News

Dhurringile Estate: Who is interested now?

By Bree Harding

Apr 14, 2026

The site consists of 286 hectares of crown land and features a 68-room, 148-year-old double-storey mansion, historic stables and several other buildings and infrastructure.

With mystery surrounding the future of the dormant Dhurringile Estate for much of the past year while it remains currently for sale only to government entities, the lid has been lifted on who the interested parties are.

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The Department of Transport and Planning has confirmed it is working with the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority and the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, which have expressed interest in the Dhurringile site through the first right of refusal process.

“Due diligence investigations are being undertaken to inform a potential transaction,” a government spokesperson said.

Soon after the former prison at the site was decommissioned after closing on August 31, 2024, the Victorian Government placed an indicative value on the 286 hectare site, including buildings and mansion, of $2.5 million for government entities during the first right of refusal period.

However, GBCMA chief executive office Carl Walters said a definitive purchase price had not yet been presented.

Greater Shepparton City Council submitted an informal expression of interest early in 2025, at that time, successfully applying for an extension to the first right of refusal period until April 17, 2025.

One year later, the first right of refusal period is ongoing.

Mr Walters said the GBCMA worked with YYNAC on a brief concept for the overall site and put in an expression of interest last year around the same time that Greater Shepparton City Council chose to withdraw (April 22, 2025).

“We are working on a business case for the site at present, but really can’t progress much further until we see what the ask is,” he said.

“We have a series of options in play, but have yet to finalise where to from here over the next while.

“Options range from farming through to an educational facility, but yet to be resolved.”

In October last year, it was revealed that maintenance at the site had cost $2.06 million for the first 12 months after the prison closed, with no income generated from leasing or farming activity.

It equates to almost $40,000 each week.

The site consists of 286 hectares of crown land and features a 68-room, 148-year-old double-storey mansion.

It is a 30-minute drive from Shepparton and was a pastoral property, an internment camp and a boys’ home before it was purchased by the Victorian Government and converted into the minimum-security correctional facility Dhurringile Prison in 1965.

The government spokesperson said if a sale did not occur from the first right of refusal process with the GBCMA and YYNAC, the site would be progressed to a public sale.