As you may be aware, we have now finally completed the purchase of the property. It has been an epic journey which has tested the resilience and fortitude of all who have been involved in it.

By 2012 GVC was well established and thoughts turned to whether we should purchase the property. The anonymous donation of $100,000 which we had received, together with the funds which we were generating ourselves, made the concept very possible.

Initially Murray Goulburn was not very interested but eventually MG directors, John Vardy and Ian Macaulay were able to persuade the other directors that it was appropriate to sell off the building. The purchase price of $200,000 was agreed upon with the purchasers (us) to bear all costs.

The original proposal was for there to be a 3-lot subdivision with Murray Goulburn retaining 2 of these and the third being sold to ourselves. After a period of several years this was ultimately found to be unworkable both in relation to access and the provision of services.

So, plan two was developed and eventually implemented. This involved the creation of a 2-lot subdivision with the boundary being very close to the western wall. Some negotiations took place to enable us to receive a much larger parcel than initially intended. Agreement was finally reached however with no increase to the original price.

The property then had to be resurveyed for a second time which again took time.

Planning issues arose including a road access upgrade (at the front gate) and the installation of an independent water connection. The water connection took on a life of its own as it had to run from the main road to our property.

Simultaneously, we needed to consider firefighting requirements. This came down to a decision as to whether to install a very very large storage tank OR a large high flow pipeline. Our initial investigations into this took us down an incorrect path and again we lost a great deal of time during the process.

By this stage we had concluded that we needed to get a professional to try and manage the necessary steps for the subdivision. We appointed Mike Smith building consultant in Sale who took on the job and did an amazing job of pulling everything together over a number of years.

And so, we all breathed a sigh of relief – but wait there is more.

Right at the end, Murray Goulburn sold its assets to Saputo and as is established practice they put a caveat on all MG Assets. More negotiation and with great cooperation of both parties we got agreement that the land involved would not be transferred to Saputo until the subdivision was finalised.

At the end of the day there was general agreement from the professionals who had been involved over the years, that this was as complex a sub-division as they had seen.

And that my friends, is why it took 6 years and we are celebrating its conclusion!!!!!!

 
Sue Lawrence