A Tasmanian church for sale as a potential home conversion comes with just one caveat.
The new owner of St Mary the Virgin, near Gretna, must tend to the adjoining graveyard, overseeing new burials and about 400 graves.
Priced from $150,000 and consecrated in 1848, the 101 sq metre church is around 50km from Hobart. It offers no bedrooms, bathrooms or running water, but the chance to live in a historical property and to add “cemetery manager” to the buyer’s CV.
According to the property listing, the 8,094 sq metre site presents a “unique opportunity to explore how you might convert/use this very special former church … while respecting the families and community who may visit and have loved ones resting inside the cemetery grounds.”
Ashley Allocca, who is selling the church with leading agent Deb Stephens at EIS Property, said the low price of the unusual property had seen her office “inundated” with phone calls and emails.
The new purchaser would need to make an application to become the new cemetery manager as per the Burial and Cremation Act 2019, she explained.
“There are several people lined up for burial, so that when they do pass, they’ll go in there,” she said of the active graveyard. “It’s quite morbid to talk about but you just have to be honest about it.”
The new burials will join about 400 marked and 37 unmarked graves at the site, as listed on the Gravesites of Tasmania website.
The building is in need of maintenance, including a new roof, said Allocca, but boasts stained glass windows with cusped heads, exposed timber rafters and pews.
The purchaser will need to apply to Heritage Tasmania and the Central Highlands council to make any changes to the property, which is now zoned as rural.
John Eadie, who works at the nearby Gretna Green Hotel, said the church had lain empty for several years, but the historical area is a tourist drawcard in the summer months.
The Churches of Tasmania blog, created by Duncan Grant, states the church is a “significant landmark” and its extensive churchyard contains the graves of many early pioneering families with important associations for the history of the local community.
It goes on to add that the “national treasure” was listed for sale by the Anglican church to compensate victims of sexual abuse as part of the church’s national redress scheme.
Allocca said St Mary’s was the third listing of its type in the past six months and that another church was due to be listed for sale in coming weeks.
A church in nearby Lawitta – listed with the same graveyard obligations attached – sold in May. The sandstone building, on a 4,047 sq metre site, was on offer for more than $290,000. It, too, has no bathrooms, bedrooms or running water but features a vaulted timber ceiling, altar, pews and pulpit.
