Mildura Land Deal Still Funds Schools After 140 Years
Design for a Stage Set Depicting a Perspectival View of an Ideal Renaissance City — Anonymous, Italian, 16th century, ca. 1550–60
What Happened
In Mildura, Victoria, 184 house lots sit on land leased rather than owned, a system set up in 1886 by town founders George and William Chaffey. Buyers own the house but not the ground beneath it. Lease revenue funds local schools instead of an agricultural college that was never built.
Why It Matters
About $1.95 million a year flows to 27 Sunraysia schools, reaching over 9,000 students. A house on Lemon Avenue sold for $300,000 while a freehold one across the street went for nearly $550,000 — the discount is real, and so is the fine print. One housing group is now pushing the state to use the model for social housing. A 19th-century side deal is quietly doing more policy work than most modern housing debates manage.
What's Next
Mallee Accommodation and Support Program wants the Victorian government to expand the lease model for more social housing.