Big V interview: What’s next for charity queen Ann Peacock after hanging up the mic as face of Crown
After three decades as the face of Crown, Ann Peacock is starting a new chapter. She opens up on life as the daughter of public figures and why working the door of Silvers nightclub was her toughest gig.
Victoria
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Ann Peacock struggles to steady her voice as she speaks about her father.
The former federal Liberal Party leader and foreign minister, Andrew Peacock, has been gone more than two years but it’s taken until now for his daughter to delve into boxes of his belongings.
“It has been incredibly tough, and I’m emotional because I’ve been going through some of daddy’s stuff,” she said.
“It takes you back to all those times that we all shared together.”
Among the treasure trove were handwritten letters from a mystery scribe; Peacock initially thought they were penned by US actor Shirley MacLaine, who her father dated in the ’80s and ’90s.
“She (MacLaine) wrote back and said ‘I can’t read the writing’,” Peacock said.
The charity queen is embarking on a new chapter of her life this year, after hanging up the microphone as the face and voice of Crown casino, a position she held for almost three decades.
As a Victorian Racing Club board member she has been gearing up for the Spring Racing Carnival – although the horse she owns with her UK-based sister and trainer, Jane Chapple-Hyam, is having a spell.
Peacock sat down for the Big V Interview to discuss racing and politics, working for Kerry Packer and Lloyd Williams, and why working the door of Silvers nightclub was her toughest gig.
In the public eye
Asked to describe her childhood as the daughter of two public figures, Peacock doesn’t hesitate.
“Normal, absolutely normal,” she said.
“When you are the daughter of an accountant, or you’re the daughter of anyone else, whatever the occupation, that’s your life.”
The middle daughter of Lady Susan Renouf and Andrew Peacock, she fondly remembers hiding with sisters Caroline and Jane to after pinching after-dinner mints from their mother’s special silver canister while guests were entertained.
As she recounted memories of her late mother, who died in 2016 after a long battle with cancer, Peacock suddenly exclaimed “I found them!” and rushed to the fridge.
She returned with a beaming smile, clutching a box of the same brand of chocolate-covered treats.
In many ways it was a privileged upbringing, but she said nothing was taken for granted and “I feel that every day”.
“I think if you blow that sort of attitude away, for someone like me who’s been granted a lot of opportunities, then you’re not a great person, bottom line.”
Public scrutiny arrived in greater focus in the late 1970s, when her parents separated.
Newspapers were hidden and the girls were driven to the movies instead of school the morning it was announced, until they saw the banners hanging from the old Herald and Weekly Times building.
“It was a quick turnaround home with all of us crying,” she said.
The following year Lady Renouf moved to the Isle of Man where she would later marry businessman Robert Sangster.
Andrew Peacock travelled frequently as foreign minister, so the sisters were sent to boarding school at Geelong Grammar when Ann was in grade 6, which she said was initially a lonely experience.
“Back in those days, you got sent to boarding school if you did something wrong,” she said.
“I tried to run away twice, or three times, I think – just down the street. I got busted and then dad came down to see me and he was concerned but furious, too.”
Her father visited as often as he could and Peacock said “I do truly respect and honour the effort that he made”.
“He wasn’t there for a lot of the time, because he couldn’t be, he was foreign minister so he was overseas, but he would call, he would call so often,” she said.
“I know as a single parent, you get a day off, you want to sleep or just do nothing; he came to see us every Sunday he possibly could.”
‘I got headbutted, spat on’
Peacock remembers discussing career options in year 11 with her father and his partner at the time, US actor Shirley MacLaine.
“I said, ‘I want to be a schoolteacher, I want to be a policewoman, I want to be an actress, I want to be …” she said with a laugh.
“Dad said ‘stop it’, but Shirley said, ‘if you want to do this, you can do that, you can do this, you can come here, you can be there’.”
Once school finished, she joined 3XY radio station as an accounts clerk – “a glorified name for a mail girl”.
“All I did was frank envelopes, but what I did, and what I’ve always told anyone in the workforce, is ‘stay, look, learn’.”
She would pester producers to take her to jobs or sit in on commercial operations; even to panel the 10pm-2am shift.
After further stints in radio she got a break at Channel 9 doing the weather, before writing weekly magazines and owning her own restaurant.
The restaurant scene was brutal, but the toughest gig she ever had was standing the door of Silvers nightclub in the 1980s when it was owned by her first husband, Jamie Nasser.
“We checked guns, I got headbutted, I got spat on,” she said.
By the mid-1990s, TV opportunities had dried up and Peacock decided she wouldn’t be put back on air.
“I’m talking as a woman, perhaps as a man you feel that as well, but you think there comes a point in time that you’re actually not going to be employed anymore,” she said.
“In my respect, it was, ‘no one’s going to hire me anymore, I’m too old, everyone is set in their place’.”
A defining role
When it secured the state’s only casino licence in 1994, Crown had modest beginnings in the World Trade Centre, and an image problem.
Peacock recognised an opportunity for damage control media and better connecting with the community and applied by telling marketing bosses what they were doing wrong.
“I said, ‘you are not promoting yourself’,” she recalled.
“They had great restaurants, and terrific entertainment, but the only thing that was getting coverage in the media was the gaming and the terrible side effects of gaming.”
She got the job and roles kept evolving; managing philanthropic programs, overseeing events, managing media and public relations, and looking after celebrities, such as Tiger Woods, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Hurley, Susan Sarandon, and Mariah Carey.
“I loved working for Lloyd Williams, I loved working for Kerry Packer,” she said.
“Lloyd was so hands on; he was everywhere around the building, walking up and down, he knew everyone’s name.
“When Kerry Packer came in, he just wanted to know what was going on. He just needed to know, and he wanted your backing, and he had it from all those employees.”
She said working with the not-for-profit sector to raise funds for community partners was a particular “privilege”, but she probably should have left Crown “a few years ago” to explore other opportunities.
“I’d aligned myself with Crown for too long,” she said.
Some consulting work is on the cards for next year, and further plans are still being considered.
In 2018 a host of celebrities urged Peacock to run for the position of Melbourne Lord Mayor but she declined to enter the race, which was won by Sally Capp.
When asked whether she would run for public office, Peacock answered cryptically.
“I have an unfinished commitment of giving back to the community, so where that leads me in the future, career-wise, I’m still working through,” she said.
Love and grief
A career break has given Peacock time to spend with her two sons, Edward and Andrew.
Her eldest, Andrew, will graduate in December as a doctor, while both boys have an interest in politics fostered by grandparents, their mum, and their dad, former Liberal Party president Michael Kroger.
“In my heart, I would always have said before I had a child, I would die for my mother or father, or my two sisters; family is so important,” she said.
“When you have children, there is just this shift, this incredible love that comes upon you that you never knew you had.
“And then what you have is that shift of ‘I would die for this child. I would do anything for this child’.”
The love of family was crucial as she grieved the death of both parents.
Lady Renouf was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013 and given five months to live, but held on for three years, which included three bouts of palliative care.
Following that experience Peacock’s support for voluntary assisted dying firmed, and she joined a consultation group on Victoria’s first laws created late last decade.
Peacock remembers the final trip in an ambulance she took with her mother.
“The ambulance driver told me to sit in the front and I said, ‘no, I’m staying right here’,” she said.
“It was her birthday the day she passed away.”
She was also with her father when he died in Texas, in 2021, along with her elder sister, Caroline.
On her arrival he was sitting up in the lounge room but within days his health deteriorated, and when nurses came to Peacock one night to say he was slipping away she ran to his bedside.
“I got that last breath, or two, or three; and I just spoke to him,” she said.
“I was lucky to be there. Very lucky to be there.”
Still horsing around
In 1974, Andrew Peacock part-owned racehorse Leilani, which won the VRC Oaks and was favourite for the Melbourne Cup.
Peacock remembers the excitement at primary school when Leilani came in second.
“We’d sit around the schoolteacher’s ankles, and the radio would be playing,” she said.
“The tradition of the Melbourne Cup is everyone stops; at primary schools, at building sites, shopping centres, everyone stops to listen to the running of the Melbourne Cup.”
Six years later at Geelong Grammar, students tuned in for the Cup as Beldale Ball – owned by Lady Renouf’s second husband, Robert Sangster – romped along the Flemington straight to win the Cup.
The couple sent a “massive ice cream cake” to school for Peacock and her friends as the celebrations began.
Sangster was thoroughbred royalty and his horses won more than 100 Group One races across the world, and his son Adam – who is also godfather to one of Peacock’s boys and who call each other ‘sister’ and ‘stepbrother’– remains in charge of the famous Swettenham Stud.
Peacock remembers her sisters and the Sangster children hanging out during trips to the Isle of Man when her mother and Sangster lived there together, and once described it as like “the Brady Bunch”.
Her sister Jane, now Jane Chapple-Hyam, also chose a career in racing and has been a successful trainer and breeder based in Newmarket for decades.
Ann and Jane now own young gelding Ambassadorial, trained by Gai Waterhouse, and were hoping for some Spring Carnival magic this season before the timing of a spell interrupted.
Peacock will be trackside for the VRC board, which she joined in December.
After visiting Royal Ascot this year she maintains that Flemington does it best and that “women’s fashion is 10 times better here”.
“The men at Ascot are all in the top hats and tails so you can’t go past that – I love tradition – but the women do so much better in Melbourne.”
Q&A WITH ANN PEACOCK
First Job and pay
My real first job was working in the local milk bar behind the counter as a very young girl, my pay was eating lollies. I then had babysitting jobs, but had to give that up as I was no good at changing nappies then – or cooking!
Five people you’d invite to a dinner party (dead or alive)
More than five please. My Grandma Joan Rossiter, deceased; my Poppy Sir John Rossiter, deceased; my Nanny Iris Peacock, deceased; my Mother Susan Renouf, deceased; my Father Andrew Peacock, deceased; and my sisters Jane Chapple-Hyam and Caroline Cordeaux.
We would have a delicious Sunday Roast with all the trimmings and just be family together once again (now I’m crying!) If I were allowed, I would love my boys, Andrew and Edward to join so they could meet the wonderful, loving parts of their family.
Book everyone should read
Anything about Benazir Bhutto. My current favourite is “Daughter of Destiny” published after her assassination.
If you could live anywhere in the world besides here, where would it be
Melbourne is my home, I have tried to live in the UK but I’m too connected to our home city. I’ve always wanted to go to Santorini to live for at least 3 months so I could feel like a local and get immersed into the local ways.
First concert, dream concert
David Cassidy, then Abba
Most inspirational living person
I don’t have one, I have many and they are the brilliant caring, wonderful, giving, close girlfriends I am so lucky to have in my life
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Do not doubt yourself, sometimes, this may be hard/difficult, but it is very important to believe and have confidence in yourself
First car, current car, dream car
I didn’t have a first car because a couple of days after being allowed to use my dad’s car I wrote it off.
I love my current car, a BMW X4, the only thing better I think would be a small vintage car painted pink!
Hidden talent
I am a classically trained singer and pianist
Best/worst present
The best present I receive is the gift that my boys, Andrew and Edward give me for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Christmas etc: it is a handwritten, hand made card, I keep them all in my bedside table, that is all I want or need.
Rainy day TV binge
I love dramas, then I also love shows like Morning Wars, The Good Doctor, any police/emergency show
Song you get pumped up to
Shania Twain – Man! I feel like a Woman
Laura Branigan – Solitaire
And anything by my dear friend Anthony Callea
Death Row Meal
A Sunday Roast – chicken, beef or lamb, lots and lots of very thick gravy, roast potatoes, roast pumpkin and parsnip, freshly cooked peas – oh and some cauliflower cheese
Best piece of advice you’ve received
I get very nervous before speaking in public — 3 people have helped my greatly:
My dad always told me to get the 3 deep breaths in, so generally I take myself away somewhere quiet and breath to settle my nerves.
Stephen Quartermain gave excellent advice — know your stuff! If you know what you are talking about, if something goes wrong at least you truly know your subject/topic and speak from the heart.
Peter Hitchener gave me advice to wander the room, introduce yourself and say hello to guests before getting up on stage, that way the guests felt more like they know you
This year I’m most looking forward to …
I’ve had a wonderful year being with closest friends and family and I am looking forward to that continuing, but mostly my son Andrew will move home after studying in Queensland, so the mother hen in me is about to unleash again!
The thing I love the most about Victoria/Victorians
Probably my favourite place in Victoria – aside from Melbourne itself – is Rochester, which has the true spirit of Australia. Having been ravaged by floods people are still putting their lives together but they show resilience and are good, kind, generous and hard working people.
My hope is that the Insurance Council of Australia and the State Government will fulfil their duty to allocate funds to those affected by the floods and are still living in terrible situations; Rochey needs our help.
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