Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes buys late Lady Mary Fairfax’s $100m Fairwater mansion
Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes will be next door neighbours with his co-founder Scott Farquhar after purchasing harbourside jewel Fairwater.
Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie have confirmed they are the buyers of the late Lady Mary Fairfax’s Sydney Harbour trophy home Fairwater.
The mansion sold shortly after hitting the market with expectations of more than $100 million.
“We are delighted with the purchase of Fairwater for our young family and look forward to continuing the legacy of this beautiful Sydney home” the pair said.
“We love the idea of raising our four young children in this historic property, filling the house and gardens with love and laughter through the years.”
The couple will become neighbour to fellow Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar who paid about $71m for the Fairfax family’s grand estate Elaine in Sydney’s prestigious Point Piper in 2017, in what was the deal of the year.
The co-founders, who were recently profiled in The Weekend Australian Magazine, each have stakes in Atlassian worth close to $5.8 billion and the company is listed on the Nasdaq and is one of the country’s brightest technology stars.
At the time, Mr Farquhar spoke of his plans to keep the historic home in one piece rather than taking advantage of the development approval on the site to subdivide the block into four lots.
It later emerged that Mr Farquhar paid cash for the home.
That deal broke the previous record for the most expensive sale in Australia, when Australian-Chinese businessman Chau Chak Wing bought billionaire James and Erica Packer’s Vaucluse residence for $70m in 2015.
The rapid-fire sale of the home was handled by Ken Jacobs of Christie’s International Real estate, who was not available for comment.
The appointment to sell Fairwater was made by the Trustees of the Estate of the Late Lady Mary Fairfax and sale is not only an Australian record but also a marker of the changing fortunes of the media dynasty.
Mr Jacobs marketed the home as “an extraordinary opportunity to acquire Australia’s most desirable residential holding”.
“The property’s appeal reflects its unquestionable position as Australia’s most revered and significant home,” he said when it went on the market.
Fairwater is the largest privately-owned harbour side landholding at 11,210 sqm — or 2.77 acres — and is well know for its social and charity functions.
The mansion has also been the backdrop for social, charity and business functions attended by a who’s who of Australia’s and the world’s most influential people.
The sale comes despite provisions in Lady Mary’s will that had indicated that home could have remained in the famous family’s possession for decades to come.
There was no explicit mention of how Fairwater was to be bequeathed in the will, although the trustees had the “power of sale” of all assets in the trust fund.
That put decisions about the Point Piper residence in the hands of the four executors — who became the individual trustees of the new Lady Fairfax Trust.
They are Lady Mary’s long-term adviser, publican, Bruce Solomon, former lawyer Jim Momsen and former KPMG partner Peter Done. The fourth executor is Lady Mary’s private secretary Lee Thomas, 67.
Fairwater’s title to the home on New South Head Road was transferred to the will’s executers on February 20.
The will outlines that “live-in” staff members employed by Lady Mary at the time of her death can “continue to live-in at Fairwater”.
The Lady Mary Fairfax Trust was a $600m-plus vehicle and the fortune was left to her four children. The beneficiaries were named as the US-based Warwick Fairfax Junior, whom launched the failed Fairfax takeover in 1987, adopted children Charles Fairfax and Anna Cleary, as well as lawyer Garth Symonds, Lady Mary’s son from a previous marriage.
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