The family of prominent barrister Allan Myers has ended a prolonged legal fight against ex-Hawthorn footballer Brad Sewell’s plan to build four holiday cabins beneath the Grampians.
The children of Myers, KC, a rich-lister from Dunkeld, objected to the development near the family’s homestead in Victoria’s west five years ago, arguing it would ruin their views of Mount Sturgeon and Mount Abrupt.
Allan Myers (right) has ended a prolonged legal fight against ex-Hawthorn footballer Brad Sewell’s plan to build four holiday cabins at the foot of the Grampians.Credit: Nicole Reed/AFR, Channel Seven/Supplied.
Clare Myers, Cecilia Myers and John Myers – directors of Dunkeld Pastoral, which Allan founded – planned to have their appeal against Dunkeld Property Holdings, directed by Sewell’s wife Louise Smith, heard in the Court of Appeal last month.
However, court documents released to The Age in recent days reveal the Myers’ filed a notice of discontinuance on May 15, ending the long-running legal battle.
The Sewells bought land off Fairburn Street in Dunkeld in 2019 for $300,000. The Southern Grampians Shire Council approved their plans to turn the site into tourist accommodation in April 2021.
But the wealthy Myers family appealed to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), and eventually, the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Justice Michelle Quigley found at the time: “The proposal is a modest one, comprising four detached cabins, along with a pool, sauna and other works to accommodate 10 people in total.”
Though the Myers’ appeals were rejected, Sewell and Smith’s development remained stalled pending the Court of Appeal proceedings.
With that appeal now dropped, The Age attempted to ask Sewell whether his holiday cabin plans would now move forward, but he declined to comment.
Allan Myers at his property in Dunkeld.Credit: Nicole Reed
The Myers family, meanwhile, remains one of the most powerful in Victoria’s Western District.
Allan Myers’ net wealth was estimated to be $939 million in the Australian Financial Review’s latest Rich List.
Myers grew up in the Dunkeld before eventually becoming one of Australia’s pre-eminent commercial lawyers, representing the likes of billionaires Kerry Stokes, Alan Bond and Gina Rinehart.
He made further millions via shrewd investments, including buying into Polish brewery Grupa Zywiec in the 1990s as Poland emerged from communism.
But Myers still spends much of his time at a large estate in his hometown of Dunkeld (population 688).
An aerial view of Dunkeld.Credit: Nicole Reed
He has invested substantially in the small town, having bought the Royal Mail Hotel and turned it into a destination restaurant with two hats in the Good Food Guide.
But Myers’ outsized influence has also drawn the ire of some locals, as detailed in a recent feature in the Australian Financial Review Magazine. Though, Myers told the AFR that such reactions “deeply hurt” him as he’d spent his life trying to improve Dunkeld.
Myers also defended his family’s lengthy legal action against Sewell’s development in the profile story.
Brad Sewell is chaired off for his 200th and final match in 2014. He retired with two premierships.Credit: Pat Scala
He recounted telling Sewell in his Melbourne chambers in 2020 that he was “implacably opposed” to Dunkeld Property Holdings’ cabin proposal, and offered to buy the land, which Sewell rejected.
Myers said the family had “done no more” than make “proper” objections.
Neither Myers nor his family responded to further requests for comment from The Age.
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