Billionaire Kerry Stokes was six years old when the Australian industrial icon that his Seven Group Holdings now controls after a shrewd $8 billion takeover offer, was first established.

Bitumen and Oil Refineries (Australia), which eventually became known by its short form of Boral, began its corporate life in 1946 as a plan by one of the entrepreneurs of the day, David Craig, to set up an oil refinery at Botany Bay in Sydney, finally came to fruition.