RARE TASMANIAN COASTAL ESTATE ON THE MARKET FOR MORE THAN $20 MILLION
A 250-hectare beachfront vineyard, distillery and resort on Tasmania’s East Coast has been listed for sale, marking one of the most significant lifestyle and tourism opportunities to emerge in the State in years.
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A landmark coastal property on Tasmania’s East Coast has hit the market, with expectations of more than $20 million for the fully integrated vineyard, distillery and hospitality estate.
White Sands Estate, set across 250 hectares at Four Mile Creek, is being offered by owner-operator John White through Tom Ryan of Knight Frank and Josh Hart of McGrath.
It represents one of the largest privately owned coastal holdings on the East Coast, a region increasingly favoured by both domestic and international investors seeking long-term tourism and lifestyle assets.
The property’s credentials are formidable. It encompasses an operating brewery, distillery and vineyard with a cellar door and tasting room housed within a 3,254-square-metre two-level complex.
Accommodation includes 19 self-contained villas and larger group lodges, alongside multiple event spaces catering to weddings, conferences and corporate retreats. The estate also features manicured lawns, gardens and beachfront event locations with direct private access to Four Mile Creek beach.
Located along the Tasman Highway between St Helens and Bicheno, White Sands occupies a prime position on the East Coast tourism trail, within easy reach of Freycinet National Park, Douglas Apsley and Maria Island. It’s about 90 minutes’ drive from Launceston, making it an accessible yet secluded escape that draws consistent visitor traffic year-round.
Knight Frank’s Tom Ryan said the property’s combination of operational success, large-scale infrastructure and future potential made it an exceptional offering. “An opportunity of this scale simply doesn’t come to the market,” he said.
“We expect strong interest from both domestic and international investors, particularly given the global profile White Sands Estate has developed.”
While already operating as a successful hospitality and tourism venture, the property also offers significant potential for expansion.
“The large-scale site offers multiple future development pathways,” Ryan added. “That includes eco-tourism, resort or residential projects, as well as expanded events and commercial operations.”
McGrath’s Josh Hart echoed that sentiment, describing the listing as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure a fully operational coastal agritourism and lifestyle asset in a tightly held pocket of the East Coast.”
“It occupies a rare stretch of coastline with direct beach access and sweeping ocean views,” Hart said.
“This region benefits from strong year-round visitation linked to nearby icons such as Freycinet and Wineglass Bay, and there are very few large-scale holdings of this nature remaining.”
The East Coast of Tasmania has long been a magnet for tourism investment, prized for its dramatic coastal scenery, growing food and wine culture, and consistent visitor growth.
With strong domestic demand and increasing international visibility, assets like White Sands Estate are becoming increasingly scarce, and increasingly valuable.
The Expressions of Interest campaign for White Sands Estate closes at 2pm AEDT on Thursday, November 20.
The 1860s Darlinghurst mansion Stoneleigh could become Sydney’s most expensive home ever sold under the hammer when it goes to auction. Clint Ballard is giving buyers a $28 million guide for the heritage-listed mansion on Darley Street, opposite Iona, the former home of Hollywood royalty Baz Luhrmann. Stoneleigh is being offered for sale for the …
Set on one of the city’s last absolute riverfront sites, The Riversdale by Mosaic combines irreplaceable waterfront ownership with one of Brisbane’s most significant residential opportunities.
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The 1860s Darlinghurst mansion Stoneleigh could become Sydney’s most expensive home ever sold under the hammer when it goes to auction.
Clint Ballard is giving buyers a $28 million guide for the heritage-listed mansion on Darley Street, opposite Iona, the former home of Hollywood royalty Baz Luhrmann.
Stoneleigh is being offered for sale for the first time in 36 years. The home is owned by jeweller Vanessa Wong, who took the keys in 2016, after the Wong family paid $3.18 million in 1990. Wong renovated the home shortly after taking ownership, adding a pool to its 650 sqm grounds.
A Landmark on the Heritage Register
‘Stoneleigh’ is recognised on the NSW State Heritage Register for its architectural elegance and historical significance, and remains a defining presence within the tightly held Darlinghurst Ridge heritage precinct, an enclave prized for its concentration of intact colonial and Victorian-era residences just minutes from the CBD.
While the bones of the home date to 1860, its current form reflects a considered architectural transformation by Brian Hess, with landscaping by Dangar Barin Smith, that reconciles the villa’s historic fabric with the demands of contemporary living.
Stoneleigh was added to the State Heritage Register in 1999. It features a hipped corrugated steel roof, a bank of 12 paned timber framed double hung windows to the first floor, and arched colonnade to the ground floor, all set behind a Victorian cast iron palisade fence and colonnade extends around one side of the building.
Two of its previous owners have included Richard Jones, who was Chairman of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney and the founder of the Maitland Mercury newspaper. He owned the home for around two decades from 1870. From the mid-1890s, J. Russell French, who was General Manager of the Bank of New South Wales, had the keys.
Grand Interiors, Resort-Style Grounds
Inside, the home unfolds across multiple levels, anchored by a statement marble kitchen with integrated dining that flows into expansive formal and informal living zones. These spaces open out to a private terrace and tropical gardens, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor living in a way that’s become the calling card of Sydney’s top-tier renovations.
The outdoor offering is a standout in its own right: a 3-metre-deep mineral pool with geothermal heating anchors a resort-style entertaining garden designed for year-round use, an increasingly sought-after feature among buyers at the top of the market.
Accommodation is generous with six bedrooms in total. There are two master suites, including a primary retreat built around a Japanese Hinoki bath, along with additional bedrooms, terraces and substantial storage, a rare inclusion in an inner-city heritage home of this era.
Finishes throughout run to French Oak flooring, hand-applied Marrakech plaster walls, bespoke lighting by Michael Anastassiades and a Stuv fireplace, all supported by advanced geothermal climate control, ducted air conditioning and a full security system. A cellar on the lower ground floor houses a functioning heritage well, a genuinely rare survivor that underscores just how much of the property’s 19th-century character has been preserved.
Perhaps most notably for an inner-city heritage property, ‘Stoneleigh’ offers secure parking for up to five vehicles, a feature agents will no doubt lean on heavily, given how scarce multi-car garaging is within walking distance of the city.
Key Features
- Architecturally redesigned by Brian Hess with landscaping by Dangar Barin Smith
- Landmark c.1860 Victorian Regency residence with a refined contemporary transformation
- Resort-style outdoor living with mineral pool, geothermal heating and tropical gardens
- Designer marble kitchen with integrated dining and Sub-Zero, Wolf and Miele appliances
- Multiple formal and informal living zones flowing to an outdoor entertaining terrace
- Two master suites, including a primary retreat with a Japanese Hinoki bath, plus additional bedrooms
- French Oak flooring, Marrakech plaster finishes and bespoke lighting throughout
- Advanced geothermal heating/cooling, ducted air conditioning and full security system
- Stuv fireplace, Michael Anastassiades lighting, retractable awnings
- Secure parking for up to five vehicles — a rare inner-city offering
- Level walk to fine dining, bars, cafes and train stations; 2km to the CBD
- Moments from some of Sydney’s finest schools, including Ascham, SCEGGS and Sydney Grammar
A New Record?
The highest price ever paid for a residential house sold under the hammer in Sydney is $24.6 million, for a home in Vaucluse in September 2020.
Bidding opened at $13 million for the 1,085-square-metre block against an $11 million price guide, and the hammer fell at $24.6 million — well above the $14 million reserve. A young Australian-Chinese couple who’d never bid at auction before walkedaway with the keys. That result broke the previous auction record of $23 million, set by media scion Lachlan Murdoch’s purchase of the Bellevue Hill mansion “Le Manoir” in 2009.
Late last year, Iona, across the road from Stoneleigh, sold by private treaty for $37.5 million. It was bought by Bryant Stokes, son of the billionaire Channel 7 chairman Kerry Stokes, and his wife Dominique. It was sold by investment banker Tim Eustace and his partner Salvador Panui, who bought it from film director Baz Luhrmann for $16 million in 2015.
Wealthy Aussies are swapping large family homes for high-end apartments, with sales of prestige units tripling over the past decade.
Records keep falling in 2025 as harbourfront, beachfront and blue-chip estates crowd the top of the market.
