John 'Strop' Cornell sells 19 Fig Tree Fields, Ewingsdale building blocks

John 'Strop' Cornell sells 19 Fig Tree Fields, Ewingsdale building blocks
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

John 'Strop' Cornell and his model wife, Delvene Delaney, who were Paul Hogan's sidekicks in their comedic heyday, took a fancy to property around Byron Bay.

Now after almost three decade's ownership the couple are selling 41 housing sites at Ewingsdale, with underground electricity, natural creeks and the extensive planting of an additional 10,000 native trees.

Aged 74 he's "clearing the decks for my wife and girls to make everything easier," John Cornell advised recently.  

The land for sale at Fig Tree Fields was bought 25 years ago.

"If you want a large block where wallabies drop by and Mother Nature lives next door, get in quick," he said.

Prices through agent Glen Irwin from LJ Hooker Byron Bay start at $500,000 with 19 sales already.

They also recently sold the best beach-front blocks in Byron Bay to Melbournites, restaurateur Shannon Bennett and bsuiness partner, Adam Garrisson. The lots were bought in the early 1980s for around $325,000 from the then local abattoir. Harvey Norman heir, Glen Norman was the buyer of the house block from his former father-in-law, John Cornell.

The sale by LJ Hooker's Glenn Irwin is short of the Byron Bay record which was set in 2006 at $15.68 million for a house on Wategos Beach.

Delvene Delaney was a Sale of the Century television hostess and appeared with Paul Hogan and the John Cornell-devised character, the dopey Strop  in Channel 9 comedy shows.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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