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This tiny, remote town is up for sale for an estimated £5m.
19:21, Sat, Jan 31, 2026 Updated: 19:22, Sat, Jan 31, 2026
This tiny, remote town, complete with its own general store and petrol station, has 5 residents (Image: Licola Wilderness Village/ Google Maps)
An entire, and very unique, Australian town has been put on the market for an estimated AUD $10million (£5million), sparking fears for the future of its tiny community. The remote village of Licola, tucked away in the rugged Victorian High Country, 154 miles east of Melbourne, is one of Australia's smallest towns, home to just five people.
Home to a couple of weatherboard buildings, a general store, a caravan park and a petrol station, Licola has long been a guaranteed pitstop for fuel, food, and rest for travellers on their way to the Alpine National Park. For over 50 years, this off-grid oasis has been owned and operated by the Lions Clubs of Victoria and Southern NSW. However, the local branch of the Lions Club has said it can no longer afford to run the town and, late last year, quietly listed it for sale online, sending shockwaves through the region.
Licola was turned into a camp where disadvantaged young people and children could stay during school holidays (Image: Getty Images)
Found on the banks of the Macalister River, Licola was originally a timber mill built in the 1950s, with a few worker buildings. After it closed in 1968, the Lions Club acquired the whole site and turned it into a camp where disadvantaged young people and children, and groups with special needs, could stay during school holidays. Nearby land also hosts Licola's General Store and Caravan Park.
Licola is the only town in Victoria completely disconnected from the main electricity grid. The village generates its own power through a sophisticated solar microgrid, treats its own water, and manages its own waste.
Today, Leanne O'Donnell, who runs the General Store, and her family are the only full-time residents of the 42-acre town. She lives there with one of her children, along with her best friend and her two children. However, they now face eviction.
Ms O'Donnell found a real estate listing online in December, with an asking price of between £3million and £5million (Image: Melburnian/Wikimedia Commons)
"I absolutely love this town," she told the BBC. "If it gets into the hands of a developer and turns into something that it's not, it [will] just break my heart."
Ms O'Donnell first learned Licola was headed for the market in January 2025 and then found a real estate listing online for the sale of the town in December, with an asking price of between AUD$6million (£3million) and $10million (£5million). The sale has been met with intense backlash online from locals in the surrounding areas, with one Facebook user writing on the Licola Caravan Park & General Store official page: "People rely on the store in town, and closing in the middle of peak season is stupidity at its best".
Other Victorian Lions members wrote to the Lions Village Licola Board, accusing it of acting without due process and consultation. An online petition to save the store, "renew the lease and let Leanne stay", has also gathered more than 8,000 signatures.
Proceeds will continue to pay for children to attend camps run professionally across Victoria (Image: Getty)
In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson said the sale was sparked by a review into Licola's operations, which was provided to all Lions in Victoria. After the review, the board decided it was no longer sustainable for the Lions Club to own the village, with rising costs and insurance prices, ageing accommodation and a decline in school and camp attendance listed as main reasons.
"The decision to sell was not made lightly," the statement added.
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Chairman Denis Carruthers, meanwhile, said the board has a responsibility to protect the mission of the Lions Village - supporting disadvantaged youth - not just the physical space, adding: "The Lions District Governors have been briefed and are supportive". The board also said in their statement that Ms O'Donnell's lease "was not renewed in order to consolidate revenue during a period of financial stress". Ms O'Donnell has been told she has to vacate the premises by January 31.
All proceeds from the sale of the Licola properties and future business profits will be reinvested into a new foundation, which will continue to fund children attending professionally run camps across Victoria, it said. The future of camps at Licola remains unknown at this stage and a planned camp for January was cancelled due to low numbers. According to Mr Carruthers, however, there is "considerable interest in the property".
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