Built for a Wife in 1894, Sold for $145,000: A Western District Church Goes to a Single Bidder

• St Philip’s Anglican Church at Spring Creek, western Victoria, sold for $145,000
• About 60 people attended the auction, but only one bid
• The church was built in 1894 in memory of Arbella Cooke
• The one-acre site has no water, power or sewerage

A historic Anglican church in western Victoria has sold at auction for $145,000 to a single bidder, Stock & Land reported in July 2023.

St Philip’s Anglican Church at Spring Creek, between Hamilton and Portland, was built in 1894 by early squatter Cecil Pybus Cooke in honour of his wife Arbella, who died in May 1892. The couple met on a voyage from England and married within a month of arriving in Tasmania, and their marriage lasted 53 years. The foundation stone was laid in March 1894, and Cooke died in September 1895 aged 82.

About 60 people attended the auction, but the church sold to one bidder from Geelong with local connections. The one-acre block holds a timber building with a foyer and an auditorium with a timber floor and high ceiling. It has no water, power or sewerage and lies about 42km from Hamilton and 49km from Portland.

Agent Leeson White of Charles Stewart and Co said: “There a lot of enquiries on the sale it did take a lot of planning to convert these old churches to homes.”

The Spring Creek sale shows that interest does not always turn into bids, especially where a building lacks basic services. For Jamaican churches selling rural properties, and for diaspora buyers, water, power and road access strongly affect value. A church’s story can attract buyers, but its services decide the price.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com