt
West Australian miner Chris Ellison was briefly the nation’s latest billionaire on Wednesday. It probably came after shares in his Mineral Resources hit a record $29.99 high on Wednesday, with his stake in the company worth $664m, and his other investments taking him over the threshold. Mineral Resources closed at $29.57, with its stock price rally over the past six months about 80 per cent.
In March, in The Australian’s Richest 250 by John Stensholt, Ellison’s wealth was sitting at $744m, having been at $691m last year.
Fellow WA miner Mark Creasy probably goes close, too, in joining the burgeoning billionaires’ club.
ASX’s iSignthis row
The ASX has advised the market that the escalating $464m claim it faces from iSignthis is “not considered material”.
“That reflects our view of the merits of the claim and remains our assessment at this time, notwithstanding the changing amounts being claimed”, the ASX update from its general counsel Daniel Moran advised on Wednesday.
The ASX update came as it noted the latest $200m increase in the damages this week.
“We will continue to defend these legal proceedings and the integrity of the Australian market,” the ASX advised.
iSignthis shares were officially suspended from the ASX in October last year with the ASX citing listing rule 17.3, which states “the entity is unable or unwilling to comply with, or breaks, a listing rule”.
There had been some finger-pointing at the ASX about whether the ASX’s own disclosure on the matter had been best practice. Of course the test for disclosure is materiality, which is a matter of judgment. But there was no expressed reference to ISX in ASX’s annual report, albeit when ISX’s claim was a mere $27m. However, the report did acknowledge ongoing legal claims and that contingent liabilities were possible obligations but whose existence would be confirmed only by uncertain future events.
John Karantzis, CEO of iSignthis, tweeted on Wednesday referencing “the brave board of directors over in ASX lala-land”.
Cranbrook old boys clash over Luxe Listings deal
A court stoush featuring two private school boys, a hit TV show and an old gangster? Throw in some fast cars and rhyming slang and you’ve surely got the makings of a major movie.
Wesfarmers’ Catch killed off as boss swans in Switzerland
Rob Scott was conspicuous by his absence as yet another of Wesfarmers’ dud investments was put to the sword but why he was schmoozing at the Davos world forum is a head scratcher.