Equestrian showpiece Boneo Park up for sale for more than $30m
One of the country’s premier equestrian event centres, Boneo Park on the Mornington Peninsula, has been listed for sale by its original developers, the McNaught family, with an asking price of more than $30 million.
The 312ha landholding at Boneo, about an hour from Melbourne, hosts some of the country’s most prestigious equestrian events, including last year’s Australian Jumping Championships, the Australian Dressage Championships and the Australian Young Rider Dressage Championship.
Spread across 12 titles along Boneo Road, Boneo Park includes full-service equestrian and agistment facilities, an extensive powered campground and a newly built restaurant, cafe and function centre.
There are also a four-bedroom residence and an administration and office building.
Alongside the equestrian centre are about 200ha of wetlands, woodlands and grassland, which are protected from development under a Trust for Nature conservation covenant.
The equestrian centre was developed out of swampland and “weed-infested” grazing land about 17 years ago by Rob McNaught, founder of trekking company Peregrine Adventures (which he sold in 2005 and is now part of Intrepid Travel).
Having lived on a hobby farm at nearby Eagle Ridge since 1986, Mr McNaught bought the original Tootgarook swamp landholding (known then as the Hiscock Estate) in 2001 from the Hiscock family (which had owned it since the 1920s) after it was passed in at auction.
“I bought a 700-acre swamp, but didn’t know what do with it,” Mr McNaught told The Australian Financial Review.
“My daughter Fiona said, ‘Just build an equestrian centre, Dad’, and that’s how it started.”
The McNaught family acquired a few more adjoining properties on Boneo Road in 2004 and started building the centre, which was used initially for agistment. The indoor arena was completed in 2006.
The restaurant, Arilla, was completed in 2019, just before the pandemic struck.
“It’s not a pleasant time to be running a restaurant given labour shortages, but the equestrian centre has been going brilliantly. These properties are so much easier to run if they’re privately owned,” Mr McNaught said.
Asked why he was selling, Mr McNaught, quoting Gough Whitlam, said: “It’s time.”
“I’m now 77 and Fiona just had her 40th birthday a few weeks ago and all she has ever done is run Boneo Park,” he said. “There’s nothing special about selling Boneo Park this year or this week, it’s just that we are ready to sell.”
The McNaughts have appointed Colliers agents Duncan McCulloch, Peter Evans and Jack Brandwood to take Boneo Park to market. Expressions of interest close on March 30.
“In 2022, Boneo Park hosted some of the nation’s most significant equestrian events. This shows the asset’s ability to run hospitality and events at scale,” Mr McCulloch said.
Alongside the infrastructure built by the McNaught family, Boneo Park offers multiple opportunities for development, including the addition of hospitality, health and wellbeing facilities, a potential accommodation offering and ecotourism activities.
“Opportunities like these are rare to come by, and given Boneo Park’s prime location and its world-renowned reputation, there is a multitude of future development opportunities that an astute purchaser could take advantage of,” Mr Evans said.
