The ‘Silver Sirens’ - Australia’s 20 richest women and they’re all cashed up and single
SMOOTH-browed, impeccably connected and groomed to within an inch of their lives, these are our Silver Sirens: the glamorous women of a certain age with hard-won experience and discretion to match. ANNETTE SHARP reports.
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SMOOTH-browed, impeccably connected and groomed to within an inch of their lives, these are the Silver Sirens: the glamorous women of a certain age with hard-won experience and discretion to match.
They include billionairesses and benefactors, charity queens and society grand dames, wafting through the eastern suburbs in a perfumed trail of power and money, heartbreak and triumph, ex-husbands and naughty children, scorned lovers and family dramas their privileged grandchildren could never imagine.
GINA RINEHART, 64
Chair of Hancock Prospecting, mining magnate
Net worth: $23b
AUSTRALIA’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart came into her first fortune after inheriting Western Australian mineral exploration and extraction company Hancock Prospecting from her father, Lang Hancock, upon his death in 1992. Within 14 years Rinehart had turned a $75 million business into a billion dollar concern. Further expansion in media and agriculture led to her being ranked by BRW as the world’s richest woman in 2012, her estimated fortune then put at $29 billion. It has since shrunk. Mother of four billionaires.
ENJOYS: Work; litigation; swimming,; watching tennis, dabbling in media ownership, travelling the globe supporting Australia’s Olympic team, John Singleton, writing poetry, drinking French Sancerre with ice.
DISLIKES: Certain Filipino housemaids, climate change advocates, the inconvenient location of the Great Barrier Reef, lazy Australian workers, some of her “slacker” children, being called heiress, people who lose control.
HELOISE PRATT, 55
Chair of the Pratt Foundation, Visy cardboard packaging heiress and director, co-founder and shareholder of Thorney Investments, philanthropist
Net worth: $2.8b
THE eldest daughter of Melbourne businessman Richard Pratt and wife Jeannie, mother-of-three Heloise divorced husband Alex Waislitz two years ago and has been making a splash since on the arm of rock singer Jon Stevens. Having survived a rare nasal cancer nearly two decades ago, Pratt, through the family’s charitable foundation, has thrown her support and money behind cancer support services.
ENJOYS: Singing in front of an audience, jumping on the Pratt family jet and flying to the US with her “rock” Jon Stevens, barracking for Collingwood AFL club, throwing lavish parties, dressing glamorously, giving.
DISLIKES: Her father’s ex mistresses, Shari-Lea Hitchcock and Madison Ashton.
JUDITH NEILSON, 70
Art gallery proprietor, property investor, arts patron, ex-wife of Australian funds manager, Kerr Neilson
Net worth: $1.2b
THE Zimbabwe born former graphic designer was a married stay-at-home mother of two when her then husband, Kerr Neilson, floated part of his funds company Platinum Asset Management on the stock exchange in 2007 — a move that netted her more than a billion dollars in an afternoon.
Two years later she opened White Rabbit Gallery in Chippendale. She and Kerr divorced in 2015. A second gallery and performance space, Phoenix, will open next year.
ENJOYS: Contemporary Chinese art, architecture, drawing, wine, travel to Asia, bells, the companionship of her Chihuahuas, collecting Coca Cola paraphernalia.
DISLIKES: Curtains, clutter.
GRETEL PACKER, 52
Packer family Foundation Chair, Crown Resorts Foundation Chair, philanthropist, investor, arts patron, indigenous community? PATRON?
Net worth: $1.3b
ELDEST child of media magnate Kerry Packer and wife Roslyn, Gretel is the only sibling of billionaire casino mogul James Packer.
The twice married and twice divorced mother of three was overlooked by her father as his appointed heir in business but recently she has stepped out of her brother’s shadow with key philanthropic roles, among them with NSW Art Gallery (on the board of trustees), Royal Botanical Gardens (ex board member), and Royal Hospital for Women (ex director) and Sydney Theatre Company Foundation (trustee).
ENJOYS: Barcelona, where she keeps a house, the company of her children, Taronga Zoo (is founding governor of the Taronga Zoo Foundation), Leonard Cohen, a beautiful hat, horse riding.
DISLIKES: The spotlight, sexism, her brother’s friends, went through an astrological phase — got over it, Mariah Carey.
ROSLYN PACKER, 80
Longtime patron of the arts and Sydney hospitals, philanthropist, widow of media magnate Kerry Packer
Net worth: Unknown. Believed to be a billionaire.
BORN in Wagga Wagga to a rural GP and his wife, the young Roslyn Weedon married media scion Kerry Packer in 1963 and the gentle-natures “Ros” found herself propelled into the spotlight. For over half a century, she has played a key role on boards for Sydney Festival, St Vincent’s Hospital (public), St Vincent’s Private Hospital, National Gallery of Australia, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Sydney Theatre Company, which recently named a theatre after her.
ENJOYS: French champagne, London summer, theatre, art, opera, wearing blue mascara, the Australian Ballet, travelling the globe in her exclusive apartment on board The World cruise ship, collecting magnificent gems, polo and in earlier days horse riding, wearing pants.
DISLIKES: Pretension, big egos, the physical toll of growing old — recently had a back operation, previously had two hip replacements in the US and foot surgery.
JOY CHAMBERS-GRUNDY, 71
Widow of television pioneer Reg Grundy, Chair of RG Capital Holdings, novelist
Net worth: $700m
THE former Ipswich-born barrel girl and aspiring actress met television producer Reg Grundy in 1965 when she was an eager 18-year-old auditioning for a TV role and he was in his 40s.
She won his heart and later scored acting roles in Grundy’s The Restless Years, The Young Doctors and Neighbours. A keen novelist who is International Patron of the Ipswich Poetry Feast.
ENJOYS: Writing, reading poetry, acting, studying history, her Shetland sheepdogs, travelling, historically cruising on her husband’s luxury custom-built 75m yacht, Boadicea.
DISLIKES: Last year’s ugly Supreme Court battle brought by her husband’s estranged daughter, Viola La Valette (aka Kim Grundy), for a slice of Grundy’s fortune.
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KATRINA “KAT” FOX, 54
Co-Chair of Fox Family Foundation, daughter of Linfox trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, Linfox marketing and publicity boss
Net worth: $500m stake in her father’s fortune
THE privacy-obsessed Katrina is one of the transport magnate’s five surviving children.
In 2005 the Fox family bought Elizabeth Bay harbourfront mansion Boomerang for $20 million and Katrina made it home. The unmarried trucking heiress has worked hard to maintain a low profile in Sydney, something not helped by her father’s decision, ahead of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, to controversially buy each family a leg of the torch relay.
ENJOYS: “Trouble”, according to older sister Lisa; use of the Linfox private jets, luxury cruiser and vintage cars; travel with the entire nuclear family every year; barracking for St Kilda; entertaining.
DISLIKES: Some of her Elizabeth Bay neighbours who in 2013 complained about non council approved renovations to her mansion.
ERICA PACKER, 40
Former model and recording artist, ex-wife of casino mogul James Packer
Net worth: $100m
MODEL Erica Baxter became the second Mrs James Packer in June, 2007, in a lavish ceremony held in France at which the happy couple were upstaged by Scientology pin-up boy Tom Cruise and his then wife Katie Holmes.
After divorcing in 2013, Packer relocated to Los Angeles with her three children to Packer, receiving a $100 million settlement including a $14.7 million house in Bel Air house and a 50 per cent share of the couple’s seven-bedroom Aspen mansion bought in 2013 for $19.7 million.
ENJOYS: Musical collaboration, enduring friendships with Orlando Bloom and former boyfriends Seal and Russell Crowe, a dance, a smoke, attending Paris Fashion Week with long time fashion associates, a night out with Sydney girlfriends at the pub.
DISLIKES: Media interest in her love life post divorce, the first Mrs James Packer, Jodhi Meares, living in casinos.
ELLE MACPHERSON, 54
Model, businesswoman, actress (Sirens, Batman and Robin, The Mirror Has Two Faces)
Net worth: $100m+
BORN Eleanor Nancy Gow in 1964, the model adopted the name Elle Macpherson as a teen and watched her career take off in the mid 1980s with the ascent of the athletic model.
A popular Sports Illustrated cover girl, in 1989 Time Magazine dubbed her “The Body”, confirming her Supermodel status.
In 1994 she established Elle Macpherson Inc and diversified into calendars, skincare, health supplements, television work and previously a lingerie collection partnership with Bendon.
The mother of two has been married and divorced twice — was for nine years in a de facto relationship with French financier Arpad Busson., the father of her two sons — and reportedly received an $80 million settlement from last husband, billionaire hotelier Jeffrey Soffer.
ENJOYS: Getting up at 5am to “pray” and consume green vegies; eating four servings of greens a day; taking herbal supplements (controversially said to include rhino horn tablets — confirmed then later denied); a vegan alkaline diet; practising yoga; carrying a PH balance urine tester in her bag; David Bowie; Eddie Veder; having hot chocolate delivered to her on the slopes when she skis.
DISLIKES: Not having total control of her image; reading books she hasn’t written; suitors without fortunes; her freckles; media scrutiny of her new anti-vaxxer banned doctor boyfriend, Andrew Wakefield; carbs; drinking alcohol; eating on planes.
BETTINA HEMMES, 55
Merivale Group Executive Designer and partner
Net worth : $50m+
BETTINA is the eldest child of hotelier John Hemmes and his fashion designer wife Merivale, and older sister of Merivale Group CEO Justin Hemmes.
The design dynamo is a single mother of two and the woman charged with the task of giving the Merivale restaurants and bars their unique look and feel. She travels extensively and takes her cues from cafes and restaurants of France, New York, the Orient, London etc.
ENJOYS: Her privacy, travel, spending time with her sons, sailing, swimming.
DISLIKES: Media interviews.
JILL HICKSON WRAN, 70
Literary agent, widow of NSW Premier Neville Wran
Net worth: $20-40 million
JILL Hickson married Labor Party politician Neville Wran three months after he seized the State leadership and became NSW Premier. She was 26 and Wran, newly divorced, 50.
Smart, hardworking and an admitted “obsessive compulsive”, Hickson worked for Qantas before establishing her own management company, Hickson Associates.
The couple’s highly charged relationship foundered in the decade before his death in 2014. Mother of two.
ENJOYS: Literature, singing, writing, dressing well, classical music, opera, art, wine, cats, success.
DISLIKES: Jazz, snobbery, booze buses, being called “glamorous”, poor taste, disorganisation, Malcolm Turnbull, the media.
TERRY KALJO, 60s
Founder and CEO of Contemporary Hotels
Net worth: $40m
KALJO, who modelled in Paris and New York and studied graphic design in her youth before becoming fashion editor of Cosmopolitan in the 1980s, is the owner and operator of more than 100 Australian luxury rental properties in Australia and offshore, among them Darlinghurst’s hip Medusa and The Kirketon.
Recently Kaljo has handed much of the business management over to her son Matthew leaving her free to focus on the design and service aspects of the business and her property portfolio. Twice divorced mother of three.
ENJOYS: Travelling to exotic places, high fashion (Isabel Marant, Emilio Pucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Chloe), design, holidays with her children, Latin music, handsome lovers, animals.
DISLIKES: Being idle for long; animal cruelty.
CARLA ZAMPATTI, 76
Fashion designer, property investor
Net worth: $35m
BORN in Italy, Zampatti’s family migrated to Australia in 1950. She started designing in the sixties and in 1970 established her much-loved brand. Twice married and divorced, she has three children. Was a director of Westfield Group and Chairman of SBS. Is a national treasure
.
ENJOYS: Italian antiques, travel, art, being beautifully groomed, a little nudity at home, lying in the sun, pottering in the garden, wearing sunglasses at night, reading film star biographies.
DISLIKES: The traditional role of wife, advertising, competing with other designers, wasting money, overpricing, shouting, adventure.
JULIE SINGLETON, 51
Ex-wife of John Singleton, solicitor, racehorse owner
Net worth: $30m
TWICE married and divorced mother of four Julie Singleton has the dubious honour of being described as media proprietor John “Singo” Singleton’s “last” wife from a field of six. Following a rocky union, the couple divorced in 2007, nine years after marrying. She later embarked on a short-lived radio career on 2UE, rival station to her ex’s 2GB. She received the family’s $12.5 million Vaucluse mansion and a multimillion-dollar settlement package.
ENJOYS: Dabbling in fashion design, owning racehorses and mixing with Gai Waterhouse, working on her novel, collecting jewellery, appearing in the social pages, a laugh — it is said that upon once seeing Aussie Home Loans’ boss John Symond’s enormous $100 million mansion and quipped: “He looks slimmer to me now.”
DISLIKES: Retired Australian cricketer Stuart MacGill, Singo’s exes, the Central Coast.
DANIELLE SPENCER, 40
Actress, singer and ex wife of Russell Crowe
Net worth: $25m
THE Australian actress and singer, who starred in Australian television classics The Flying Doctors, All Saints, Home And Away and films including The Crossing, was a household name even before marrying actor Russell Crowe in 2003.
The couple separated in 2012, their divorce proceedings delayed until 2017 when Crowe liquidated assets.
The mother of two’s acting career took a back seat to her husband’s career during their marriage but Spencer has said post separation she has hopes of reviving it. In recent years she has again been touring with her band.
ENJOYS: Dancing, singing, writing songs, yoga, swimming, sleeping in, travelling, supporting her father Don Spencer’s Australian Children’s Music Foundation, her Bellevue Hill property, denim, leather.
DISLIKES: Missing sleep, apartment living, expensive jewellery, a fuss, froufrou red carpet gowns.
JODHI MEARES, 47
Model, fashion designer
Net worth: $15m
SWIMSUIT model who became the first Mrs James Packer in 1999, before the marriage ended in 2002. Meares went on to establish a successful swimwear company, Tigerlily, which she sold in 2007 to Billabong.
In 2013 she established activewear label The Upside, her ex husband one of her key investors. She married Australian photographer Nicholas Tsindos in 2015 following whirlwind courtship. Separated in 2017.
ENJOYS: Yoga, paddle boarding, singing, organic wine, dogs, her Hawaiian getaway, intravenous vitamin C drips, washing hair twice daily, reading her boyfriends texts, her mum.
DISLIKES: Dirty hair, cheating husbands, hanging around for DUI breath tests.
DEBORAH HUTTON, 56
Former model, television host, brand ambassador
Net worth: $15m
BORN In England Deborah Haylock, she later changed her name to Hutton upon the advice of a model agent migrated to Australia as a young child and at 16 left home to pursue modelling dreams.
At 18 she was signed to the prestigious Ford Modelling Agency in New York. Soon after she found fame as the face of department store Grace Bros (now Myer) and was dubbed the “Face of the Eighties”.
Hutton met and married an opal merchant, the marriage lasted just one year, the couple divorcing in 1988.
Super agent Harry M Miller would soon sweep into the romantic void and sign Hutton to lucrative contracts – among them The Australian Women’s Weekly, Channel 9, Qantas, Holden and Olay. In 2004 she launched a homewares range for Kmart.
ENJOYS: Horseriding, swimming, pilates, golf, drinking apple cider vinegar before workouts, infra-red sauna sessions, eating well, entertaining.
DISLIKES: Being late, having to suffer fools, people who are unprepared, being pressured to conform to the perfect size 8 (or size 10) body size.
TIFFANY TILLEY, 48
Former model, magazine fashion editor, ex-wife of Ben Tilley
Net worth: $12.5m
HER mother was famously ferocious New Zealand model and muse Judith Baragwanath who had her daughter Tiffany at 17 and became a single mother soon after. Tiffany, whose maternal grandfather was part Cherokee Indian, followed her mother into modelling before landing a gig, in 1989, as co-host of New Zealand’s Perfect Match TV series. Afterwards a role as fashion editor of New Zealand Vogue brought her to magland in Sydney where she met and married Kerry Packer’s friend and poker partner, Ben Tilley, in 1998, giving up work to raise two sons. The couple separated last year.
ENJOYS: Fashion, travelling first class, fattening foods, living well, diamonds, seeing her sons raised, looking after herself, keeping fit.
DISLIKES: Feeling abandoned, strained relationship with her former sister-in-law, distasteful interiors, Japanese cars.
DONNA HAY, 47
Successful food stylist, editor, publisher, TV host, businesswoman
Net worth: $12m
Hay is the author of 26 cookbooks, host of three Foxtel television series, purveyor of online food and homewares’ store and, for 17 years, publisher of a bi-monthly food magazine.
Hay started out as the food editor at marie claire magazine before she gathered up her galleys and summoned the courage to pitch herself - and her concept of a self-titled magazine - to News Corp in 2001. The divorced mother of two recently hinted at new plans for a follow-up magazine.
ENJOYS: Keeping fit with beach walks, running, swimming, entertaining, being in control, salt and pepper tofu.
DISLIKES: Fools, the drop off rules outside her son’s private eastern suburbs school
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, 47
NSW Premier and leader of NSW Liberal Party
Net worth: $5m+
THE daughter of Armenian migrants, Berejiklian was born in Australia and grew up in North Ryde, living at home with her parents until she was 29.
She studied commerce at university, joining the Liberal Party in 1993 at 23. Three years later she was voted president of the Young Liberals.
WHILE simultaneously rising though the ranks of the Commonwealth Bank to become general manager, Youth Retail Banking, she campaigned for the Seat of Willoughby which she won in 2003. In 2017 she became the second ever woman Premier of NSW – the first non-Labor state premier in the nation. She has never married.
ENJOYS: Reading, mathematics, being organised, fashion, wearing Australian labels, golf, watching MasterChef, Sundays with her family and sisters, going to the gym, her job, seafood.
DISLIKES: Inquiries concerning her personal life, Homebush’s ANZ Stadium and Moore Park’s Allianz Stadium, the Spanish contractor building her light rail network, the sexual conduct of some of her ministers.
Originally published as The ‘Silver Sirens’ - Australia’s 20 richest women and they’re all cashed up and single
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