Chips Rafferty's former Pittwater home remains bottled for sale

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It even has his leftover beer bottles! The former Pittwater retreat of knockabout Australian actor Chips Rafferty, set on a 2,538-square-metre block at Lovett Bay north of Sydney, remains listed for sale.

The deep waterfront bushland property, which is accessible only by water, has been listed by the Dunn family after 24 years of ownership. It had been the home of Rafferty, otherwise known as John Goffage, and his wife, Ellen, in the late 1940s. The rugged movie star of The Overlanders, a tale about the hardships of Australian outback life, paid £1,205 for the land and built the home amid towering gums.

The Dunn family purchased the first of their two Sturdee Place holdings, with beach and jetty, in 1987 for $550,000. It has been listed by Belle Mona Vale agent Mary Rowley, who expects about $4 million for the three-bedroom house with a prized northerly aspect when offers close November 8.

It comes with sandstone steps leading to terrace with a built-in turbo barbecue. There’s also a king-size guest cabin. And Raffety’s display wall (pictured above) – complete with beer bottles, some bearing the date 1952 (pictured below).

The last big sale of a home on the shores of the neighbouring Elvina, Lovett and Towlers bays was the 1920s four-bedroom sandstone house Maritana, which fetched $6.25 million on Elvina Bay in 2007. It is set on a 2,380-square-metre Douglass Estate holding, which sold through Agency by Alison Coopes. It had a 52-metre-wide waterfront, a sandy beach, jetty and boatshed in beautiful gardens with sandstone terraces. Surrounded by vast stretches of national park, Maritana was built using jarrah, kauri and spotted gum by the Gibsons of retailers Foy & Gibson.

Lovett Bay is named after John Lovett, who settled there in about 1836.