By NICOLE WILLIAMS
A PAKENHAM man has offered his apology to the Royal Children’s Hospital after making dummy bids during the Good Friday Appeal home auction. But he insists it was a well-intentioned mistake. Damian Macalpine has been outed as the dummy bidder in the auction of the Clyde home in March, which was donated by Villawood and Henley Homes. All money from the auction was to be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. It started innocently enough for Mr Macalpine who attended the event for a sticky beak.
“They started the auction and it had a huge build up and then nothing,” he said.
“It was silent, and I thought this was going to die, so I threw a bid in.”
Mr Macalpine said he was trying to push the bidding up higher and was ’horrified’ when no one over bid his $500,000 bid.
“Everyone’s goal was to raise the most money for the kids and get the best result in the auction, but that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
“I was just trying to fire it up and get it going. Then to my horror no one bid over my bid.”
In an effort to keep spirits high, Mr Macalpine then went into ’damage control’ and didn’t reveal his mistake until he was behind closed doors.
“I told them straight away out the back that I was just trying to get a better result for the auction. They were shocked, but they dealt with professionally. They showed a lot of heart.”
Mr Macalpine said he offered to buy the house, subject to finance, but it couldn’t be done.The second bidder could not be found and a $500,000 cheque was presented on Channel 7 that evening by Villawood and Henley, unaware the house had not sold at the time. Looking back, he said, it was a well-intentioned but ’stupid’ mistake to make.
“My intentions were good, but it was a stupid thing to do in hindsight. I am very embarrassed about it.”
“I want to apologise sincerely to the hospital and everyone involved,” he said.
“I want to apologise for the awkward position I put everyone in.”
The house later sold to a private bidder for $480,000 after Mr Macalpine withdrew his bid.
“The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal was delighted to accept the donation of $480,000 from Villawood and Henley for this year’s charity house auction,” Ms Hallmark said.
“They have donated over 34 homes in the last 20 years to the appeal. In that time, we have never had anything like this happen with a buyer reneging.”
