Gold Coast history: Christopher Skase’s Qintex group began collapsing in 1989 as it sold off Sheraton Mirage and Marina Mirage

A major Australian corporation which owned one of the Gold Coast’s most famous hotels and shopping centres began collapsing, despite a shock $433 million asset sale to overseas investors.

THE Gold Coast’s development industry has seen some big names come and go over the decades.

Some have come and proposed big flashing projects but departed before putting a shovel in the ground.

Christopher Skase in 1988.

But others have arrived, built something impressive and then crashed out spectacularly.

Among the most famous was Christopher Skase whose reputation and crimes remain well-known three decades later.

The Melbourne-born Skase became one of the Gold Coast’s best-known figures in the 1980s, where he came to symbolise that decade’s excess.

A developer and business baron, Skase through his company Qintex Group became a major player during the 1980s as he bought into everything from football teams to real estate.

The Sheraton Mirage.

During this time he built Marina Mirage and the Sheraton Mirage on The Spit, co-founded the Carrara-based Brisbane Bears Australian Rules team and built its stadium and the Seven network.

Skase even began operating a hovercraft on the Broadwater while spending more than $450,000 on the company’s 1988 Christmas party.

Christopher Skase

With spending like that, Skase appeared to be confident of his own success.

But this week marks 30 years since the beginning of the end of Qintex and Skase’s empire.

In the first week of March 1989 the corporation announced the $433 million sale of nearly half of its Mirage resort wing, which included hotels on the Gold Coast, Port Douglas and Hawaii.

Christopher Skase.

The Mirage buyers, Japanese companies Mitsui Co Ltd and Nippon Shinpan Co Ltd, also gained the first-right of refusal to invest in resorts Qintex planned in the US.

The sale became necessary after a sharp rise in interest rates and the company’s failed attempt to buy US studio MGM.

Skase admitted the companys debts had reached $650 million but insisted the funds would be used to pay off the resort divisions debt and continue the buy up of US land.

Christopher Skase

“The linking of California, Hawaii, Queensland and Japan will form a quadrant of strength in the burgeoning tourist market in the Pacific, the fastest growing tourist market in the world,” he said.

“For Qintex Australia, the association with Mitsui and Nippon Shinpan reflects the conclusion of the Qintex group’s first phase of development and the beginning of the second phase with a focus on the Pacific Rim and the USA.”

Christopher Skase in 1987

The company also sold off several of its Queensland television network assets.

But it was all for nothing and creditors moved in after revelations of financial impropriety, including Skase demanding millions be paid by the company’s board into a private company of his.

Skase himself had debts of more than $700 million

Qintex collapsed in January 1991, just months before Skase escape from Australia despite facing charges.

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Skase’s death was front page news in 2001.

Setting himself up in Majorca in Spain, Skase was chased by the Australian government for a decade but would ultimately never answer for his crimes – he died from stomach cancer in August 2001.

Despite this infamy, Skase left behind a physical legacy on the Gold Coast- both Marina Mirage and the Sheraton continue to operate today and are some of the city’s most famous landmarks.

While the Brisbane Bears and Carrara Stadium are long gone, the old lights which overlooked it were retained after the demolition and watch over Metricon Stadium today.