Closeburn House: Inside the Blue Mountains' most fascinating estate
On a quiet rise at the top of the Blue Mountains, where mist settles over old cypress trees and the air carries that faint eucalyptus essence peculiar to Mount Victoria, Closeburn has stood since about 1890 – absorbing the ambitions, anxieties and reinventions of each era.
It has been a stately home, a highway guesthouse, was briefly renamed Bethesda and used as a refuge for unwed mothers and their children, and today is one of the region’s highest-rated boutique retreats, just two hours from Sydney.
Now, the historic estate at 2 Closeburn Drive, Mount Victoria, is on the market.
The eight-suite adults-only escape has been listed via expressions of interest through ResortBrokers’ Blue Mountains specialist Jacqueline Featherby. Set on 5250 square metres of “impeccably curated” landscaped grounds just five minutes from Blackheath and 20 minutes north-west of Katoomba, the property includes a 100-seat restaurant, guest bar, commercial kitchen, liquor licence and one-bedroom manager’s residence.
The current custodians, Paul Worboys and partner Steve, bought the property in 2020 and operate it only when it suits them, which was for just a quarter of the last financial year. Regardless, forward bookings are strong, standing at about $140,000, and Featherby says projected net profit approaches $300,000 if operated full-time – a figure relating to accommodation alone, excluding weddings, retreats, events and restaurant trade.
“In FY25, it was open for just 93 days,” she says. “When it is open, demand is extraordinary, with the phone ringing constantly and email enquiries flowing in. The Blue Mountains have always held a romantic allure, and Closeburn House leverages that to the max.”
Scottish roots in the mountains
The quirky Closeburn story begins in March 1890, when the land was sold by William Eyre to Mary Theresa Alice Kirkpatrick. She and her husband, believed to have been an Indian Army officer, built the house soon after, naming it Closeburn after the Kirkpatrick family’s Scottish associations. Kirkpatrick had family ties to the village and estate of one of the oldest continuously inhabited tower houses in Scotland, Closeburn Castle in Dumfriesshire, the ancestral seat of Clan Kirkpatrick since 1232.
The result was a substantial late-Victorian mountain residence clad in rusticated weatherboards, with corrugated steel roofing, brick chimneys and a broad verandah – much of which survives through careful restoration by a former owner in 1990-91.
When Berghofer’s Pass opened in 1909 and briefly redirected westbound traffic through Mount Victoria, Closeburn found itself on a busy stretch of road and operated as a hospitality stop for travellers heading towards Bathurst and the Jenolan Caves.
The Bethesda chapter
In 1915, the property entered one of its more unusual phases.
Heritage records describe it as being sold to a nursing sister who relocated her home for unmarried mothers and their babies from Selsdon Street, Mount Victoria, to Closeburn and renamed the property Bethesda. The move was reportedly undertaken with the assistance of an Indian mystic.
The twice-married woman behind the venture was Amanda Melvina Cooper, better known publicly as “Sister Veni” Cooper-Mathieson (1867-1943). Despite the title, she was not an ordained Catholic nun, but appears to have adopted the moniker in connection with her role in nursing and as a self-proclaimed ‘healer’, following three years in the United Kingdom and the United States studying metaphysics.
Upon her return, she became a leader among Australia’s early New Thought movement, promoting spiritual healing and moral reform through inner healing, spiritual empowerment, and the power of positive thinking. As noted by the Bruny Island Historical Society: “Throughout her life Veni managed to attract much publicity in the local press, through notoriety, court cases, her publications and religious movement.”
A 1919 feature in Smith’s Weekly described her as the “White-Clad Sister”, reflecting both her distinctive nun-like robes and black stole and the public curiosity surrounding her activities in Mount Victoria.
She was also a prolific public speaker, writer and publisher who authored the 1914 metaphysical novel A Marriage of Souls, which she claimed was the first work of fiction published in Western Australia.
Later in life, her metaphysical healing practice brought her into conflict with medical regulation. In May 1934 she was fined in Hobart Police Court for practising as a physician – a reminder of the tension between spiritual healing movements and conventional medicine in that era.
By 1923, the property had been bought by Hugh Dalziell of the prominent Scottish farming family in the Kanimbla Valley, who restored its good Scottish name of Closeburn and opened a guest house. He’d hoped to cure his daughter’s asthma with the clean mountain air, but the move was in vain, and she died before they turned their hand as hosts.
Reports indicate that by 1931, Cooper-Mathieson was again operating at Closeburn as a “rest home and guest house” under the name “Home of Truth Universal,” before that chapter closed in 1934.
“Now, new owners will have the opportunity to write their own chapter in Closeburn’s storied history,” says Featherby.
Reinvention and revival
Through the mid-20th century, Closeburn saw residential and guesthouse use, at times falling into disrepair. Major restoration works in 1990-91 added the large restaurant and repositioned the estate as a premium wedding and hospitality destination.
“One of the guest rooms was enlarged to create a bridal suite, and the gardens were curated for wedding ceremonies,” Featherby says.
Since acquiring the tree-change property during the pandemic, the co-owners left their Sydney careers in medicine and marketing to chase a hospitality dream. They embarked on further improvements, including new heating systems, commercial hot water systems, guttering and insulation, fire systems, fresh blush pink paint and refreshed interiors – with no further capital outlay needed.
“Closeburn House is looking better than it’s ever been,” Featherby adds.
Guest response has been emphatic. The meticulously and lovingly restored property holds hundreds of five-star reviews and earned a 9.9 out of 10 Booking.com Traveller Review Award in 2026 – one of the highest ratings in the Blue Mountains.
“It’s not hard to see why people fall in love with Closeburn, just as we did,” Worboys says. “It’s a very special place. You get the heritage charm of the property itself plus the grandeur of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains all around you.”
“Over the last 140 years, there have been many, many ‘owners’ of Closeburn House, and hopefully, there will be many more in the future. But with a historic property like this with its long, long tenure, we are only a paragraph in its history.”
