From farmers to heritage restorers, meet the high flyers living in regional and rural Queensland
Queensland’s regional and rural areas are home to some of the wealthiest Australians. We reveal the millionaires and billionaires who love living in the country and the places they call home.
Gympie
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Regional and rural Queensland boasts an array of high and fast flying business owners, farmers, truckers, fast-food merchants, food and beverage connoisseurs and heritage renovators.
Their regional connections give them an edge and spirit not always seen in city high-flyers. From self-made millionaire, rags to riches stories, or following in their family’s footsteps, meet our high-flyers in country Queensland.
Clive Berghofer
Clive Berghofer is a property developer, former politician, a wildly successful businessman and a philanthropist.
His name is synonymous with Toowoomba and many sports centres, and health care institutes bear his name after receiving his generous donations.
Mr Berghofer’s estimated total wealth sits at $344 million.
“Clive has been purchasing broad-hectare land throughout the Toowoomba region and subdividing these properties into residential land estates,” states his website. He has transformed more than 10,000 blocks of land.
Mr Berghofer’s rags to riches story started when he left school aged 13 to work in a sawmill in Wellcamp and then as a builder’s labourer.
He then went on to serve as an alderman on Toowoomba City Council before taking the position of mayor for a decade between 1982-1992.
His generous philanthropic donations include $60.1m to the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in 2020 and a $2.05m for the Toowoomba LifeFlight base in 2018.
The Wagners
The Wagner family is another name synonymous with Toowoomba and surrounds.
Nothing short of high-flyers, they are known for opening up regional Queensland nationally and internationally by spearheading Wellcamp Airport.
In 2021, the Wagners opened a $17.8m Regional Trade Distribution at the airport.
Toowoomba’s Wagner family has a combined estimated net worth of $1.01 billion.
The Wagners’ history reaches back to 1896, when John Henry Wagner started a stone masonry business in Toowoomba.
John’s grandson, Henry Wagner, took control of the business in 1989, and soon expanded it into a construction empire with his sons John, Denis, Neill and Joe.
Their businesses range from concrete supplies, fibre technology to major construction and infrastructure projects in Australia and abroad.
“We’re four blokes on the Darling Downs having a go and we’ve achieved.” said Neill Wagner when inducted into the Hall of Fame in the Queensland Business Leaders network.
Craig and Mel Manley
Craig and Mel Manley are have fast-food empire that spans the Wide Bay Burnett region. This power couple owns eight McDonald’s franchises from Gympie to Bundaberg, Childers to Bargara.
In 2021, their chain of stores reportedly employed more than 750 people.
The Manleys live in Eumundi and after travels to Nepal and India, Mr Manley became director of Forget Me Not, an organisation that aims to prevent the trafficking of children into orphanages.
He is also director and secretary of Moonshine Lager which owns three properties in Eumundi, one being the much-loved Imperial Hotel.
Andrew “Aussie” Corbet
Since Andrew ‘Aussie’ Corbet can remember, he’s been climbing log trucks and driving bulldozers with his dad, Alvin Corbet, who started a Gympie sawmill business in 1973.
When he stepped up as general manager in 2001, he progressively watched Corbert’s Group evolve from a sawmill business to what it is today:- a massive operation of heavy haulage trucks, land clearing, grinding, heavy plant equipment, hire and more.
Corbet’s Group operations extend all over Queensland, employs about 350 people and has an annual turnover of $120m.
Mr Corbet is most excited about the projects his company has with Qld Gas, Origin and Santos, working on state-of-the-art workshops in Chinchilla and Roma, where he sees enormous potential for development and expansion.
Aussie Corbet is more of a fast-flyer than a high-flyer and is grounded on the roads and in trucks.
His love of speedcar driving resulted in the naming sponsorship of Corbet’s Group Mother Mountain Speedway at Gympie. He often takes time out to watch two of his sons race.
Corbet’s Group is also a sponsor of Gympie football clubs, camp drafts and rodeos.
Joe and Miranda Prendergast
When 16-year-old Joe Prendergast moved onto a vineyard with his parents overlooking Lake Barambah he never knew he would carve an empire for his family underneath the lush hills of the South Burnett.
Mr Prendergast along with his wife Miranda, and mother Margaretha, are reinforcing the brand of country hospitality Gympie and the South Burnett are renowned for.
They own the famous and hugely popular Goomeri Bakery, Joe’s Grand Hotel and expanding Dusty Hill Vineyard.
The $6.5m expansion of Dusty Hill to include accommodation, a distillery and Irish tavern and restaurant has drawn wine tours and visitors into the region.
“We thought the bakery would be good for the town; we didn’t think it would be this good,” Mr Prendergast told The Gympie Times in 2022.
Private investor and property renovation guru Ivan Simon is new to Maryborough, but this hasn’t stopped his ambitions for breathing new life into the heritage buildings of one of Queensland’s oldest cities.
He is currently restoring The Royal Hotel, The Aussie, The Customs House and The Queens.
He is the director of IJS Productions, which is also involved in the organisation and logistics of the Gympie Muster.
Mr Simon leads with a portfolio of more than 60 restored heritage buildings in parts of South East Queensland, which includes the Mount Carmel Convent in Wynnum, Brisbane.
John Mclean
John Mclean is the CEO of the much-loved Queensland company Bundaberg Brewed Drink, which sells the famous Bundaberg Ginger Beer, an iconic beverage available on shelves, cafes, bars and restaurants around Australia and the world.
Mr Mclean joined the Fleming family business in 1995 and worked his way up the ranks and to the international level by selling the drinks to more than 44 countries.
Cliff Fleming
Cliff Fleming founded the company Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, initially purchased as Electra Breweries, with his parents Neville and Gladys Fleming in 1960.
His family-owned Bundaberg business has drinks stocked in Walmart, Target and Costco stores and sealed an enviable distribution deal with PepsiCo in 2018.
Bundaberg Brewed Drinks has a reported $150 million in annual sales each year. The company employs more than 240 people.
The Greensills
Another family that found enormous wealth in the fertile ground around Bundaberg is the Greensills.
The Greensills’ wealth comes from growing sweet potatoes, peanuts and sugar cane.
Their large scale agricultural business spans more than 8000 acres (3237ha) and has been built up through three generations.
Lex Greensill, one of the sons, gained the family some further attention with the boom and bust of his venture into Greensill Capital.
Editor‘s note: this story previously included an incorrect statement regarding Mr Lex Greensill’s former venture Greensill Capital. We apologise to Mr Greensill for the error.
Justin Garvie
Entrepreneur and the son of former Roma Town Council mayor Bruce Garvie, Justin Garvie worked his way onto this list through his fitness kingdom.
He owns Snap Fitness clubs throughout the regions of Maranoa, Darling Downs and the Fraser Coast.
The Garvies are no strangers to business and development and owned the Mitre 10 Hardware in Roma for 32 years, selling it for an undisclosed amount in 2015.
The Garvie family also regenerated the burnt-down, historic 1920s Royal Hotel in Roma, replacing it with the $3.4m Royal On 99.
Justin Garvie has been flexing his muscles in the entrepreneurial space and is co-owner of X Golf Toowoomba.
Harvey Black
A farming and trucking legend, Harvey Black is the current dealer principal at Black Truck Sales based out of Toowoomba.
The trucking group has locations throughout Queensland and New South Wales, including Chinchilla, Roma and Dalby. Mr Black has owned the business since 1995.
He is nothing short of a high-flying farmer and in 2020 he purchased Mount Enniskillen Station from Clark and Tait for more than $40 million. The property, located in Blackall, Central Queensland spans 135,200ha.
Rob McGavin
A business returnee to Queensland, Rob McGavin grew up on a cattle and sheep farm near Barcaldine, but found his fortune as a horticulturist in Victoria producing olive oil.
As CEO, co-founder and executive chairman of Boundary Bend Limited, a major producer of extra virgin olive oil, Mr McGavin grew the company to own 6200ha of olive groves and is reported to have more than 105 full-time employees across seven sites.
In 2019, when Barcaldine Downs, a 46,375ha sheep and cattle property went on the market, Rob McGavin swooped in to buy it for a sweet $21m. The sale came with more than 15,000 sheep and 700 head of cattle.
Bryce Camm
Bryce Camm is the son of cattle farmers David and Judith Camm, who play a significant role in the Australian Beef industry through breeding, backgrounding and finishing.
Four generations of farmers, they hold the title for the oldest continual feeding operations in Australia.
Wonga Plains Feedlot, located 34km east of Dalby, has been feeding cattle since 1975, and has integrated operations across nine Queensland properties.
The properties in Charters Towers of Natal Downs, Longton and Narellan have been called the “grass raised cattle powerhouse” of the family business, carrying up to 45,000 head of cattle.
Bryce Camm is CEO of Camm Agricultural Group, has held and continues to hold numerous positions as chairman, director and president of beef and cattle organisations and advisory bodies between sectors.
He acted as the trustee of the red meat industry fund with more than a $50 million
Kerry Campbell
Kerry Campbell is the biggest residential builder in Hervey Bay and has continued to hold this position for the last 20 years.
His company, Kerry Campbell Homes, has built more than 2500 houses, employs 50 people and significantly contributes to the Fraser Coast economy.
Born and bred in Hervey Bay, Mr Campbell grew up on a farm in Dundowran. As a young 20-year-old he built his first house which he himself moved into, “basically from scratch”.
His family had no money as he described himself as a “rags to riches” story. He went back to school when he was 39 to get his building license and since then has never looked back.
Kerry Campbell Homes has sponsored a number of Hervey Bay junior sports. Mr Campbell is a keen golfer and proudly became a life member of the Hervey Bay Golf Club with his $10,000 annual donations.
Mick and Marie Gibson
Mick and Marie Gibson are the owners of Gibson Grazing. They are based in Dalby, Darling Downs, west of Toowoomba in SE Queensland.
Sharing the business with their son Declan, they reportedly run 73,000 cattle on their 11 properties spanning 2.4 million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory and produce 6750 tonnes of beef annually.’ (beef central, 2020)
Peter Hughes
Peter Hughes and his wife, Jane have grown their companies, Hughes Pastoral Group and Georgina Pastoral Group, into one the largest privately-owned Wagyu cattle businesses in the world.
Mr Hughes in 2022 was inducted into the Australian Wagyu Association’s Hall of Fame.
Based in Tierawoomba, Central Queensland, the Hughes family is reported to have a fortune of $706 million, according to 2021 The Australian Financial Review Rich List.
In 2021, they purchased a 438,000 hectare property in Miranda Downs, Queensland, for more than $160 million, which reportedly set a new “benchmark” in the property market.
They are believed to be one of the largest private landholders in Australia with stations across Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern NSW.
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Originally published as From farmers to heritage restorers, meet the high flyers living in regional and rural Queensland
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