You Can Buy This Australian Town for $750,000

For people that are interested in something rare and unusual, the entire town of Allies Creek has been put up for sale at $750,000. Situated at about a five-hour drive to the northwest of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, the saw milling camp consists 16 homes in the Queenslander style as well as both a power depot and a water purification plant. Furthermore, it comes with a complete set of paved roads, running water, and other important infrastructure, meaning that it can be considered a true town in its own right. At the moment, about half of the homes have tenants, while the rest are just waiting for someone to take up residence in them once again.

The town of Allies Creek ceased operations in 2008 because of changes to the forestry industry that made its practices unsustainable in the long run. As a result, an auction was held sometime ago, which brought a couple to look at some of the machinery that was being offered for auction but became convinced to buy the entire town instead. Recently, the husband-and-wife team decided to put Allies Creek up for sale in September of 2015 for $2.1 million but after the passing of the husband, the wife has decided to lower the price to $750,000.

There are a number of reasons that people might be interested in buying Allies Creek. First, while $750,000 sounds like a lot, it is worth mentioning that it is actually less than the cost of either a small home in the city of Sydney or a somewhat bigger home in one of the suburbs of Brisbane. As a result, there is no doubt that the buyer would be getting more physical assets for their money than a similar purchase made elsewhere in Australia. Second, the town of Allies Creek is attached to a great deal of bushland as well as other natural scenery, which makes it an excellent choice for people who want to avoid the hustle and bustle of urban living, particularly if they also have a fondness for the water. After all, the saw milling camp also has a dam on the site, which has resulted in a body of water that supports plenty of marine life. Something that is supported by the significant amounts of red claw and other seafood that can apparently be caught with ease.

With that said, the issue is not so much what comes in exchange for the $750,000 price tag but whether the property can be put to better use. While the 16 homes are currently being rented out to interested individuals with a fair amount of success because of the town’s attractive surroundings, the listing goes out of its way to suggest what could be done with the rest of the property by someone with the resources as well as the interests to make something more useful out of them.

For example, one suggestion is using the town as a tourist attraction, which is not entirely unreasonable since it comes with a landscape that is not just pleasing to the senses but also genuinely interesting in its diversity but also most of the saw mill, which tends to be interesting to some segments of the population by virtue of its sheer strangeness if nothing else. As a result, the right touch-ups plus the right marketing could be successful to turning the town into a camp, particularly since it already has the buildings that it needs to accommodate visitors as well as all of the other facilities needed to support such activities. In contrast, another suggestion has been using the town as a place to host business conferences as well as other meetings for large groups. Once again, this is not without merit, seeing as how such meetings do need large spaces, which can be accommodated by what used to be the town’s town hall, as well as something to make them memorable, which is where the surroundings would come in. Furthermore, it is worth nothing that some conference holders like to make it easier for their participants to bond by removing distractions, meaning that Allies Creek might be surprisingly well-suited to their needs.

It remains to be seen whether anyone will be willing to take a chance on Allies Creek by buying it so that it can be turned into something even more interesting, but no matter what happens, the novelty of the event is sure to make it something that will be talked about for a while, particularly once more news comes in.