Brouhaha in Bronte

Clare Strang & Matt Handbury

Bronte House, built in 1838 is a magnificent National Trust property owned by the local council. It's sweeping lawns cascade down a slope and join the park that backs onto the quaint Bronte Beach noted for it's trendy cafes frequented by many of the young elites that live in the Eastern Suburbs.
Bronte House's most recent tenant, Matt Handbury, a nephew of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has just relinquished his lease after a number of years living there.
Before Handbury Sydney style expert Leo Schofield resided there and gave some pretty good parties. One which Whispers attended was a birthday bash for the late painter Margaret Olley where the entertainment featured the world famous artists Richard Tognetti on violin and Simon Tedeschi on piano.
Now Bronte House is up for lease again - one of the provisos for a pepper corn rent is that the beautiful gardens must be opened to the public for a certain number of days and the tenant is responsible fo r upkeep &repairs which can be pretty pricey.
Green's councilor, the exotically named Dominci Darugland Boondi Boondi Wy Kanak (pictured left) is demanding that confidential documents relating to the tenancy be revealed to the general public. Fellow Waverley councilors are resisting Kanak's request claiming that the papers contain confidential financial information about previous tenants.
Meanwhile Handbury who is boss of Murdoch Magazines with his HQ based on a wharf on Sydney Harbour is looking for new digs. Worth an estimated $370M he & wife Clare Strang could probably afford to move near his cousin and future News Corp boss Lachlan Murdoch in Bellevue Hill while Whispers awaits with baited breath to see just who the new tenants in Bronte House will be. Hopefully they'll be the entertaining kind.

Leo Schofield             Margaret Olley                            Richard Tognetti                    Simon Tedeschi