Max Christmas memorial: Remembering Gold Coast real estate icon at Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club
A huge crowd of family and friends has turned out in Surfers Paradise to remember legendary developer Max Christmas, with his daughter Nikki among those paying glowing tributes.
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ARMS around each other on the sand below a flawless summer sky, family and friends of Max Christmas watched as his ashes were scattered across the sparkling blue waves of Surfers Paradise.
A flotilla of surf boats, jet skis and drones paraded past the surf boat that bears his name and took to the water for a final paddle-out with the real estate icon whose impact was felt across the city and far beyond.
“We will miss you dad, we’ll remember your lessons, thanks for being our dad, we love you.”
With those words, Nikki Christmas farewelled her well-known father. She said her dad was larger than life, gifted with a ripper sense of humour and loved seeing his name in the paper.
“Some parenting books may frown on his parenting methods, but if you ask me and my sisters, we turned out pretty bloody perfect.
“Mum often wondered if she had six kids instead of five.”
Attendees at the memorial, at the Surfers Paradise Lifesaving Club where he was a past president and patron, were a roll call of high-profile developers, businesspeople and politicians, each with a different story about the man dubbed “Mr Gold Coast”.
Long-time friend Bruce Kolkka, of Northcliffe Surf Lifesaving Club, told of how friendly yet fierce competition between Mr Christmas and developer Keith Williams had birthed what is now the Hamilton Island Cup - a key catalyst for competitive outrigging in Australia.
“Keith got all the fit guys from Sea World to be on his team, and he won,” Mr Kolkka said.
“That was very frustrating for Max, but we won the next one, and then the rivalry continued and it eventually became the Hamilton Island Cup.
“They would be looking down together, Max would be so proud to see the outrigger out there and the surf boat and he’d be saying `people really did love me’.
“It wasn’t just his business nature, it was his friendship (that people valued).”
Surfers Paradise Supporters Club president Jon Neilsen, whose brothers started the Brothers Neilsen Brothers surf business, said Mr Christmas was the shop’s first landlord.
As a young surfer in need of sponsorhip, he said Mr Christmas didn’t hesitate to support him.
‘He did a lot of things behind the scenes - gave two or three surf boats to the club, sponsored events, guaranteed loans, that sort of thing,” Mr Neilsen said.
“And he was a great mate, always there if you needed advice on anything - it’s hard to put 45 years of hanging out into words.”
Author Rob Mundle, who first met Mr Christmas in the 1960s, remembered an adventurous inspection of a beachfront property that was being prepared for development.
A long trench had been dug in the sand to make way for piping, and the bombastic agent spotted what he thought was a tree root threatening damage.
“Tree roots grow and they break the pipes, so they’ve gotta go,” he said.
“So Max goes to the shed, grabs an axe, jumps down into the trench and goes `whack’ on that side of the trench `whack’ on the other side, picks it up and there’s blue, green and yellow little wires coming out - he’d destroyed the telephone system for the whole area.”
Friend Duncan McInness, who compered the memorial service, said Mr Christmas was “not subtle”.
“He’d driving a bright yellow and bright red Rolls Royce and not shy to give an opinion on anything.”
Friend Billy James described Mr Christmas as “a doer and a thinker, a committed local and a dedicated globalist”.
Earlier Sunland boss Soheil Abedian bid a tearful farewell to the first man he met when he came to the Gold Coast.
“He was truly my mentor, my friend, my teacher,” he said.
“Max, thank you. You’ve been there for me 40 years, you accepted me, and I’m proud, honoured and privileged to call you as my friend.”
Mr Abedian said Mr Christmas had immediately welcomed him to town as a young home builder.
“He always tried to mimic my accent, he would say ‘I know nothing’.”
Surf lifesaving legend Trevor Hendy remembered the man he met as a nipper as “the original Father Christmas”.
“He provided a lot of gifts for people,” Hendy said.
“Just before Max passed, I received a handwritten card from him for Christmas, as I’m sure many of you did.
“It was the only one I received. I thought about how much the world’s changed.”
Gordon Douglas, who co-founded real estate chain PRD Nationwide, said he knew Max more than 40 years.
“We were competitors, Max and I, so we bumped heads and bashed each other up for 30 years,” he said.
“But we had a lot of fun together.
“He was a different sort of guy, larger than life.
“All his staff had a lot of time for him, which is always a good sign.”
Developer Jim Raptis has remembered his old friend as a “good, genuine bloke”.
“Max wasn’t a one-man band, but he was a one-man brand,” he said.
“He was gregarious, genuine And a believer in the city.
“Overall, he was a very good bloke.”
EARLIER
A BUSY Surfers Paradise street will be closed to make way for the large crowd of mourners expected to celebrate the life of Gold Coast property icon Max Christmas.
The Esplanade from Peppers Soul to Hanlan St will shut from 11am until 2pm to commemorate the life of Mr Christmas with a fitting very-Gold Coast tribute at the Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club.
RELIVE THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MAX CHRISTMAS
A flotilla of surf boats, rubber ducks, jet skis and a helicopter will commit the ashes of well-known local to the sparkling sea.
Tributes are set to be given by business and surf lifesaving identities including Trevor Hendy, Soheil Abedian and Jim Raptis at the memorial service, which is open to the public and commences at noon.
Over more than four decades of wheeling and dealing throughout Australia and South-East Asia, Mr Christmas negotiated billions of dollars worth of property and trade partnerships from his base on the Gold Coast.
The father of five daughters and long-time patron of Northcliffe Surf Lifesaving Club had a long history in the city, working with some of its best-known names.
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He professed his love for the Gold Coast loudly and at every opportunity.
“I love the natural environment and that the Gold Coast is an oceanfront city. I love the subtropical climate, the clear pollution-free skies with no industrial smoke pollution, and the beautiful produce and seafood,” he told the Bulletin in 2015.
“I also love that we have the biggest free enterprise workforce in the country, together with great hospital and medical facilities, fabulous police force, particularly in the past two years, an efficient council and impressive educational facilities from primary through to tertiary.”
Mr Christmas sold property for Alan Bond, closed deals on The Sheraton for Christopher Skase and sold Sea World and its resort, as well as Hamilton Island, for white-shoe pioneer Keith Williams.
His company, Max Christmas Group, has been involved in some of the largest canal development and resort deals and played a part in developing the farmland that has since become the suburbs of Ashmore, Robina, Mudgeeraba and Nerang.
In 1997, he negotiated trade relationships between Queensland and China, as that country worked to modernise its power stations, and from 2001-04 Mr Christmas extended his work to local government as councillor for Surfers Paradise.
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