Omeo: Historic property The Manse hits market for $850,000

A well-known couple in Victoria’s high country are selling a historic gold rush property with a price tag to rival homes in major regional centres.

A historic Omeo property, which was one of the few to survive the 1939 Black Friday bushfires, is on the market for an amount that rivals the price tags of homes in major regional centres such as Albury and Wagga Wagga.

The Manse was built in the high country town’s gold rush era of the late 1870s by the former Omeo Shire’s first secretary, Thomas Easton.

Easton used it as his personal residence before it was purchased by the Catholic Church at the turn of the century.

It was then sold to the Presbyterian Church in 1925 and christened The Manse. It escaped unscathed when a major bushfire hit the town 14 years later – others such as the Golden Age pub weren’t so fortunate.

Omeo was badly affected by the 1939 Black Friday bushfires.

The Manse returned to a private residence in the 1950s and had a stint as a bed and breakfast before being bought by its current owners, Terry and Anne Petersen, in 2004 for $380,000.

Now, 18 years later, The Manse residence, set on 1.21ha in five lots, has been listed for sale with a price of $850,000 at a time when houses and vacant land in Omeo are in short supply.

In addition to some of the best seasonal conditions for farmers in the area for 50 years, Omeo is also entering a mountain-bike boom with $4.5m being invested by federal, state and local governments.

“We’re one of the lucky towns,” Mrs Petersen said.

“We’ve had bushfires, floods, Covid, no ski season, you name it.

“But we’ve got shops opening up, not closing down.

“I don’t think there is a vacant shop in town at the moment.”

The Manse in Omeo was built in the late 1870s.

The Petersens have been long-term residents of Omeo with Terry an artist after working as a shire engineer.

They are downsizing to another historic property they own, opposite the town’s post office, which opened in 1891.

Harcourts Bairnsdale is handling the sale. Agent Michael Enever said there were a multitude of options for the five-bedroom residence and surrounding land.

The Manse, Omeo is set on 1.12ha.

“It’s not often you get an opportunity to secure a property like this one given its position and what it represents,” he said.

“There are also not too many historic properties in Omeo that survived the 1939 fires when others like the Golden Age and others in Day Ave were all burnt.

“You’ve got three-bedroom, one-bathroom homes in Omeo now making $400,000.”