Chance to buy NQ history
A PART of North Queensland history and a popular tourism venture is up for grabs with the marketing for sale of the Heritage Tea Rooms on Herveys Range.
Ray White Commercial Townsville is seeking expressions of interest for the 8.7ha freehold property and the Heritage Tea Rooms business on behalf of owners Desley and Russell Ralph.
The tea rooms have been established on the original structure of the former Eureka Hotel.
The property sits on Thornton’s Gap on Herveys Range and the old Georgetown Road which served as the main route to and from Townsville and the port to the goldfields and pastoral areas to the west and north.
“It’s a very interesting property. I have had a tonne of inquiry already from locals and a few southerners,” Ray White agent Peter Mccann said.
“We will be selling the business and the freehold.”
The internal structure of the tea rooms is the original hand-adzed ironbark hardwood construction from 1865 when the European settlement of Townsville began.
Its heritage listing says the horizontal slab structure, raised on low, round ironbark stumps and massive half round timber bearers fixed with wooden pegs, is a rare example of bush carpentry.
The tourism award-winning tea rooms, which opened in 2005 and are renowned for its Kopi Luwak coffee, have been operated by the Ralphs since 2013.
Ms Ralph said they chose to continue the operation around the historical significance of the property and as a place for people to meet in a pleasant setting. They also developed its wedding and function venue based on old stables on the property.
“It’s turned out to be a good little business. We get a few hundred people a day on weekends. The wedding venue is booked almost every week,” Ms Ralph said.
She said a change in the family dynamic had prompted the decision to sell. Her daughter Georgia, who was the business’s full-time manager, had married and with her husband had decided to move away.
The business employs 18 people, mostly as casuals. “It’s just getting a little bit much. We thought we’d test the water,” Ms Ralph said.
The 8.7ha property has a creek, manicured gardens and bushland. A tunnel from the disused Greenvale railway line, once used for tours, is nearby.
The property includes the fully-licensed tea rooms and restaurant, a wedding and function centre, a four-bedf b d room Queenslander style home and shed and bore water and tanks.
Expressions of interest close on November 12.