History of Our Home

Our home was designed in 1982 by architect Peter Overman for the three original partners Tony Moore and Americans, David Rockefeller and Benno Schmidt. David Rockefeller was the retired chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank and Benno Schmidt, a managing partner with J.H. Whitman and Co. and they originally took up and developed about 40,000 acres of the Esperance sandplain under an agreement with the then State Government. They called this property Orleans Farms because of its proximity to the Duke of Orleans Bay with Tony Moore being the manager of all the operations of this huge farm. In 1982 Orleans Farms was sold and four properties now to be known as Oceanview Farms with Tony Moore setting up the building of the house so as to fit in with the landscape and as a very comfortable place for the American owners and their friends to visit. The house is a huge 512 square metres rising up out of the red brown earth and perched on a rise of granite overlooking and mimicking the islands of the Recherche Archipelago off Alexander Bay. A guest wing was built with the idea that all the rooms could overlook through large windows at the islands in the bay. All the rooms have an outside balcony so these breathtaking views can be comprehensively seen. Beatle George Harrison was one of many important guests of the original owners. When Tony Moore and his wife Phyllis were tragically killed in a light aircraft crash near Narrogin, the property was sold as a fully operational farm to Trevor and Colleen Stoney, formerly of Kojonup, Western Australia, who now run it with the assistance of their two sons. The guest wing has now been turned into luxurious bed and breakfast style accomodation. Please click here to look at your rooms in the guest wing.