Historic Ballarat property sold to Chinese buyer

THE HISTORIC property, Lal Lal Estate at Yendon, has been sold to a Chinese buyer.

Oldie but a goodie: Lal Lal Estate in Yendon is one of Victoria's oldest gardens at 100 y

The 2025ha grazing property near Ballarat, owned by prominent wool grower Geoff Fisken has been in the Fisken family since the 1850s.

The WoolProducers Australia president this week confirmed the sale to Wen Qingnan, president of Chinese wool processing giant Tianyu.

Mr Fisken told The Weekly Times the family had made the very difficult decision to sell for health and family reasons.

“While it has been an emotional decision it was the best thing to do in the family’s interests,” he said.

Mr Fisken said a health scare last year, the demands of his industry roles and the fact he was increasingly unable to physically do the work in running a large wool operation, had contributed to the decision.

Mr Fisken said he planned to continue as president of WoolProducers and also in his other wool industry roles.

Mr Wen is believed to have bought the property personally rather than through his company.

He had visited the property a number of times over the years as a guest of Mr Fisken and expressed an interest in buying a grazing property in Victoria.

When Mr Fisken made the decision to sell, he informed Mr Wen and they negotiated a sale privately without formally listing it.

Mr Fisken said he understood the concerns around foreign ownership of Australian farms but if people believed in free trade then that must include foreign investment in agricultural assets.

“The fact is there is not a lot of interest from Australian investors who have the capital to buy a property of this size,” he said.

The property includes the historic 1911 brick homestead, stone stables built in 1858, a large ornamental lake and 2.5 ha of sprawling mature gardens.