Phillip Island J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR
Magnificent cypress trees line the driveway leading to the historic Trenavin Park mansion
Echoes of history The historic Trenavin Park at Ventnor, on the western side of the tourism mecca Phillip Island, has been listed by Prestige Homes of Victoria agents Sean Cussell and Marcus Heron, with a price guide of $7 million to $7.7 million. The double-storey homestead with 1920s Arts and Crafts styling was built by A.K.T. (Albert Keaston Trenavin) Sambell, the the island’s first shire president. It sits just above the original site of the homestead of the pioneering McHaffie brothers, the island’s first settlers. At the end of a driveway lined with cypress trees, the residence is built from locally made bricks and set under a Welsh slate roof. It features cosy formal rooms with timber panelling and fireplaces, and a craftsman-built timber staircase leads to its five bedrooms. There’s also a restored 1900s chapel, originally the San Remo Catholic Church, that was transported to the estate more than three decades ago. The non-denominational chapel has previously been used for weddings. The 34ha estate, made up of gentle hills, fertile land and a secluded beachfront, has views across Western Port Bay towards Flinders. It last traded in 2009 for $4.25 million, having previously been sold for $600,000 in 1993. Phillip Island recently saw another prestige mansion change hands when the Grollo concreting family listed Woolamai House. AUGUST 8-9, 2020
| THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN
Set on 1.76ha on the opposite side of the island, it sold for $3.2 million, after almost four decades of ownership, to Simon and Samir Abdelmalak of the Samma Property Group family. The seven-bedroom Italianate mansion, built by colonial hotelier Captain John Blake Cleeland, came with the more recent addition of an award-winning extension – in concrete, naturally – designed by Robert Simeoni. The Cleeland family sold their reduced holding to the Grollo family in 1985 for $232,000. Overlooking Cleeland Bight, the historic 1860s home, whose walls were decorated with images of horseracing greats, had sat on an estate that once occupied almost a third of the island. Captain Cleeland owned the 1875 Melbourne Cup winning horse Woolamai, who was trained on the island. Only 26km long and 9km wide, Phillip Island became a tourist destination in the 1920s with the creation of an access track to the penguin colony, and later with the Australian Grand Prix being run on its unsealed roads. The racetrack is owned by billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, whose grander plans to build a $300 million resort in 2008 failed to secure approvals. The first tourist bus registered in Victoria, a Chevrolet, arrived on the island in the 1930s to transport visitors from Cowes to view the nightly parade of little penguins.
Shire president Sambell developed the Summerland golf course and housing estate – both now gone so as to ensure the survival of the penguin colony. Elaine Sambell, Sambell’s youngest daughter, and her husband Dr Alexander Reith faced opposition to their plans for the golf course and attached farm, Lammarwells, through the 1960s and 1970s, with the family eventually selling to the Hamer Government in 1979. The first conservation measure had been the donation of a 10acre (4ha) parcel to the state around 1950 by estate agent Spencer Jackson and his wife Alexandrina. Decades of strident conservation demands by local activists, aided by officials including Philip Opas QC and Dr Bill Carroll, as well as Victorian premier John Cain and his minister for conservation, Joan Kirner, resulted in the peninsula being returned to a wildlife habitat, complete with safe breeding grounds. Their endeavours were acknowledged in 2019 in a New York Times article “To Save Tiny Penguins, This Suburb Was Wiped Off the Map”, which highlighted the fact that Australia’s tourism sector relied heavily on wildlife. It is estimated that more than 32,000 penguins now live in the colony. Attracting 3.5 million visitors each year, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Australia. Luxury cruise ships have long included Phillip Island as a port of call. MANSIONAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
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