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Broome

JONATHAN CHANCELLOR

Pearl of the west

Wanalirri, a private bush retreat (pictured above) behind the sand dunes of Cable Beach in Western Australia’s Broome, has been listed for sale by Susan Bradley, known to many as the queen of the Kimberley. The raconteur extraordinaire has owned the tropical 1.25ha estate for the past 18 years.

Through the bougainvillea-draped gates and along a driveway lined by mango trees is the main residence, shaded by an imposing boab tree. Inside, the arbiter of northern style has stylishly furnished four bedrooms, including a master with ensuite and walk-in wardrobe. There are polished wood floors, ripple iron walls and fly-wire shuttered verandas. The entertaining terrace meets the resort-style pool complete with waterfall, set in lush tropical surrounds. Away from the home is a self-contained cottage, as well as a stand-alone yoga studio.

Ray White Broome agent Giles Tipping has listed the old pearlers-style home for Bradley, a pastoralist and enthusiast member of the Commonwealth Government’s regional development committee for the Kimberley. She also sits on the Laurie Brereton chaired, Kimberley Australia Foundation that seeks to preserve rock art.

After 50 years of living in the Kimberley, mostly on isolated cattle stations, she intends to downsize from her Bilingurr retreat. The house is 10 minutes from Broome and it’s a 10-minute walk across sand dunes to Cable Beach.

Broome, 1680km north of Perth in one of Australia’s great wilderness areas, is certainly isolated. Its urban population sits at around 15,000 but the town can attract 45,000 monthly tourists in peak season from June to August. Among its high-profile property owners are the Paspaley pearling family, along with the Stokes media family, who bought there in the late 1980s.

The most recent prestige listing, a $2 million offering on beachfront Demco Drive, is now under offer. Five years ago, a 2008 home designed by Perth architect Paul Meschiati on the edge of Roebuck Bay was listed with $2.5 million hopes but did not sell. The most recent prestige sale was $1 million for a 2010-built home designed by Engawa Architects on a Mina Court holding once owned by Lord Alistair McAlpine.

Just as Bradley is known as the queen of the Kimberley, her dear friend, the late Lord Alistair McAlpine of West Green, had many a moniker. The frangipani-loving Broome visionary was affectionately known as the lord of the bush, the baron of Broome and even lord of the parrots. He truly helped put the town on the international tourism map. Describing the heat during his last visit in March 2012 as like a very gentle sauna, McAlpine, the treasurer of the British Conservative Party under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was there to be formally recognised for that contribution. He was awarded the shire’s highest honour, Freeman of the Municipality, at special ceremony and a statue of him with a cockatoo on his shoulder now graces the foreshore.

McAlpine was taken with the former pearling town – albeit derelict – when he first visited to buy seashells in 1979. Within hours of arriving he’d purchased a cottage, and within a few years he’d started a zoo and a luxury resort.

“Without its old houses Broome was nothing,” the softly spoken McAlpine told me. On his last trip he said: “It’s important the planners stick to the ‘no higher than a palm tree’ height principle when it comes to new development.”

McAlpine’s reluctant exit from the town came in the wake of the debilitating 1989 pilots’ strike, and he said he might still be there but for that. The UK-based The Telegraph noted in his obituary that the strike, which lasted six months, saw his tourism venture, in which he had invested £250 million, collapse, costing him much of his personal fortune.

“It’s greatly improved since my day,” said McAlpine, dapperly dressed in earthy colours that matched the locality. “The town has developed very well ....I’ve been impressed by the restraint.”