Tasmania's colonial homestead Bentley at Chudleigh listed by antique dealers for $15m

One of Tasmania’s grand heritage-listed estates, Bentley at Chudleigh, is for sale for the first time in almost 20 years by renowned antique dealer John Hawkins and his wife, Robyn.

A $15 million guide for the colonial-era homestead and cattle farm north of Launceston in the Meander Valley is expected to set a record for the state’s heritage estates, according to Knight Frank’s Sam Woolcock.

It coincides with a surge in demand for some of Australia’s most notable lifestyle properties both internationally and by state-bound residents, according to his co-agent on the prime listing Ken Jacobs of Christie’s International.

“Tasmania, in particular, is punching well above its range because of the state’s natural attributes but also because international buyers who would have once bought in New Zealand are turning instead to Tasmania,” Mr Jacobs said.

In 2018, the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour Government introduced a bill restricting overseas buyers from purchasing residential property in New Zealand.

The almost 400-hectare property dates back to a land grant of 1829 to John Badcock Gardiner when the island was still known as Van Diemen’s Land. It was named Bentley after the land grant was sold to Donald Cameron in 1836.

The Cameron family built the Melbourne-style “town villa” in 1879, and it was the home of Cameron’s son, noted parliamentarian Donald Norman Cameron, until he died in 1931.

The Hawkins family purchased it in late 2002 for $1.25 million and consolidated it with a handful of adjoining land holdings in 2004 for $783,000 to create what is now a 395-hectare cattle-grazing property.

Hawkins was a stalwart of Sydney’s antique scene at the time of the purchase, with clients who included 1970s oil sheiks, collector Trevor Kennedy and the late Kerry Packer, and over almost 20 years have undertaken a meticulous restoration of the estate.

The original homestead has been doubled in size, with the second wing a replica of the original. Connecting the wings is a central conservatory crowned by an elaborate cupola inspired by the dome on the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

The six-bedroom homestead includes formal living and dining rooms, a drawing room, billiard room and two libraries.

The only man-made structures visible from the house are its own outbuildings, including the Van Diemen’s Land Company Barn that dates back to 1835 and is currently guest lodgings with four bedrooms and a three-bay carriage house with four cast-iron stables. Perched above both the barn and sheds is a clock tower that dates back to the 1800s.

The gardens are credited to Robyn and include the planting of tens of thousands of trees and a recently built orangery.

Among Tasmania’s top-selling historic estates is the Lake House at Cressy, regarded as the state’s finest Georgian house and built in 1830 about 50 kilometres south of Launceston.

Set on 490 hectares on the Macquarie River, it was sold in 2018 for $9.3 million by Virgin Australia co-founder Rob Sherrard.