THE family home from cinema’s The Castle has been trucked to Beechworth, but it did not go via Bonnie Doon to take in the serenity.
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The weatherboard was cut into four segments and placed on four semi-trailers for the 274-kilometre journey from Strathmore in the north-west of Melbourne.
A crane lifted the sections off the trucks in a four-hour operation at Beechworth’s Mayday Hills from 4.30pm on Thursday.
George Fendyk bought the house for $40,000 at auction in July and plans to use it as an office for a caravan park at Mayday Hills.
He said hauler Robbie Hunt opted not to take the home via The Castle family’s favourite holiday haunt Bonnie Doon.
“It was hard enough going down the bloody highway,” Mr Fendyk said.
“We’ll have enough serenity of our own when we establish it, it’s a beautiful spot up there.”
Mr Fendyk expects work on the house will begin soon in the new year and pending planning permits hopes the caravan park will be open in June.
It is likely to have 20 to 30 sites and be drive-in and drive-out to avoid big vans needing to reverse.
The rebuilt house will have a specially built pool room to mirror the movie’s famous reference point.
“People will be able to wander in and have a look at the memorabilia and have a game of pool,” Mr Fendyk said.
He hopes some of the cast members of the 1997 film, which starred Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry and Eric Bana, will attend a grand opening.
“That would be great, we need to milk it as much as we can,” Mr Fendyk said.
“It’s an iconic thing for Australia, but also for Beechworth.
“It’s going to bring a different type of person into the place.”
Mr Fendyk’s business partner Geoff Lucas said the shift cost $70,000.
“It’s iconic,” Mr Lucas said of the house.
“It’s a bit like Craig’s Hut, it got burnt down and it got restored, so George has done a bit of a restoration job on this one.”
The arrival of The Castle home at Beechworth follows an earlier plan to relocate it to Corowa’s whisky and chocolate mill and use it as a comedy museum.
The home’s previous owner plans to build two townhouses on her block in Strathmore which borders Essendon airport.