Not quite tropical, NSW mid-north coast Garden Island at Port Stephens on the market

Not quite tropical, NSW mid-north coast Garden Island at Port Stephens on the market
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 8, 2020

Garden Island, near the historic village of Carrington at Port Stephens, has been listed for sale.

It now comes with a pavilion-style home on its 1.6-hectare holding nestled in the inner harbour of the NSW mid-north coast town.

It’s about 950 metres to shore.

With views extending from Nelson Bay around to Soldiers' Point and Lemon Tree Passage, the house was designed by Mullumbinby-based architect Philip Pratt in a mix of Australian rural architecture and Japanese Modular design.

The house features separate pavilions with Colourbond steel external walling and roofing.

The almost adandoned overgrown island last sold without the house for $480,000 in 2001, having been held by the pioneering White family since the Australian Agricultural Company disposed of some land holdings in the 1880s.

Image: Google Maps

Its vendors are carpet warehouse sellers Wendy and Ken Derry, who married almost 50 years ago after meeting on Luna Park's ghost train as teenagers.

The couple were no strangers to the water, having lived on the Central Coast waterfront after relocating from Sydney's Smithfield about 30 years earlier.

Clearing the island took about six weeks, and the couple enlisted friends and family to help pick up rocks and hand-clear the prickly vine and lantana choking the native vegetation. The builder, Laurie Murphy, came from Bundabah, near North Arm Cove.

It was a huge challenge then to complete the house, they told Sally Croxton of the Newcastle Herald on its 2003 completion.

Linda Derry, the listing agent from Derry's Real Estate Prestige Property, says the there was no price to display on the marketing due the the unique property and area.

"We have had nothing to compare," she told Property Observer.

"The only indications have been from prospective purchasers ranging from $4.5 million to $7 million."

The deeds to the island show the island was bought by Dribold White from the AA Company in 1885 for £30.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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