Island in the dream for $2.5m and you'll never be built out

BURRAGA ISLAND, a 121-hectare Shoalhaven River island, has been listed for sale – one of the few privately owned NSW coastal islands.

Hardly tropical paradise, but its $2.5 million anticipated selling price ranks it alongside the many tropical island counterparts. It is not far downstream from Nowra Bridge on the Princes Highway,and about six kilometres up from the coastal Comerong Island. It lies between Bomaderry and Terara.

Its sale at auction on May 3 will end 34 years of ownership by the farming Kennedy family. It was last sold in 1977 for $105,000 after plans collapsed for a $4 million hotel motel.

The development had met strong opposition from environmentalists concerned for snipe, migratory birds from Japan.

The island is officially known as Pig Island, but locally it is referred to as Burraga Island.

Since its recent marketing campaign, buyer interest has emerged from across the world including Chinese interests, according to its Ray White Gerringong listing agent, Neil Campbell.

Garden Island, near the historic village of Carrington at Port Stephens, fetched $480,000 in 2001, having been held by the pioneering White family since the Australian Agricultural Company disposed of some land holdings in the 1850s.

Previous island sales include Esk Island, a 25-hectare Clarence River island, near Iluka on the north coast, which sold for $395,000, and Wade Island, a 92-hectare Lake Burrinjuck island, in the south-west, which sold for $300,000, both in 1997.

Noosa’s only privately owned island, Makepeace Island, also known as Pig Island, was bought by Virgin Group’s chief executive, Richard Branson, along with other Virgin Blue executives for $2.86 million in 2003.

Burraga Island is prime grazing land with billabongs, a five-bedroom house and a ferry link. The island is zoned rural flood liable, so agricultural pursuits are its most likely use. At present it is stocked with beef cattle.

Just one residence is permitted, which could be used for low-key tourism accommodation.