The Block heads to former Sunbury psychiatric hospital site

Reality TV show The Block is making its way to Sunbury on Melbourne’s north-west outskirts next year after acquiring three heritage buildings from the Victorian government.

The show will turn three heritage buildings at the former Sunbury psychiatric hospital site into five family homes.

It is also going to help knock a few coins off the government ledger – who knew The Block would end up helping out the state budget?

Nine, the owner of this masthead, confirmed the purchase at its Upfront programming announcement on Thursday with the Sunbury location being described as “the most ambitious project in the show’s history”.

The three grand heritage buildings at Jacksons Hill in Sunbury that are to be given a Block glow up are thought to be the former Female Infirmary Ward, Female Admission and Special Wards building, and former hospital.

Just what price was placed on the heritage buildings is unclear. CBD reached out to the various government departments – it was a bit of merry-go-round to find out who had agency over the site – on Thursday to get some answers. We are hoping to hear back in due course.

It is unlikely to have been a cheap buy. The Block has a long history of forking out substantial amounts for its locations.

It paid $8.7 million for the Phillip Island site of the show in 2024, $11 million for the Gisborne South farmland location in 2022, $14.9 million for a site in New Street, Brighton in 2020, $10 million for the then dilapidated Gatwick Hotel in St Kilda in 2018 and $10.8 million for the former Oslo Hotel in St Kilda in 2019.

The Block , which this year was located at Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula, will see Scott Cam and Shelley Craft return as hosts in 2027 in what will be the show’s 23rd season.

The Sunbury psychiatric hospital site was constructed 170 years ago as an industrial school. It later became a psychiatric hospital and most recently has been used as a university campus.

Sunbury, located about 40 minutes from the Melbourne CBD, is perhaps best known as the birthplace of The Ashes.

Having quit Australia to become a citizen of the world, what else is there for Darryn Lyons , the controversial former Geelong mayor, ex-paparazzo and occasional reality TV participant, to do but have a clearing sale of epic proportions.

As part of his decamping from Down Under, Lyons is divesting himself of his horde – 1093 items to be exact – that was housed in his two Geelong homes via an enormous seven-part online auction.

Everything from a Lamborghini once owned by Rod Stewart to pots and pans, luxury Cartier, Rolex and Franck Muller watches, designer shoes, Cartier bracelets, Louis Vuitton luggage and bags, designer sunglasses by the likes of Dior, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, statues of lions, reproduction Louis XV furniture, a vibronic exercise machine that promises “whole body vibration”, a taxidermied leopard skin rug with a preserved head and glass eyes, a taxidermied antelope head, an air fryer, and even a microwave by the Kmart house brand Anko.