Hinterland haven: Regenerating a rainforest

A MOVE FROM THE CITY TO A FORMER DAIRY FARM NEAR THE COAST HAS RESULTED IN THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS FOR THE MURRAY FAMILY.

FOUR YEARS AGO, Brendon Murray asked his wife, Victoria, to consider a move from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast when an opportunity arose to continue his role as senior partner in an accountancy firm at their coastal office.

“Life was very good in Brisbane – we had renovated a lovely Queenslander and were surrounded by family and friends,” Victoria says.

She suggested the whole family take a vote and their children – Claire, 21, Pip, 18, and 16-year-old Hugh – all unanimously agreed. Following many trips to friends in rural Queensland and Brendon’s family in the Hunter Valley, they were excited at the prospect of having green grass, farm animals and space.

At the time, the move meant Victoria would have to leave her work at an interior design firm, and with the children about to settle into new schools and boarding life, she realised she needed a project.

“We were looking for the right property that would give me a challenge,” Victoria says.

The Murrays inspected a former dairy on 16 hectares, 10 minutes east of Cooroy and just 20 minutes from Noosa. The property had been on the market for six years and Victoria immediately saw its potential, despite the dilapidated old house and car bodies strewn throughout the paddocks.

“Brendon said to me, ‘You’ve lost your mind, this is beyond us,’” the 48-year-old recalls. “But the house had good bones. I could see past the mess and knew it could be beautiful.”

The lush paddocks and views to Cooroy Mountain won the rest of the family over and a whirlwind 12-week renovation followed, while the Murrays rented a house 40 minutes away. “I was on site every day with the builders, and while I was pulling up floorboards, my mum was pulling down bathroom walls,” Victoria adds. “We just chipped away and took this house from falling-down to livable. We were lucky – there was lino over beautiful pine boards and the original part of the house had been covered up, which preserved it.”

While the builders worked on the original farmhouse and adjoining building (moved from Brisbane 20 years ago), Brendon and Victoria planted an avenue of London plane trees and selected a largely white flowering palette of stephanotis, jasmine and wisteria, as well as ‘Leighton Green’ conifers to add to the garden.

With renovations complete, the family’s motto of “just paint everything white” was followed and the interior was transformed with Dulux China White.

Victoria and Brendon’s collection of antiques, lamps, china and rugs add layers and warmth to each room. “I like putting things together. I’ve been collecting blue and white china since we were married, when someone gave me a >

“The house had good bones. I could see past the mess and knew it could be beautiful.”

“I’m a big lover of furniture with a story. I like to know where it came from, the history and who owned it.”

Spode teacup and it all exploded from there!” says Victoria. “I’m a big lover of furniture with a story. I like to know where it came from, the history and who owned it. We spend many weekends in bizarre little shops, much to our children’s disgust. We have a saying: ‘If you love it, buy it, as you’ll make it fit.’”

One of the couple’s early finds when they first married was a small, rectangular oak table, discovered at Michael Allen Antiques in East Brisbane and now repurposed as a side table in the living room. “It was the first grown-up piece Brendon and I purchased together and we used it as a dining table – that’s how much our lives have changed!” she says, laughing.

Victoria loves to cook and her favourite room in the house is the kitchen, which opens with bi-fold doors onto a gauzed verandah, framed with wisteria. “We often have lunch on the enclosed verandah or crank the pizza oven up and sit around a fire pit that looks directly towards the mountain,” she says. “We’ve also enjoyed many long lunches under the camphor laurels on the hill.”

Brendon, 46, grew up in Scone, NSW, and Victoria is from Southport on the Gold Coast, so they have found balance here in the hinterland, not far from the sea. “Part of the reason we chose here is because I grew up near the beach and I need water, and Brendon needs green grass,” Victoria explains. “It’s a good compromise.”

They named the property ‘Canterbury’, after the village in New Hampshire, US. “We’ve always named our houses >

after places we’ve visited and loved,” she says. “When I was 12, I went to summer camp in America, and we took the kids there 10 years ago.”

For Victoria, life in a rural community has unexpected pleasures, such as winning first prize at the Noosa Country Show with her caramel slice. It’s also the local characters of a small town that become your best friends. “Brucey, the electrician, has become my go-to if a pump breaks down. He doesn’t take payment; I have to bake him cakes! I love the simplicity. Cooroy has a lovely country charm about it,” she says, smiling.

With Claire at university studying primary teaching, and Pip and Hugh both at Brisbane boarding schools, it’s always special when the family gathers together. “We go down to Noosa National Park for a walk and a swim. The kids love it here and always dreamed of living on a farm,” Victoria says. “We are big animal lovers and our menagerie has grown since we’ve moved here. It’s all part of a new adventure for us.”

PHOTOGRAPHY HANNAH PUECHMARIN The Murrays enjoy a leisurely lunch under the camphor laurel tree with visiting friends. Outdoor dining setting, similar available from Harvey Norman.

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE Hugh, Victoria, Claire (holding spoodle Dottie) and Brendon; an Irish dresser from Michael Allen Antiques houses Brendon’s great-grandmother’s dinner set; the sitting room; the saddle came from a friend at Longreach and the boots were found at 1924 in Noosaville. FACING PAGE, FROM TOP The doorstop was gifted by Victoria’s mother; the living area features a library wall.

Victoria planted a vegetable garden alongside a lavender and rose bed. FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Groodle Aggie in the kitchen, which was fitted out by Madders Bespoke Kitchens and Cabinets; the dining room features a circa 1954 map of Brisbane that belonged to Victoria’s grandfather; fresh flowers from the garden; nautical finds reflect the coastal setting.

The main bedroom offers views to Cooroy Mountain. The dressing table was sourced at Michael Allen Antiques in Brisbane. FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT The fragrant lavender bed; the claw-foot bath in the girls’ bathroom came from the original farmhouse – Victoria restored it herself; hats, boots and baskets are kept outside the laundry.