Mickleham farmers hit jackpot with sale of prized farmland
A farming family has hit pay dirt with the sale of their prized Mickleham land to developers.
And the humble Troutbeck siblings stand to pocket even more money from the land their parents bought for just 500 pounds 83 years ago — but they swear the massive paydays won’t change them.
Local developers Pask Group have splashed a multimillion-dollar sum to secure about a third of the Troutbecks’ 25.8ha dairy farm in Melbourne’s outer north.
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The price they paid for the 8.8ha slice, which is on its own title at the front of the block, is being kept strictly confidential.
The front parcel of land owned by the Troutbecks has sold for a figure that’s being kept tightly under wraps.
Comparable sales had suggested the entire property could have fetched as much as $50 million.
Jason Real Estate director Jason Sassine says the remaining 17ha piece, also on its own title, will be offered for sale again later this year or early next.
Edward, Garry and Keith Troutbeck say they are “very sad, but excited” by the sale.
They listed the property following the deaths of their parents, Hutton and Isabel, who bought it for 500 pounds ($AU895 today) shortly before marrying in 1935.
The property features cattle, vintage cars and tractors, and a house that was transported there “down the Tullamarine Freeway” — but not for much longer. Picture: Alex Coppel
The family house they trucked to the property “down the Tullamarine Freeway” in the 1960s will soon make way for 140-150 residential land lots.
The Mickleham Rd site is still zoned for farming, but is expected to change to an Urban Growth Zone in the next two to three years. Pask Group would then start developing it.
The three brothers grew up on the farm with sister Judith and late brother Graeme, with Garry telling the Sunday Herald Sun last year he’d lived there his entire 78 years.
Edward, aged in his 80s, says it is time they moved on.
“The traffic is passing 24 hours per day now, it’s no longer peaceful living,” he says.
Garry says they saw the urban sprawl coming: “We are so close to Melbourne, it had to come.”
The Troutbeck brothers say the money won’t change them. Picture: Alex Coppel
The brothers all had similar plans for their shares — buying more land and new homes — and emphatically stated that while the money would be life changing, it wouldn’t change the way they lived.
Sassine says the remaining 17ha piece was one of the last properties yet to be snapped up by developers in the “Craigieburn West Precinct Structure Plan”.
Pask has previously created more than 600 home sites in nearby Greenvale at its “Providence” development, and is working on bringing 474 more to the suburb at “The Maples”.
This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Mickleham farm: humble farmers strike it rich with sale to developer”.
