Island snapped up for $170,000

Ray White principal Glenn Fallon talks with interested parties before the auction.

Alistair Brightman

Related links

• Suna to be sold to highest bidder
• World's cheapest slice of paradise
• World's cheapest island put to test
• Mining to boost housing market
• Gladstone prices soaring

LOCAL boaties and fishermen packed into the Ray White office in Hervey Bay on Saturday morning to see a once-in-a-lifetime sale – the auction of the sub-tropical Suna Island in the Great Sandy Strait.

Keen buyers from across Australia had Ray White inundated with calls for several weeks but in the end only two men put their hands up in a heated 20 minutes of bidding that quickly rose after the first bid was placed at $150,000.

A local boatie who wished to remain anonymous is now the proud owner of all 19 acres of Suna Island, nestled in the Great Sandy Strait between the Dimonds, north of Maaroom, and Fraser Island, for the bargain price of $170,000.

The new owner said he had to go home on Saturday and explain to his wife they now had a new place to holiday this Christmas.

“I was walking out the door and she said ‘don't you buy that island',” he said.

The man is a keen builder and said he planned to build a place on the island for his large extended family to holiday.

He also plans to use the island to fuel his love for boating and fishing.

Ray White principal Glenn Fallon, who manned the auction, said the island's novelty and low price tag garnered plenty of attention from across Australia.

Potential buyers from places such as South Australia and Perth put in their interest before Saturday, but Mr Fallon said he was sure it would go to a local.

“They don't go on the market very often,” he said.

“It's a great amount of people that turned up.”

Suna Island is rural-residential zoned and is normally accessible only by boat. It had been in the same family's hands for the past 20 years.

Mr Fallon said there was a number of similar islands along the Great Sandy Strait and further north, but none were as close to shore or as accessible as Suna Island.