Historic Victorian farm snapped up in eight-figure deal

A tightly held 485ha farm west of Geelong has been sold after 85 years in the hands of one family. See the details.

The Champness family have sold their Mount Moriac property, spanning 485ha, after 85 years and four generations.

A tightly held landmark rural holding in Victoria’s Surf Coast region, with an extinct volcano at the heart of the property, has been sold in an eight-figure deal.

The 485ha Mount Moriac holding, located 27km west of Geelong, has changed hands after 85 years and four generations of ownership by the Champness family.

Offered to the market last November, either as a whole or in four separate lots, the historic aggregation was expected to field offers worth $16-$18m in total.

HF Richardson Property agents Matt Poustie and Tony Hyde handled the sale of the property, but declined to comment on the final sale price and identity of the buyer.

CoreLogic sources indicate that the upper end of the price estimate was achieved.

It is also understood Mount Moriac has been sold as a whole to a Melbourne-based entity looking to expand and diversify their property portfolio into an agricultural holding, and as a long-term land banking play.

The Mount Moriac property offered farmland suitable for livestock, cropping, hay production and equine pursuits.

Situated at 250m above sea level, Mount Moriac towers over the plains west of Geelong, with panoramic views towards the You Yangs, Melbourne’s skyline, Barrabool Hills, the Surf Coast, Otway ranges and as far as Mt Elephant.

English immigrant Dr Michael Minter was the first settler on the property, buying 259ha from the Crown in 1850.

Initially intending to grow grapes, Dr Minter focused instead on sheep and turned to civic service later in life, becoming a magistrate and active in community affairs.

Percy Fitzpatrick took the reins of Mount Moriac, then 728ha in 1939, and set about turning his purchase into a landmark property for the district.

Lot 1, Mt Moriac (135ha), includes the 1940s homestead, manager’s residence, two-stand shearing shed and other shedding, while Lot 2, Mt Moriac East (87ha), has old stock yards, hay and machinery shedding.

A circa-1940s brick homestead stands at the Mount Moriac farms.

Lot 3, Mt Moriac North, comprises 154ha and Lot 4, Mt Moriac West, 109ha.

“It garnered an incredible amount of interest during the sale campaign which was not unexpected given the iconic nature of ‘The Mount’ and the rarity of such a large parcel of land so close to a major city,” Mr Poustie said.

“Interest was predominantly Victorian-based, with some interstate interest from NSW ag investors also.”

Volcanic loam soils across the aggregation have underpinned a variety of cattle, sheep and cropping throughout the properties’ farming history including wheat, canola, turnips and lucerne hay.

For three decades the Champness family carried cattle on the property with a registered Murray Grey stud and, later, an Angus beef herd.

Originally published as Historic Victorian farm snapped up in eight-figure deal