Queensland's richest 100
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August 30, 2008 11:00pm
• No 1: Clive Palmer • Wealth: $6.5 billion • What: Iron ore mining • Where: Gold Coast
EVEN when you are Queensland's richest person and a multibillionaire, sometimes the most important lessons are learned from life itself.
Clive Palmer lost his wife of 22 years, Sue, to cancer three years ago.
For a time, he managed his grief by immersing himself in his work. Then he began spending time with Anna.
"I've known Anna for 20 years. She was married to one of my good friends and he died a month after my wife," Mr Palmer, 54, said. That shared experience brought the couple closer together. They married last year and, in February, he became a father for the third time with the birth of daughter Mary.
That new chapter of his life has helped highlight what the billionaire says is part of his successful strategy.
It may be coincidental, or a reflection of the renewed joy in his life, but the past 12 months have been productive and profitable for the Gold Coast-based go-getter who puts his active wealth at $6.5 billion.
Mr Palmer owns a massive iron ore deposit in Western Australia estimated at 160 billion tonnes.
• No 2: Ken Talbot • Wealth: $1.4 billion • What: Coal mining • Where: Brisbane THE state's king of coal is now cashed up after selling the majority of his stake inmining powerhouse Macarthur Coal for $636 million. He has invested in private American miner, PBS Coals, and bought a $51 million private jet.
• No 3: John Vanlieshout • Wealth: $1.3 billion • What: Property, investments • Where: Brisbane
QUEENSLAND'S first billionaire made his fortune through furniture retailer Super A- Mart. The shrewd 62-year-old has since sold the business and is looking at property investment opportunities.
• No 4: Terry Peabody • Wealth: $1.13 Billion • What: Waste management • Where: Brisbane
A FRUSTRATING year has seen the 68-year-old, who has interests in waste management and a Hawkes Bay winery, lose his ranking as the state's richest businessman.
• No 5: Nev Pask • Wealth: $875 million • What: Property • Where: Gold Coast
TO CALL Nev Pask a quiet achiever would be a gross understatement. An elder statesman of theQueensland property development business, he is one of the state's most private, as well as most successful, individuals.
Mr Pask has land-banked enough property to build around 9000 homes, much of it in the high-growth areas of Rochedale and Eight Mile Plains south of Brisbane and Chancellor Park on the Sunshine Coast.
Raised on a Queensland farm, Mr Pask got his start in property in Sydney before moving back north of the border in 1966.
The development of over 1500 house-and-land packages on the Redcliffe Peninsula provided the platform for expansion in Brisbane, Redlands, Logan and the Gold Coast.
Today, the Pask Group, which also includes son Dean and daughter Lynne, are involved in projects throughout Queensland and interstate. He lives with wife Barbara on the Gold Coast.
• No 6: Gordon Fu • Wealth: $840 million • What: Shopping centres • Where: Brisbane
ONE of Queenslands most reclusive entrepreneurs, the 61-year-old increased his wealth by more than $200 million during the year by amalgamating his property interests with those of his son-in-law, Jack Lin.
They own 18 shopping centres in southeast Queensland, including Australia Fair on the Gold Coast. Mr Fu, who is married with three children, came to Queensland 17 years ago.
• No 7: Gordon Merchant • Wealth: $780 Million • What: Surfing retail • Where: Gold Coast
HIS fortune fell by around $100 million over the past 12 months as the price of Billabong shares slipped but that wont worry the lifelong surfer as he spends increasing amounts of his time hitting the waves. The 64-year-old founded the Billabong surfwear empire in 1973 and remains on the company board with 31 million shares.
Mr Merchant is also a director and 18 per cent shareholder of Plantic Technologies, a company producing bioplastics from corn starch.
He and his partner Deborah McKenzie have a son Keoni, 6. They live on a hilltop at Tugun on the Gold Coast and are building a $12 million mansion surf house at Angourie, south of Yamba.
They also have homes in Hawaii and South Africa.
• No 8: Jiwan Mohan • Wealth: $675 Million • What: Spices/seeds • Where: Brisbane
HIS products are on millions of kitchen tables in Australia. Jiwan Mohan, 58, runs JK International, exporting everything from pappadums to incense from a warehouse at Rocklea in Brisbanes southwest.
The company he founded in 1976, after arriving with just a suitcase from India, is one of Australias top global commodity traders, dealing in snack foods, sweets, teas, health products, cordials, pastes and pickles. Mr Mohan also owns a grain processing plant at Horsham in Victoria and an interest in a transcontinental shipping company. Mr Mohan and his wife, Suman, the daughter of migrant banana farmers, have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.
• No 9: Timothy Fairfax • Wealth: $660 million • What: Media/farming • Where: Brisbane
TIMOTHY Fairfax shares a $1 billion plus fortune with his Sydney-based brother John B. Fairfax.
They merged their Rural Press with Fairfax Media in 2006, gaining a 14 per cent stake in the media company established by their family in 1841.
Mr Fairfax owns a cattle farm at Monto and five pastoral properties in Queensland and New South Wales.
He is deputy chancellor of the University of Sunshine Coast, deputy chairman of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and chairman of the Salvation Army Brisbane advisory board.
Mr Fairfax, 61, and his wife, Gina, moved from the country to inner Brisbane about seven years ago. They have four daughters.
• No 10: Peter Bond • WEALTH $635 MILLION • WHAT FUEL • WHERE BRISBANE
THE 46-year-old has devised a way to get fuel from discarded coal, and that has resulted in his worth increasing 15-fold in two years.
• No 11 PRADELLA FAMILY • WEALTH $630 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
ITALIAN immigrant builder Cesare Pradella worked as a labourer for six years after arriving in Queensland in 1953 before he devised a new method of prefabricating houses and launched his own company to build low-cost homes for the Government.
Mr Pradella, 83, died in March but the family-owned firms he founded continue to be run by two of his sons, David and Kim. The group, which developed the Roma St Parkland apartments, turns over $200 million a year in construction and property management. A third brother, Silvio, is a director of the group but is wealthy in his own right from the sale of his Orrcon steel tubing business. He now spends much of his time in the Bahamas.
• No 12: MICK POWER • WEALTH $600 MILLION • WHAT CONSTRUCTION • WHERE GOLD COAST
IN JUST under three decades Mick Power, 58, has built his family company, BMD, into Australia's biggest privately owned civil construction and urban development firm. With its corporate centre still at Manly on Brisbane's bayside, the company employs more than 1000 people and operates across Australia. Mr Powers work philosophy is: We just get on with things.
• No 13: DENIS JEN • WEALTH $580 MILLION • WHAT SHOPPING CENTRES • WHERE TOOWOOMBA
THE 84-year-old from Taiwan, who began his working life as a pen salesman, owns five shopping centres: two in Brisbanes Kenmore, theQ Super Centre at Mermaid Waters on the Gold Coast and two in Sydney.
• No 14: KEVIN SEYMOUR • WEALTH $570MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE high spot of the year for this veteran Brisbane developer was both professional and personal.
The One Macquarie riverfront development at Teneriffethe city's most exclusive address was completed by his Seymour Group, and he and his wife, Kay, moved in to one of the $6 million penthouses.
• No 15: JUNIPER FAMILY • WEALTH $560 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
THEY are the father-and-son team behind many of the high-rise landmarks in Mooloolaba and Maroochydore. Now the pair, Graeme, 62, and Shaun, 37, has their sights set on building a new Surfers Paradise tower.
• No 16 CHRIS WALLIN • WEALTH $550 MILLION • WHAT COAL MINING • WHERE BRISBANE
THIS 54-year-old geologist has helped mining giants tap into some of the richest coalmines in the state, yet success and wealth have hardly changed him. He has lived in the same house at The Gap in Brisbane for the past 20 years.
• No 17: BRIAN • FLANNERY • WEALTH $547 MILLION • WHAT COAL MINING • WHERE BRISBANE
MINING mogul Brian Flannery's personal fortune soared by more than $1 million every day over the past year.
Felix Resources, of which he is managing director and a substantial shareholder, has been the top performing stock on the ASX 200 this year, the share price rising 144 per cent. That has added $452 million to the 57-year-olds paper value.
• No 18 MAHA SINNATHAMBY • WEALTH $540 MILLION • WHAT DEVELOPMENT • WHERE IPSWICH
THERE'S no slowing down 68-year old Maha Sinnathamby, who created the Springfield development west of Brisbane. The Malaysian-born Mr Sinnathamby said there was more development to come, including a health precinct. See story above
• No 19 WAGNER FAMILY • WEALTH $500 MILLION • WHAT CONCRETE INDUSTRY • WHERE TOOWOOMBA
FAMILY is the strength behind Mary Wagner. The 73-year-old mother of eight and grandmother of 30 runs a concrete and construction firm with her husband and family and is the state's richest woman.
• Equal 20: DAVID ROBERTS • WEALTH $485 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
FORMER lawyer David Roberts heads two of the state's largest property groups: Meridien Developments and Heritage Pacific. Yet he retains an almost reclusively low profile. Heritage Pacific was cofounded with his law partner Paul Barrett in 1987 and is now in the Top 10 of Australia's land development companies. Meridien, created by Mr Roberts, Mr Barrett and Russell McCart, is a private development, management and investment firm now valued at more than $1 billion.
• Equal 20 PAUL BARRETT • WEALTH $485 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
AS CO-FOUNDER and managing director of Heritage Pacific, Paul Barrett has helped create more than 20,000 house lots in a string of award winning master-planned communities including Forest Ridge at Narangba, just north of Brisbane, and Genesis at Coomera on the Gold Coast.
• No 22 CASSIMATIS FAMILY • WEALTH $450MILLION • WHAT FINANCIAL SERVICES • WHERE TOWNSVILLE
HUSBAND and wife Emmanuel and Julie Cassimatis have worked long and hard to make Storm Financial a huge success, but they also take time out to play just as hard.
• 23 NATHAN TINKLER • WEALTH $439 MILLION • WHAT HORSE RACING • WHERE BRISBANE
IT HAS taken just six years for this 32-year-old to go from an electrical contractor to a multimillionaire mining magnate.
After starting his own electrical contracting business in his 20s, learning the tricks of the trade in the mines around Newcastle in New South Wales, his big break came when he secured a lease on a coal mine in central Queensland with a $1 million deposit. He then was able to obtain an additional $30 million in investment funds within the next six months to finalise the purchase. The mine was bought by Macarthur Coal, which gave Mr Tinkler a 10 per cent share of that company. He cashed in those shares for $440million in May.
• No 24 JOHN LONGHURST • WEALTH $435 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
AFTER turning an old farm into the Dreamworld theme park complex at Coomera on the Gold Coast, John Longhurst sold the operation in 1989 for $180 million. He then invested heavily in property, the largest purchase being the huge Logan Hyperdome shopping centre, south of Brisbane, which he owns jointly with Queensland Investment Corporation. He has other commercial property interests and owns several tracts of land on the northern Gold Coast.
• No 25 REED FAMILY • WEALTH $420 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
IT has been a huge year for father and son team Harry and Ken Reed. They sold a share in their company, Reed Property Group, and now have the cash to push ahead with several new projects.
• No 26: ANDERSON FAMILY • WEALTH $410MILLION • WHAT HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS • WHERE BRISBANE
THE past 12 months have been tough for the Andersons, who are one of Queensland's wealthiest and most publicity-shy families.
Most of the family's fortune comes from its 35 per cent stake in household consumer goods company GWA International, which saw its share price tumble by more than 30 per cent over the year.
The company, founded in Toowoomba more than 70 years ago, manufactures furniture, fittings and other products found inmillions of Australian homes and workplaces.
• No 27 ACTON FAMILY • WEALTH $408 MILLION • WHAT BEEF/PROPERTY • WHERE CENTRAL QLD
BROTHERS Graeme and Evan Acton are partners in one of Australias largest family owned and operated cattle grazing operations.
The Actons own seven rural properties and have built up their own meat labels for Australian and export markets. The family also has branched out into property development in Yeppoon in central Queensland.
• No 28 McDONALD FAMILY • WEALTH $400 MILLION • WHAT BEEF INDUSTRY • WHERE CLONCURRY THE McDonald family is Queensland's biggest landowner and the ninth-largest in Australia with amassive 3.37 million hectares or 35,000sq km.
With a 160,000-strong herd spread over 12 properties, theMcDonalds are also among the state's biggest beef barons. They have been farming continuously for 181 years, through droughts and boom and bust periods.
• No 29 BOB BRYAN • WEALTH $358 MILLION • WHAT RESOURCES • WHERE BRISBANE
COMING from a family of rock kickers, Bob Bryan has always had a life in mining, and it has made him wealthy and helped him build a huge property portfolio. But now its the gas energy industry that excites the 72-year-old.
• No 30 CYRIL GOLDING • WEALTH $350 MILLION • WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE • WHERE GLADSTONE
THERE'S plenty of time to sit back and smell the roses in his beautifully tended garden now that Cyril Golding has sold themining and infrastructure monolith he built up. It sold for an estimated $350 million in March.
Mr Golding said he had mixed feelings, but the time was right and he thanked his loyal staff for helping to make the company such a success. A modest man, he has often said he was just in the right places at the right times.
• No 31 JOHN FITZGERALD • WEALTH $340 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY/FINANCE • WHERE GOLD COAST
AS A self-made business tycoon, John Fitzgerald has the fortune to buy anything he wants. But the 45-year-old believes it is his duty to give his cash away and has already started helping others.
• No 32: PETER and JANE HUGHES • WEALTH $335 MILLION • WHAT BEEF INDUSTRY • WHERE MACKAY
WEALTH has not changed this modest north Queensland family, who are bushies to the bone and still eat their meals in the property's kitchen with the station hands. Holidays work well in theory but they are not for me, Peter Hughes once told an interviewer. That kind of work ethic has made the 59-year-old one of the country's top cattle barons.
• No 33: RUSSELL McCART • WEALTH $333 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
RUSSELL Rusty McCart was among the first to see the potential of Brisbane's riverfront, leading the refurbishment of the old woolstores buildings in Teneriffe into luxurious apartments.
• No 34: CLIVE BERGHOFER • WEALTH $325MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE TOOWOOMBA
PROPERTY tycoon Clive Berghofer, 72, will celebrate 50 years in business next year. He's approaching the anniversary the same way he has operated for all those decades, by working hard, steadily accumulating wealth and giving away lots of it.
• No 35: JIM GORMAN • WEALTH $320 MILLION • WHAT COAL MINING • WHERE BRISBANE
JIM Gorman joined the ranks of Queensland's cashed-up mining magnates last September when he sold his stake in the Jellinbah East and Lake Vermontmines in the Bowen Basin. His 23.3 per cent stake earned him about $270 million.
• No 36: GRAHAM TURNER • WEALTH $304 MILLION • WHAT TRAVEL • WHERE BRISBANE
FLIGHT Centre founder Graham Turner, 58, is taking the travel firm in new directions. While travel will remain the core business, the company he started in 1981 is pushing into the recruitment industry.
• No 37 UDO JATTKE • WEALTH $300 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE CAIRNS HIS family came to Australia after escaping from communist East Germany. Udo Jattke admits he was a terrible school student but the 48-year-old is now one of the country's biggest home builders.
• No 38 REG and HAZEL ROWE • WEALTH $277MILLION • WHAT AUTOMOTIVE PARTS • WHERE BRISBANE
LIGHTNING can strike in the same place again as the founders of Super Cheap Auto, Reg and Hazel Rowe, have proved. They made a huge success of the business they began in the garage of their home in the north Brisbane suburb of Bracken Ridge 36 years ago the couple sold 39 per cent of their shares when the company was floated in 2004 and retain a 49 per cent stake worth $160 million.
• No 39: RICHARDS FAMILY • WEALTH $274 MILLION • WHAT WASTE MANAGEMENT • WHERE BRISBANE
BOATS and medicines seem an unlikely fit for Australia's largest privately owned waste management business. But JJ Richards and Sons is celebrating a 45 per cent leap in profits through its expanding interest in marine services and science.
• No 40: SAMMY CHONG • WEALTH $273MILLION • WHAT COAL MINING • WHERE BRISBANE
THE Jellinbah East coalmine in the Bowen Basin has made Sammy Chong Shay Nee very wealthy. Last September, he and Jim Gorman sold their stakes (23.3 per cent each) in the coking coal operation for an estimated $270 million apiece.
• No 41: CRAIG DOYLE • WEALTH $270MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE DAYBORO
BORN and bred in Dayboro, near Brisbane, and still living there, 43-year-old Craig Doyle prefers to do business on a handshake. And that approach has made the former truck driver a wealthy man in property development.
• No 42 DAVID KNAPPICK • WEALTH $266 MILLION • WHAT COAL MINING • WHERE BRISBANE DAVID Knappick is another beneficiary of the fortunes made by Brisbane-based mining company Felix Resources.
A veteran of the resources industry, Mr Knappick has a stake of just over 7 per cent in Felix and has benefited as the company's share price tripled over the past 12 months.
• No 43 PIDGEON FAMILY • WEALTH $260 MILLION • WHAT CONSTRUCTION • WHERE BRISBANE
THEY joined their fathers company in the mid-1940s, and together they built a family construction empire FA Pidgeon and Sons.
The famous Pidgeon siblings, Sir John, 82, and Valmai, 83, laid the groundwork for what is now a booming property development and investment company as well as a construction outfit.
• No 44: CRAIG SPENCER • WEALTH $258 MILLION • WHAT FRESH PRODUCE • WHERE BRISBANE
AS A third-generation owner of Carter and Spencer, which began in 1936 as a stall in Brisbane's Roma St fruit and vegetable markets, Craig Spencer turned the operation into the secondlargest produce company in Australasia.
It has an annual turnover of more than half-a-billion dollars and employs more than 400 people.
• No 45: TOM HEDLEY • WEALTH $251 MILLION • WHAT HOTELS/PROPERTY • WHERE CAIRNS
LIKE any keen punter, Tom Hedley, 57, knows you have to be prepared to lose sometimes, but the past 12 months have given the pub owner one hell of a hangover.
The former plumber who turned himself into the king of the norths entrepreneurs was riding high when he publicly listed much of his substantial hotel empire as the Hedley Leisure and Gaming Property Fund.
• No 46: BILL BARRY-COTTER • WEALTH $250 MILLION • WHAT BOAT BUILDING • WHERE GOLD COAST AFTER 40 years in the business and having built up the country's two largest luxury boat-building companies, Bill Barry-Cotter is justifiably proud of his achievements at Maritimo.
• No 47: SARAGOSSI FAMILY • WEALTH $242 MILLION • WHAT BUILDING PRODUCTS • WHERE BRISBANE
THE new generation is now guiding the family's company, G. James Glass and Aluminium.
Lewis Saragossi, 55, took over after the death of his father, founder Joe in 2005. And Lewiss daughter Rachel Driessen has become a director of the company which employs 2500 staff in 30 locations across Australia.
• No 48 JIM GOLDBERG • WEALTH $237 MILLION • WHAT TRAVEL/PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE 50-year-old former accountant was part of the Flight Centre success. He left the company in 2001 but still retains a large shareholding which forms much of his personal wealth.
• Equal 49 HENZELL FAMILY • WEALTH $230 MILLION • WHAT REAL ESTATE • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
THEYRE an iconic Caloundra real estate family, and the secret to the Henzells success over several generations is simple. They believe in building a good team,making the most of any opportunityand setting aside time to relax.
• Equal 49 TAPIOLAS FAMILY • WEALTH $230MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY/TIMBER • WHERE TOWNSVILLE
NOW in its third generation of timber and building expertise, the Tapiolas family's name is associated with a quarter of all new housing development in the booming Townsville and Thuringowa region.
• No 51 CAMPBELL FAMILY • WEALTH $225 MILLION • WHAT MARINE SERVICES • WHERE BRISBANE
WITH a family history in Australia that can track its business ties to the water back nearly 150 years, it's not surprising that the current patriarch, Hume Campbell, has a daring vision for their Barrier Reef tourism operation.
• No 52 ZUPP FAMILY • WEALTH $224 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE Zupp family sold their three generation car dealership chain last year for $117 million, but retained ownership of the 15 sites.
The company was founded by Percy Zupp in a small garage in Ipswich in 1948. His son John, 77, and granddaughter Terri, 38, developed it into dealerships and franchises.
• No 53 TERRY MORRIS • WEALTH $220 MILLION • WHAT WINE/PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
WINEMAKER Terry Morris is toasting another year of success, adding about $30 million to his wealth. Rising property values helped offset a rugged 12 months on stock market investments.
• No 54 ZIMI MEKA • WEALTH $219MILLION • WHAT ENGINEERING • WHERE BRISBANE
ALWAYS one of Queensland's smartest men, the immaculately presented Lulezim (Zimi) Meka was one of the fastest earners last year.
With the share price of engineering and mining industry support company Ausenco rising by more than 80 per cent over the past 12 months, the Brisbane born-and-bred Mr Mekas worth has grown by $100 million.
• No 55 CRAIG GORE • WEALTH $210 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
SELLING his two V8 Supercars race licences was a tough decision for Craig Gore, but the Gold Coast property developer says the extra time he has gained from being out of motorsport has enabled him to earn millions more for his business. • No 56: GRAEME WOOD • WEALTH $208 MILLION • WHAT TRAVEL INDUSTRY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE 61-year-old founder of online accommodation group Wotif.com has stepped down from the running of the company to assume a new role. He's now an eco-warrior trying to save Australia's endangered environments.
• No 57: QUINN FAMILY • WEALTH $205 MILLION • WHAT PET FOOD • WHERE GOLD COAST
SCOTTISH immigrants Anthony and Christine Quinn have turned a family tradition into Australia's largest fresh chilled pet food manufacturer in just 12 years.
The childhood sweethearts from Aberdeen and their four children, Kelda, Kent, Klark and Kristen, are using Anthony's father Jim's recipes to make dog and cat food rolls, which are sold in Australia, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the US.
• 58 TEYS FAMILY • WEALTH $200 MILLION • WHAT BEEF PROCESSING • WHERE LOGAN CITY
A SIMPLE handshake with Kerry Packer in 2003 has proved a pivotal point in the 62- year-old history of family-run meat company Teys Brothers.
The business, which has grown from a butcher's shop at Beenleigh to six meat processing plants which employ 2000 staff, is Australia's second-largest meat processing company.
• No 59 ABEDIAN FAMILY • WEALTH $191 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
SUNLAND Group founder Soheil Abedian once said success was about using your ability to leave a lasting mark on life.
The 57-year-old and his son Sahba, 32, have done that in creating some of Queensland's most recognisable developments on the Gold Coast, including the Palazzo Versace Hotel, Circle on Cavill and Q1.
• No 60 BOB SHARPLESS • WEALTH $182 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE 51-year-old civil engineer is managing director of Springfield Land Corporation and owns a quarter of the firm.
• No 61 MICHAEL GORDON • WEALTH $180 MILLION • WHAT INVESTMENT/SHEEP • WHERE BRISBANE
AFTER starting his career as a jackeroo, then going into farm management and rural finance, Michael Gordon has returned to the land as a major agricultural investor.
• No 62 NEUMANN FAMILY • WEALTH $176 MILLION • WHAT CONCRETE/PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
WHILE the high cost of fuel is having an impact on the Neumann petroleum arm, the rest of the Gold Coast family's operations are thriving.
The Neumann Groups 10 business units, which include a quarry, service stations, a sandmine and project management, turn over $600 million each year.
• No 63 RON WANLESS • WEALTH $170 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY/WASTE • WHERE LOGAN CITY
HE HAS made a fortune taking out the rubbish in Queensland, but speedway driver Ron Wanless has proved he is no boardroom slouch.
The 67-year-old head of Wanless Wastecorp is known for a love of fast cars, racehorses and polo, but he also has a sharp business brain.
• No 64 GARY PEMBERTON • WEALTH $169 MILLION • WHAT RETAIL INDUSTRY • WHERE GOLD COAST
ONE of Australia's most successful chief executives has slowed his life a little, spending time with his wife, Margaret, at their Surfers Paradise apartment and racing a team of thoroughbreds. He also has a cattle property in the Gold Coast hinterland.
• No 65 BOB THORPE • WEALTH $165 MILLION • WHAT MINING SERVICES • WHERE BRISBANE
MINING has been Bob Thorpe's life and has made him wealthy. The 63-year-old was the founding managing director of Ausenco, the Brisbane-based global engineering and mining industry support services company. He also is a director of Cloncurry Metals Ltd, a fledgling listed company targeting lead-zinc-silver and copper-gold-uranium deposits.
• No 66 LYN and BOBBIE BRAZIL • WEALTH $161 MILLION • WHAT FARMING/INVESTMENT • WHERE MILLMERRAN
THIS Darling Downs couple has richly combined sustainable farming, sound business methods and a love of the environment.
• Equal 67 HUTCHINSON FAMILY • WEALTH $160 MILLION • WHAT CONSTRUCTION • WHERE BRISBANE
WHEN Jack Hutchinson started his building firm on Brisbanes bayside 96 years ago, he could never imagine how the city and his company would grow.
Hutchinson Builders is a construction giant employing 900 people and turning over $1 billion a year and is the state's largest privately owned builder.
• Equal 67 TERRY BYRT • WEALTH $160 MILLION • WHAT AVIATION/RESOURCES • WHERE TOWNSVILLE
THE north Queenslander is using his resources wealth to build a regional airline that will return the name Ansett to our skies.
• No 69 MITCHELL FAMILY • WEALTH $158 MILLION • WHAT DRILLING • WHERE GOLD COAST
AFTER starting their business in 1969 with the $11,500 purchase of a secondhand drilling rig, Peter and Deidre Mitchell last month sold their bore and test-core drilling company for $150 million. The business, which rode the mining boom, had a turnover of $95 million and employed 300 people. The couple also has shares in several mining companies. • No 70 HUDDY FAMILY • WEALTH $155 MILLION • WHAT HEAVY EQUIPMENT • WHERE MT ISA
GRAHAM and Linda Huddy started a plant hire business with one grader in 1988. They sold their much expanded operation to mining equipment giant Industrea Ltd in February for $112.5 million in cash and $37.5 million in shares.
• No 71 ANTHONY BARAKAT • WEALTH $153 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
HE BUILT a chain of hairdressing salons, then Anthony Barakat began selling commercial property andmade a success of that, too.
• No 72 PETER and KERRY CORISH • WEALTH $152 MILLION • WHAT FARMING • WHERE GOONDIWINDI
PETER Corish is helping to bring the city to the country through new agricultural investment company PrimeAg.
As chairman,Mr Corish has directed the raising of $300 million from investors, of which $223 million has already been spent buying hubs of farms between central Queensland and northern New South Wales.
• Equal 73 LAURENCE LANCINI • WEALTH $150 MILLION • WHAT CONSTRUCTION • WHERE TOWNSVILLE
LAURENCE Lancini is as closely associated with the development of Townsville as anyone, and his latest project will transform the centre of the north Queensland city.
His Lancini Group company is constructing Flinders Plaza, the biggest single retail development in Townsville for more than a decade.
• Equal 73 PERRIN FAMILY • WEALTH $150 MILLION • WHAT RETAIL/FINANCE • WHERE GOLD COAST SINCE selling his shares in Billabong, Matthew Perrin and his wife, Nicole, have been exploring several new business horizons.
They have poured millions into Firewall, a Gold Coast company which is making premium-priced robotshaped surfboards.
• No 75 JOSEPH BUTTA • WEALTH $149 MILLION • WHAT MINING • WHERE BRISBANE
AFTER more than 25 years in the coal industry, mining executive Joseph Butta is enjoying the soaring value of clean coal company Felix Resources.
He hasn't retired but he has eased back his often-hectic business schedule.
• 76 KEITH WILLIAMS • WEALTH $148 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE GOLD COAST
A STROKE has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of developer Keith Williams, 78, whose business motto is the harder I work, the luckier I get.
Now that he has sold his Port Hinchinbrook development for $50 million, the SeaWorld founder has embarked on a boat-building project and penning his memoirs.
• No 77 DUDLEY LEITCH • WEALTH $145 MILLION • WHAT RESOURCES • WHERE BRISBANE
LOGAN-raised Dudley Leitch got rich through successful mining companies, including Bolnisi Gold, which grew to the fifth-largest preciousmetals firm on the ASX 200.
The 59-year-old grew up on the family's cane farm at Beenleigh and he has never lost his love of the land. He still relaxes by getting behind the wheel of a tractor.
• 78 CHARLES and GRACE LUND • WEALTH $140 MILLION • WHAT BEEF INDUSTRY • WHERE CLERMONT
WERE just little, humble, old fellas. Thats how Charlie Lund, 70, describes himself and wife of 49 years Grace, 69. It's a modest assessment as they are also among the Top 10 beef producers in the country, selling 30,000 to 40,000 head of cattle a year through their Laglan Pastoral Company.
• 79 GREG and ROD HORWILL • WEALTH $132 MILLION • WHAT PLASTICS • WHERE BRISBANE
THE brothers have moved into the water tankmarket, adding a new arm to their extensive family-owned plastic products business, EGR, that has a turnover of $151 million-plus and sells products in more than 40 countries.
• 80 VAUGHAN BULLIVANT • WEALTH $130 MILLION • WHAT TOURISM • WHERE REDCLIFFE
FEW live life larger than this selfmade success, who has gone from selling health products to saving a tropical resort.
• 81 FITZGIBBONS FAMILY • WEALTH $125 MILLION • WHAT HOSPITALITY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE Fitzgibbons are now in their third generation in the hotel business. The tradition was started by Michael and Lily Fitzgibbons, who bought their first hotel at Coolangatta in 1936.
One of their sons, Brian, took over and is still involved, although the day-to-day operations are now handled by his sons, Brian Jr and Greg.
• 82 CHRIS and VIRGINIA ANDERSON • WEALTH $120 MILLION • WHAT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY • WHERE REDLAND CITY
DEVELOPER Chris Anderson calls it mathematical karma.
It's nothing spiritual, but if you are doing positive things and creating positive energy, it's a mathematical certainty that you will get your share of good fortune back, he said.
Mr Anderson and his wife Virginia started in business with a borrowed $1400, and are now multimillionaires who share their success with others.
• No 83 ANDREW BRICE • WEALTH $119 MILLION • WHAT TECHNOLOGY • WHERE BRISBANE
AS A child, Andrew Brice struggled at school because of dyslexia and failed to pass matriculation English. But his persistence eventually saw him admitted to university, where he graduated with a Commerce degree.
His grasp of figures became the source of his success. In 1999, Mr Brice pulled together four investors who between them put in $200,000 to launch the online booking business, Wotif.com. He cashed $13.6 million worth of shares when the firm floated two years ago but retains a sizeable holding.
• No 84 EUAN MURDOCH • WEALTH $118 MILLION • WHAT PHARMACEUTICALS • WHERE BRISBANE
EUAN Murdoch's fortune comes from Herron Pharmaceuticals, the company he founded with wife Kaye and sold to Sigma Co for $123 million in 2003.
Herron started as an importer of veterinary products 35 years ago but moved into pharmaceuticals after buying the Goanna Oil Company in the early 1980s.
• No 85 BRAD WEBB • WEALTH $115 MILLION • WHAT CONSTRUCTION • WHERE TOWNSVILLE
BRAD Webb, 47, is the classic local lad made good. Townsville born-and-bred, he grew up in a Housing Commission home and tried his hand at a series of bluecollar jobs before finding his niche in the construction business.
Today, he is a powerhouse of industrial property development in the north. His company, BM Webb, is involved in everything from rock quarrying to manufacturing quick erect concrete panels for industrial and commercial buildings.
• No 86 KEVIN FITZPATRICK • WEALTH $113 MILLION • WHAT TECHNOLOGY • WHERE BRISBANE
WHAT if youmade $73 million in one day? Thats what happened to Kevin Fitzpatrick, on Friday, June 2, 2006, the day Wotif.com publicly floated and he sold 36.8 million shares in the company. The 71-year-old still holds about 10million shares, worth more than $40million. • 87 CHAPMAN FAMILY • WEALTH $110 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY/TOURISM • WHERE CAIRNS
THIS north Queensland family built the Skyrail Cableway, near Cairns, but its business interests include property development, aquaculture operations, a beef cattle property and a rainforest protection foundation.
• 88 RAY CATELAN • WEALTH $108 MILLION • WHAT TECHNOLOGY • WHERE BRISBANE
THIS 58-year-old founded the RP Data property information group in 1991 and made a packet in a public float two years ago.He still owns about 10 million RP Data shares but now is mostly involved with CMI Ltd, which manufactures automotive electrical components.
• 89 WOELDERS FAMILY • WEALTH $106 MILLION • WHAT CAR DEALERSHIPS • WHERE BRISBANE
THE family runs the Motorama car dealerships, Queensland's 16th-biggest private company, with 12 sales yards and more than 450 staff. It also has property interests at Lennox Head on the northern New South Wales coast.
• 90 DAVID DEVINE • WEALTH $105 MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY • WHERE BRISBANE
AFTER a quarter-century in property development, David Devine, 61, is still as excited as ever about the business.
Devine Ltd has a pipeline of projects valued at more than $3 billion.
• 91 HARVEY LISTER • WEALTH $102 MILLION • WHAT EVENTS MANAGEMENT • WHERE BRISBANE
HE STARTED his career as a disc jockey, and now Harvey Lister and his business partner Rod Pilbeam are the operators of one of the world's largest venue and event companies. The businessmen, who both worked at rock music station 4IP in the 1970s, set up Ogden, which operates Suncorp Stadium and Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, and the Cairns Convention Centre.
• 92 SARINA RUSSO • WEALTH $100 MILLION • WHAT EMPLOYMENT • WHERE BRISBANE
QUEENSLAND'S best-known businesswoman Sarina Russo is getting ready to take on the world.
The former typist, who has developed a suite of successful businesses carrying her name over the past 29 years, went to London recently to explore opportunities to take her employment and training empire international.
The business Ms Russo launched in a small room with two parttime staff has grown into the Sarina Russo Group, which includes the country's largest privately owned job network agency, apprenticeship services, recruitment, vocational schools and English language tutoring. She employs more than 800 staff.
• No 93 HEATHER KILLEN • WEALTH $90 MILLION • WHAT DIGITAL MEDIA • WHERE LONDON
THE daughter of legendary Queensland politician, the late Sir Jim Killen, is one of the state's most successful expats. Now based in London, she is enjoying the rewards of her hard work with her own take on a mid-life crisis.
• 94 DANIEL TZVETKOFF • WEALTH $82 MILLION • WHAT TECHNOLOGY • WHERE BRISBANE
THE youngest member of the Sunday Mail Top 100 Rich List is no overnight success. He clinched the first international contract of his online business as a 13-year-old and now runs a company with 5000 clients in 70 countries.
• 95 STEVE ACKERIE • WEALTH $81 MILLION • WHAT HAIRDRESSING • WHERE BRISBANE ITS a year of renewal for Steve Ackerie, better known as his brand Stefan. He has spent millions of dollars revamping his 50-plus hair salons around Queensland. Then there's Jo Jo's, his iconic 400-seat Brisbane restaurant which is getting its first makeover in seven years no expense spared, including marble floors and a Swarovski crystal chandelier.
• No 96 BROOK FAMILY • WEALTH $80 MILLION • WHAT BEEF INDUSTRY • WHERE BIRDSVILLE
A CATTLE-farming dynasty that is part of the history of the legendary Birdsville Hotel, has shown that living in the Outback can be a rewarding and rich experience.
• 97 BRETT POINTON • WEALTH $79MILLION • WHAT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
BRETT Pointon learned the hotel business the tough waydoing jobs like getting up before dawn to clean the pool before the guests got up.
Now he's the biggest shareholder in Oaks Hotels and Resorts. .
• 98 GRANT KENNY and LISA CURRY • WEALTH $78MILLION • WHAT AVIATION/PROPERTY • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
ITS been a year of highs and lows for the states most successful sporting couple.
• No 99 HECK FAMILY • WEALTH $75MILLION • WHAT BIOFUELS • WHERE GOLD COAST
TURNING to biofuel production is proving profitable for this sugargrowing family.
• No 100 DARREN and STEPHANIE STEINHARDT • WEALTH $73MILLION • WHAT FINANCIAL SERVICES • WHERE SUNSHINE COAST
TEAMWORK is the secret to this couples success.