Twiggy (29 page)

Twiggy shovels the first load of Fortescue’s iron ore from a wheelbarrow onto a conveyor belt at Herb Elliott Port in Port Hedland. The first shipment on 15 May 2008 meant that Fortescue had broken the Pilbara iron ore duopoly held by mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. (Colin Murty/News Corp Australia.)

Forrest meets China’s future president Xi Jinping. At the time of this meeting in Canberra, which took place on 21 June 2010, Forrest and Kevin Rudd were also attempting to broker a peace deal on the mining tax. Rudd was removed as prime minister three days later. (Mark Graham/AP Photo.)

Forrest meets Queen Elizabeth II at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in 2012, after addressing the audience about his philanthropic work, which signalled how far he had come in being embraced by the establishment. (Leon Neal/PA Wire.)

Forrest at the May 2010 anti-RSPT rally in Perth’s Langley Park. Within weeks, Twiggy had entered confidential talks with Kevin Rudd’s office with the aim of resolving the dispute over the tax. (Marie Nirme/News Corp Australia.)

Forrest shows off his horseriding skills at his Minderoo cattle station in the Pilbara. Twiggy bought the property for $12 million in 2009 after it had been out of the Forrest family’s hands for more than a decade. (Ron D’Raine.)

Andrew and Nicola Forrest in 2013, after donating $1 million to the Salvation Army. Friends and family say Nicola deserves credit for instilling stronger Christian values in her husband. (Sam Ruttyn/News Corp Australia.)

Forrest with Scotty Black Jr
, the son of the legendary Minderoo stockman, near Onslow in 2010. “Scotty Black was my greatest mentor outside my own blood,” Forrest said. (Lincoln Baker/News Corp Australia.)

I would like to thank the scores of people who helped me research this book by agreeing to speak to me about Andrew Forrest. Many are prominent in business, politics and other fields, and most spoke on the condition of anonymity for reasons that are understandable.

My boss at the
Australian
, Geoff Elliott, could not have been more supportive when
I approached him with the idea of writing a book. He gave me the time to write, provided advice and tolerated my absences from the office. The editor of the
Australian
, Clive Mathieson, also encouraged the project. I am also indebted to my colleagues Milan Scepanovic and Colin Murty, who went beyond the call to help me source photographs. Tony Barrass, the best writer in the business, read the
entire manuscript without a word of complaint and suggested plenty of improvements. Rebecca Turner was both a superb “in-house” editor and constant sounding board.

Others who provided advice or help along the way include Paul Downie, Paul Garvey, Glenn Burge, Peter Klinger, Paul Cleary, Peter van Onselen, Paige Taylor, Tom Baddeley, Jan Mayman, Kate Askew, Chelsea Taylor, Nic Perpitch and
Michelle Kiddie.

In my research, I drew heavily on excellent personal profiles of Andrew Forrest published over the years by newspaper journalists Cameron Stewart, Mark Drummond, Ben Hills and Elizabeth Knight.

At Black Inc., Chris Feik’s guidance and vision throughout the project were invaluable. The supremely patient Nikola Lusk turned my manuscript into a real book. Thanks also to
Elisabeth Young, Anna Lensky and Sophy Williams.

I could not have written this book without such love and support over the years from my family, especially from my parents, Lynne and John.

Above all, I would like to thank Bec, simply for making it all possible.

PROLOGUE

“An idiot who got lucky”: author interview with anonymous Perth business leader, 2012.

“the hallmark of a great entrepreneur”: Daniel Goleman, “The Psyche of the Entrepreneur”,
The New York Times
, 2 February 1986.

“the will to conquer”: Joseph A Schumpeter,
The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest
and the Business Cycle
, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1934.

CHAPTER 1: THE FORREST LEGACY

“So much of what he does is proving to his mother”: author interview with Warwick Grigor, 2013.

“Andrew would like to emulate his great-great-uncle”: Don Forrest to Cameron Stewart, “The Accidental Billionaire”,
The Weekend Australian
magazine, 24 May 2008.

“We can never
escape who we are”: Andrew Forrest to Mark Drummond, “Forrest Fire”,
The West Australian
, 1 September 2007.

“those two guys probably did have an impact”: Andrew Forrest, interviewed by Peter Thompson, Centre for Social Impact, 27 May 2011.

“[the family legacy] is on his shoulder”: author interview with Graeme Kirke, 2012.

“He’s seriously got whatever it was”: Janie Hicks,
Dynasties
, ABC TV, 28 November 2005.

“Andrew will probably go down as a very significant part”: David Forrest,
Dynasties
.

“Twiggy has said his business motto today”: Elizabeth Knight, “Lunch with Andrew Forrest”,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 12 June 2010.

“as successful Olympic athletes”: Geoffrey Bolton,
Land of Vision and Mirage: Western Australia since 1826
, UWA Press, Crawley, WA, 2008,
p42.

“Water became scarce and grass gave way to spinifex”: Cyril Ayris,
John Forrest: Man of Legend
, Cyril Ayris, West Perth, WA, 1996, p27.

“his achievements are largely ignored”: Bolton,
Land of Vision and Mirage
, p42.

“local boy made good”: Frank Crowley,
Big John Forrest
1847–1918: A Founding Father of the Commonwealth of Australia
, UWA Press, Crawley, WA, 2000, p58.

“Why
did he seek the premiership so ardently?”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p79.

“Railways, harbours, everything”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p101.

“waste and extravagance”: Bolton,
Land of Vision and Mirage
, p63.

“promoted an ideology of development”: Bob Reece & Tom Stannage (eds),
European–Aboriginal Relations in Western Australia: Studies in Western Australian History
, Vol. 8, UWA
Department of History, Crawley, WA, 1984.

“until the race died out”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p298.

“It’s all very well for us to be incensed”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p298.

“There are millions of them”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p203.

“this compound of social snobbery”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p5.

“used his own money to finance expeditions”: Alison & Dinee
Muir,
Forrest Family, Pioneers of Western Australia
, JR Muir & Son, Manjimup, WA, 1982, p85.

“played the stockmarket with zest”: Muir,
Forrest Family
, p88.

“it would have been almost impossible”: Muir,
Forrest Family
, p90.

“As a capitalist he was an uncomplicated believer”: GC Bolton, “Forrest, Alexander (1849–1901)”,
Australian Dictionary of Biography
, Volume 8, Melbourne University
Publishing, South Carlton, Vic., 1981.

“He died with an estate worth £195,238”: Bolton, “Forrest, Alexander”.

“My dear Deakin, ‘Et tu, Brute?’”: Crowley,
Big John Forrest
, p423.

“I have faced death before”: Muir,
Forrest Family
, p85.

CHAPTER 2: MINDEROO

“We could get on a horse and ride” and “You made your life with the animals”: Andrew Forrest and Janie Hicks,
Dynasties
.

“These kids were smarter than me”: Andrew Forrest, Speech to 10th National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development, May 2009.

“Mum pulled me out of the hostel”: Knight, “Lunch with Andrew Forrest”.

“a much more extended family”: Andrew Forrest, Speech to National Business Leaders Forum.

“I was in awe of him”: Billy Rule, “Dance of Destiny”,
The Sunday Times
, 27 June 2010.

“you’ve just done a bloody man’s job”: Rule, “Dance of Destiny”.

“the ‘wild native’ drove his spear”: Muir,
Forrest Family
, p101.

“David told the magistrate”: Muir,
Forrest Family
, p101.

“a real at-oneness with the land”: Forrest, interviewed by Peter Thompson.

“My strongest memory of Grandad”:
Dynasties
.

“I don’t think Dad enjoyed it” and “He used
to tell me what to do”:
Dynasties
.

“When it was stinking hot”:
Dynasties
.

“I could cope with the heat”:
Dynasties
.

“I don’t know what I went into”:
Dynasties
.

“Don forced him to chew a mouthful of soap”: Drummond, “Forrest Fire”.

“Don was reluctant to tell his son he was proud of him”: Stewart, “The Accidental Billionaire”.

“it was his strong mother”: Knight, “Lunch
with Andrew Forrest”.

“We came across industry of sight and sound”:
Dynasties
.

“Forrest would return to the Cape Lambert project”: Michael Weir, “Forrest Rises Above Doubters”,
The West Australian
, 30 May 1998.

“the huge Mount Whaleback mine had engaged”: Paul Cleary,
Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future
, Black Inc., Collingwood, Vic, 2011, p132.

“With little
demand for their skills”: Bolton,
Land of Vision and Mirage
, p157.

“he believed ‘no-good half-caste’”: Lang Hancock, quoted in the documentary
Couldn’t Be Fairer
, Dennis O’Rourke (producer), 1984.

“It was always hateful, absolutely dreadful”:
Dynasties
.

“you’d try and get as much red dust”:
Dynasties
.

CHAPTER 3: FISTICUFFS AND FAILURES

“I always had the stutter”:
Forrest, interviewed by Peter Thompson.

“I’m amazed he speaks so well now”: Drummond, “Forrest Fire”.

“likening the environment to the savagery”: author interview with Tony London, 2012.

“Moyes was ‘well past his use-by date’”: author interview with anonymous former Christ Church student, 2012.

“Forrest taunting a fellow student”: author interview with anonymous former Christ
Church student, 2012.

“boomerang elbow”: Drummond, “Forrest Fire”.

“He was very quick”: author interview with anonymous former Christ Church student, 2012.

“it was lucky he had a sheep and cattle station”: Drummond, “Forrest Fire”.

“He was a very unhappy boy” and “Andrew divided people”: author interview with Tony London, 2012.

“He was fighting one morning”: author interview
with anonymous former Christ Church student, 2012.

“I was standing at the top of the stairs” and “After our encounter”: author interview with John Weatherhead, 2012.

“a joke about Forrest’s stutter”: author interview with Bruce Strapp, 2012.

“I didn’t want to pry”: author interview with Ken Tregonning, 2013.

“There was no way if he stayed at Christ Church”: author interview
with Rohan Pixley, 2012.

“I used to relish boys who were in trouble” and “He told me long after”: author interview with Ken Tregonning, 2013.

“he’d end up pushing the envelope a bit”: author interview with anonymous former Hale student, 2013.

“we realised he was a snake oil salesman”: Forrest, interviewed by Peter Thompson.

“It was a real blood sport”: Knight, “Lunch with Andrew
Forrest”.

“His stutter was still quite pronounced” and “He was very persistent in asking girls out”: author interview with anonymous friend of Andrew Forrest, 2013.

“the fact that Forrest repeated Year 11”: author interview with Ken Tregonning, 2013.

“He was reasonably good academically”: author interview with anonymous former Hale student, 2013.

“The world is full of intellectuals
that failed”: Knight, “Lunch with Andrew Forrest”.

“when boarders from yesteryear make good”: author interview with Bill Edgar, 2013.

“a huge wave sank the small fishing boat”: Stewart, “The Accidental Billionaire”.

“I’d kind of been given the impression”: Forrest, interviewed by Peter Thompson.

“He was never really interested in cattle and sheep”: Stewart, “The Accidental
Billionaire”.

CHAPTER 4: THE WILD WEST

“It was hard to be serious”: author interview with John Poynton, 2013.

“terribly enthusiastic young man”: Drummond, “Forrest Fire”.

“People liked going to Laurie for money”: Anne Lampe & Colleen Ryan, “How Laurie Sank a Bank”,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 28 January 1989.

“Connell was siphoning off more than $130 million”: Trevor
Sykes,
The Bold Riders: Behind Australia’s Corporate Collapses
, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, p96.

“Depositors [of Rothwells] would surely have been alarmed”: Sykes,
The Bold Riders
, p96.

“He was always on two phones”, “We had to buy him a suit” and “We all went to the window”: author interview with Graeme Kirke, 2012.

“the ‘incredibly brave’ Forrest jumped in”: Paul Lampathakis,
“‘Brave’ Twiggy Forrest Punched as He Breaks Up Street Fight”,
The Sunday Times
, 4 December 2010.

“between Laurie and a bag of money”: Sykes,
The Bold Riders
, p70.

“I don’t think Andrew could ever work without”: author interview with Graeme Kirke, 2012.

“That was something adults did”: author interview with anonymous former colleague of Andrew Forrest, 2012.

“Jacksons were
go-getting blokes”: author interview with Peter Richard, 2013.

“got his break in the early 1980s”: Mark Drummond, “The ’80s Upstart Who’s Come Home to Spend his Fortune”,
The West Australian
, 5 May 2007.

“Andrew idolised Dave”: author interview with anonymous former colleague of Andrew Forrest, 2012.

“he never quite stayed out of trouble”: “Trading in Max Poised to Resume as Probe
Concludes”,
Financial Times
, 27 October 2007.

“I wasn’t sure whether to go”: author interview with Jeff Braysich, 2012.

“many of the older brokers along St Georges Terrace”: author interview with John Poynton, 2013.

“We weren’t exactly loved”, “They did their big deals” and “Andrew comes straight in”: author interview with Jeff Braysich, 2012.

“We didn’t know any better” and
“You were either his best mate”: author interview with Jeff Braysich, 2012.

“He was a mentor” and “He was happy to go out”: author interview with anonymous former colleague of Andrew Forrest, 2012.

“There are some excellent situations”: “Shell-Shocked Brokers Remain Nervous”,
The Australian Financial Review
, 22 October 1987.

CHAPTER 5: SIN CITY

“It was Laurie Connell”
and “The normal procedures you’d follow”: author interview with Peter Richard, 2013.

“remembers Forrest as a skilled raconteur”: author interview with Ross Dobinson, 2013.

“A lot of people criticise him”: author interview with Ross Dobinson, 2013.

“he outlined plans for Intersuisse”: Elizabeth Knight, “Forrest Resigns from Jacksons”,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 6 May 1988.

“Forrest made at least forty good friends”: author interview with David Hannon, 2013.

“I did not want to, nor could I”: author interview with Rodney Adler, 2013.

“Andrew with his silver tongue”, “Andrew taught me how to fly first-class”, “Any normal, sane person wouldn’t have done it” and “I’m going to take Nicola out”: author interview with Albert Wong, 2012.

“He had a real weakness
for the ladies”: author interview with anonymous friend of Andrew Forrest, 2013.

“He got a bit tired of talk of bridal dresses” and “Nic has been very good for him”: Stewart, “The Accidental Billionaire”.

“all the skeletons started to come out of the closet” and “Andrew’s natural instinct”: author interview with Albert Wong, 2012.

“promising investors that the alpacas would deliver”:
“Alpaca as Investment”,
The Australian Financial Review
, 16 June 1992.

“demonstrated that he would conduct his business”: International Alpaca Management & Ors v Ensor & Ors [1995] FCA 1990 (7 April 1995).

“self-assured and at times amused by his own evidence”: International Alpaca Management & Ors v Ensor & Ors [1995] FCA 1990 (7 April 1995).

“Anyone who knows me will tell you”:
Ben Hills, “How to Win Friends and Infuriate Anglo”,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 26 May 2001.

“the business venture was ‘quite marginal’”: author interview with Rodney Adler, 2013.

“Everyone advised me not to do it” and “In the first three years I brought in”: author interview with Warwick Grigor, 2013.

“Albert, you know the future is Asia”: author interview with Albert Wong, 2012.

“most substantially financed, racist organisation”: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,
Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia
, 1991.

“A front group created to contest”: Ramon Glazov, “Prince of the Pilbara”,
The Monthly
, July 2013.

“for the Christian faith to command”:
The New Times
, newsletter, Australian League of Rights, January 1992.

“probably wasn’t a good idea”: author interview with Warwick Grigor, 2013.

“The League represents the respectable face of racism”: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,
Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia
, 1991.