The Cockatoo mansion’s new owners, Ben and Betty Pop, have uncovered the once-abandoned house’s hidden origin story. Pictures: Ian Currie.
The mysterious origins of a formerly-abandoned mansion in Melbourne’s southeast have been uncovered by its new owners who even flew interstate for their detective work.
The long-vacant Cockatoo mansion was vandalised and often photographed for social media before Betty and Ben Pop bought it and got the keys in January.
Being experienced renovators, the couple were not deterred by the sprawling Woori Yallock Rd property’s derelict state including graffitied walls and greenery growing through the windows.
RELATED: Abandoned Cockatoo mansion set for Grand Designs-style makeover
Buyer plans to reboot abandoned Salvos crisis accommodation hub in Belmont
Kanye West’s abandoned properties lying in ruin
The Pops purchased the house through Ranges First National Real Estate Belgrave and Cockatoo director Mick Dolphin and his colleague Anthony Iorlano for $900,000.
Mr Iorlano and Mr Dolphin said they had received hundreds of calls about the home since it was placed on the market in 2024.
However, the agents did not know too much about the house’s history aside from the fact it had been built by a couple from eastern Europe.
Back in the present, Mr Pop said that he and his wife were planning to transform the mansion into a grand Toorak-style pad with hopes to install an infinity pool and rooftop garden, as shown in artists’ renders of the finished project from the Berwick-based Tomic Design.
When it was placed on the market in 2024, the mansion became Australia’s most-viewed residence on realestate.com.au for the year.
An artist’s render of the how the mansion will look in the future once the renovation is complete. Credit: Serge@Tomic Design, @cockatoomansion on Instagram.
They anticipate it could take up to 2.5 years to complete their huge renovation and are sharing the journey with followers of the Cockatoo Mansion Renovation Project’s Instagram page, @cockatoomansion.
The couple have been tidying up the land around the mansion and clearing rubbish out of the house with plans to start their renovation once the local council approves their plans.
As part of their research into the property’s history, the Pops have been searching for old newspaper clippings and talking to community members who have gotten in contact via their social media.
One community member sent Ms Pop a story published in a local newspaper, The Gazette, in 1980.
Ben and Betty Pop inside the house which has been graffitied and vandalised across the years it has stood vacant. Picture: Ian Currie.
The mansion when it was listed for sale in 2015 and sold to new owners who planned to transform it into a farm, but never got around to doing so. They put it on the market in 2024.
It detailed how the original owners, a Romanian-born man named Miodrag Boljanac and his wife Radmila, spent more than eight years building their dream home.
They lived at the address with Mr Boljanac’s parents after immigrating from Yugoslavia to Australia.
Photographs show statues of Roman deities lining the house’s front staircase and a Union Jack flag being flown on one of the verandas.
The garden was full of flowers and the family also raised chickens.
The Gazette piece stated that Mr Boljanac was a thrifty owner-builder, always buying materials in bulk to save on costs.
The house’s facade circa-2015, with Roman deity statues lining the staircase.
At one point, he purchased 66 identical chandeliers.
And after finding out it would cost $250 to demolish a smaller house on the land that was riddled with white ants, he simply burned it down after telling the local fire brigade of the plans and inviting the crew to attend the event just in case something went wrong.
Remarkably, the Pops have also found the architect who originally designed the mansion.
They travelled to Western Australia to interview the now-89-year-old Alex Tufekcic and posted videos of the chat on Cockatoo Mansion’s Instagram.
Owner Betty Pop with the mansion’s original architect Alex Tufekcic whom she flew to Western Australia to interview. Picture: @cockatoomansion.
Ms Pop told the Herald Sun that Mr Tufekcic’s daughter had contacted them through the mansion’s social media pages.
After meeting his daughter in person, she introduced the Pops to her father and they later flew to WA to interview him.
Mr Tufekcic told Ms Pop that he began working with the Boljanacs, whom he described as hardworking, humble and down-to-earth, in 1965-66.
The Boljanacs wanted the mansion to reflect the hard work and effort they had put into building it with “everything to be better than the average’, the former architect noted.
He revealed the family had lived in a shed on the site, which has since been demolished, for some time while the mansion’s build was underway.
A render of the mansions’ future infinity pool. Picture: Serge@Tomic Design, @cockatoomansion.
Ms Pop said one of the most fascinating parts of the interview was discovering the middle section of the house previously served as a balcony.
Mr Boljanac decided to enclose the space after obtaining a bulk lot of windows from a Dandenong factory.
When Ms Pop asked the story behind the mansion’s lime green interior walls, Mr Tufekcic replied that the colour was loved by the family because it reflected the positivity of being in nature.
However, Ms Pop’s own research has uncovered that the former owners also likely believed the colour would help to ward off evil spirits along with the Roman-style statues in front of the house.
The lime green walls date back to the mansion’s early days. Picture: Ian Currie.
Mr Tufekcic described the mansion as having good feng shui and “a very happy place”
As well, he recalled the many times local building inspectors would visit the Cockatoo site to check on the construction which would result in Mr Boljanac going above and beyond to fulfil their requirements.
“It was always like, they said 10cm and he’d do 20cm,” Ms Pop said.
“The inspectors were always very happy and apparently they always left with 10 chickens.”
The home’s new owners are planning to retain or pay tribute to some of the street art in their renovation. Picture: Ian Currie.
Ms Pop said she would love to show Mr Tufekcic through the mansion if he visited Victoria in the future.
“I wonder if he’d ever come to Melbourne and wander through the house again?” she said.
She and her husband are hoping their plans for the mansion’s mega renovation would make its owners happy after all the years it has stood vacant.
“I want to make them happy and proud,” Ms Pop said.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Inside the Flinders St ‘pencil tower’ home with surprisingly big view
English (US) · 