Lower north shore’s most influential people, part 4
THIS week we reveal the top five faces in the final part of our countdown of the 20 most influential people on the lower north shore. Check it out and let us know if you agree or not.
Mosman
Don't miss out on the headlines from Mosman. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Lower north shore’s most influential, part 1
- Lower north shore’s most influential, part 2
- Lower north shore’s most influential, part 3
THIS week we reveal the top five faces in the final part of our countdown of the 20 most influential people on the lower north shore. With so many amazing, controversial and successful people calling our area home, compiling this list has been a tough but inspiring exercise.
Click on the links to see the full list. Check it out and let us know if you agree or not.
5 KYLE SANDILANDS, RADIO HOST
The neighbours around the controversial shock jock’s rented Mosman mansion must not have known what hit them when the party-loving Sandilands and his Instagram-loving model girlfriend Imogen Anthony moved in last year.
Sandilands — who co-hosts KIIS FM’s top-rating breakfast show with Jackie O — has become one of Australian media’s wealthiest and most divisive figures, with estimates that he earns well over $3 million a year.
Despite the occasional confected outrage, Sandilands remains an influential youth voice beloved by advertisers and is now rumoured to be eyeing a TV comeback on Network 10.
4 THE WATERHOUSE FAMILY, RACING ROYALTY
It’s a long way from Royal Randwick to Balmoral but the first family of Australian racing have something of an enclave here, with horse trainer Gai and former bookmaker husband Robbie living in close proximity to their equally high-profile offspring, online bookie Tom Waterhouse and media identity Kate Waterhouse, as well as Robbie’s legendary racing figure dad Bill Waterhouse.
Kate is married to former Roosters rugby league star Luke Ricketson. It’s Gai, though, who is the undisputed queen of the family, having achieved the same dizzy heights as her legendary horse-training father Tommy Smith, including winning the 2013 Melbourne Cup with Fiorente.
3 WENDY WHITELEY, COMMUNITY GARDENER
The former wife of the late, great Australian artist Brett Whiteley has achieved fame and affection in her own right for her two-decades long battle to transform and preserve a state-owned railway dumping ground into a beautiful green space known simply as “Wendy’s secret garden”.
The Lavender Bay garden is an oasis on Sydney Harbour, attracting visitors from all over the world. It was guaranteed perpetuity via a 30-year government lease with a 30-year option for renewal in 2015 and, earlier this year — after much campaigning from Wendy — the garden and the home in which Brett Whiteley created many of his finest paintings was added to the NSW State Heritage Register. Wendy is also heavily involved in protecting and maintaining Brett Whiteley’s legacy.
2 JOHN HOWARD, INTERNATIONAL STATESMAN
After being deposed as Australian Prime Minister by Labor’s Kevin Rudd in 2007, Howard and his wife Janette moved a few kilometres up the Pacific Highway from the official PM’s residence in Kirribilli and back to the family home in Wollstonecraft.
Australia’s second-longest serving PM, still considered by many to be the Liberal Party’s most substantial and influential figure, has not quietly disappeared from public life since losing office.
He has written books (an autobiography called Lazarus Rising, and The Menzies Era, about his political hero) and is a respected figure on an international talk circuit populated by some of the world’s leading ex-politicians.
He’s been a sounding board to another former Liberal PM, Tony Abbott, and was a voice for the ‘no’ vote in last year’s Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.
1 KARL STEFANOVIC, MEDIA IDENTITY
Love him, or hate him (and there are plenty of people in each camp), Stefanovic — who spent his formative years in Queensland — is arguably the best-known face on Australian television. As co-host of Channel 9’s Today Show, he has access to a wide range of influencers, from prime ministers to movie stars, and can move from breakfast fluff to hard news with consummate ease.
He became front and centre in a national debate over pay parity last year when former Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson quit, in part because she was not being paid as much as he was. Stefanovic became a Mosman resident after his messy and high-profile split from wife Cassandra Thorburn and his subsequent new romance with Jasmine Yarbrough and is reportedly one of the regular attendees at mate Kyle Sandilands’ house parties.
LOWER NORTH SHORE’S MOST INFLUENTIAL