Now, Peggy Flannery is one of Queensland’s top philanthropists, married to billionaire mining magnate Brian Flannery and the director of KTQ Group, which is behind celebrity-favourite luxury Byron Bay resort Elements of Byron and the iconic Kirra Beach Hotel redevelopment on the Gold Coast.

The mother of three is also the founder of Peggy’s Place – a groundbreaking Brisbane domestic violence refuge offering a holistic approach to recovery.

“I was aware domestic violence happened in Cunnamulla, but back then it was never touted as such. It was a family matter between a husband and wife,” Flannery recalls. However, a pivotal moment came when, as a 10-year-old, she encountered a woman bearing the marks of abuse. “I said to her, ‘Why don’t you go?’ And she replied, ‘How can I? I’ve got young children, no money, and no place to go’.”

It was a conversation that would stay with Flannery for decades. In fact, when she and Brian first met, they would lie in bed dreaming of what they would do if they ever won the lotto – unaware of the fortune that was to be bestowed on them – with helping victims of domestic violence the top of her wish list.

Long before then, Flannery says she realised at age 12 she needed to have a lot of money to leave Cunnamulla.

With entrepreneurial spirit beyond her years, she approached locals in the area and offered to water their lawns for $5 a week when they were on holidays, while also working at the local grocery store.

By 17, Flannery had left the small town, making her way slowly south towards Sydney, embarking on a series of jobs that ranged from pumping petrol to door-to-door sales. It was while working as a bookkeeper at a service station in regional New South Wales that she met Brian, now her husband of 44 years.

“We always say we’re still on our honeymoon,” Flannery says, attributing their enduring relationship to “communication, respect, and making sure you have a laugh every day together”.

“We found true love, I guess, and we’re very lucky.”

After marrying Brian, Flannery became a stay-at-home mother to their three children, Quentin, 38, Tyson, 41, and Kirsten, 43. However, it was a role that extended far beyond making lunches and helping with homework, running school fetes, working in the parish office, and managing a care and concern group with 30 volunteers.

“I think being a mum is the greatest job we do. And the hardest job,” she reflects.

But, after 30 years of taking care of her family, it was time for Flannery to re-embrace that entrepreneurial spirit she had shown as a child – stepping into the world of property development in her 50s.

Using some of the fortune the couple made selling coal miner Felix Resources to China’s Yanzhou Coal in 2009 for more than $500m, the pair bought roughly 80 hectares of land in Byron Bay in 2010 for what would become luxury eco-friendly resort Elements of Byron.

“[Brian said] ‘Here’s a little project, see what you can do with it’,” Flannery says, describing the experience as waving a red flag at a bull.

While she was well-versed in handling the family’s home renovations over the years, and even worked as an owner builder for a house transformation in Sydney, this was her first major project – and on a mammoth scale with 193 accommodation outlets planned for the site, alongside a restaurant, gym and wellness facilities.

“I felt totally inadequate,” she admits. “I had no real training in that area. I only went to Year 10 in school.”

Despite her initial doubts, Flannery’s innate ability to listen and learn served her well. She hired KTQ Group’s now-development director Jeremy Holmes, and immersed herself in the project, taking a hands-on approach and even going as far as testing everything from toilet seats to shower heads for the resort.

“I don’t put in a toilet unless I’ve sat on a tester first to make sure it feels right,” she says with a grin.

The $100m-plus Elements has become a monumental success, winning a string of hospitality awards and becoming a haven for the well-heeled and high profile.

It was followed by other developments, including the ongoing Kirra Beach Hotel project on the Gold Coast, which has seen the reopening of the iconic pub, along with a flashy residential tower, and will continue with another apartment complex, a hotel and a food and lifestyle precinct. But it’s Peggy’s Place that truly captures Flannery’s heart and embodies her philanthropic spirit.

Opened in October 2023, Peggy’s Place is not your typical women’s shelter. It’s a holistic haven that can accommodate up to 34 women and their children, offering not just safety but a chance for healing and renewal.

“We have on-site counsellors for both women and children,” Flannery explains. “Part of breaking the cycle is healing the children, so they know that it’s not okay to be hit by a male or for a male to hit a woman.”

The facility includes an education room with laptops, a boutique where women can select new outfits, and a hair salon staffed by volunteer hairdressers.

“It’s all about re-empowering the women,” Flannery says. “Healing them, but also preparing them to go back out into society.”

Peggy’s Place costs between $3m and $3.5m a year to run, funded through her family’s Flannery Foundation. It’s a significant commitment, but one she says is essential.

“If we can make a difference to one person’s life a year, that is really worthwhile,” she says.

Since opening, Peggy’s Place has helped 10 families transition to independent living. It’s watching these transformations and the continued good work the facility, run by 18 full-time staff, is doing that brings Flannery incomparable joy.

“We’ve had two little boys up there and they were non-verbal through trauma when they arrived and the other day, one of them spoke for the first time and that just brings me to tears,” she says.

The success of Peggy’s Place and the continued need for DV support has her looking to roll out the format in multiple locations across the country. But says it will be a slow process as they try to find additional funding and corporate support, as well as appropriate sites to deliver all the necessary services.

Flannery’s philanthropic efforts extend beyond Peggy’s Place, however, with the Flannery Foundation. It supports about 30 smaller charities, including RizeUp Australia, Foodbank and Orange Sky, where they know the money will go towards making a real difference, rather than administration fees.

This dedication to making a tangible impact stems from Flannery’s own experience of receiving charity as a child. She vividly remembers being sent to a camp at Tallebudgera on the Gold Coast at age 12 by the Apex Foundation, during which she saw the ocean and billboards for the first time.

“Mum and Dad couldn’t afford to send me and the fact that they gave to me, as somebody in need, has always stuck with me,” she says. “That’s what I wanted to return to other people.”

Flannery is also passionate about encouraging other women to step into the spotlight when it comes to philanthropy. She has joined the “She Gives” campaign, which aims to highlight and celebrate women’s charitable giving by sharing 100 stories of generosity, encouraging other females to follow suit.

It’s accompanied by an online survey to gather insights into women’s giving experiences, which the public are encouraged to take part in, with the results to be released next year.

“Women are generally the bigger givers,” Flannery notes. “I think the more we get out there and let people know that it’s okay to acknowledge women gift, the better.”

As our lunch at Brisbane’s Fatcow, where Flannery orders the toothfish over a steak, having not eaten red meat in 45 years, draws to an end, she lights up talking about her grandchildren. There are six in total – two to each of her three children, with “hopefully” more in the future. She says she is a hands-on grandmother and it’s clear that while philanthropy is an important part of her life, family remains at its core.

She works with her two sons in the business, has racehorses with them and her husband, and is even in the process of developing a medicinal cannabis farm outside of Ipswich with Tyson.

“Initially we’re going to just sell the flowers and most probably export that overseas,” she says.

“Eventually once we’re money making in that, we will most probably extract our own oils … but that’s in the future.”

And the future is one the philanthropist is certainly excited about, always looking for her next project, start-up to invest in or charitable cause to keep her on her toes.

“If you don’t learn something new every day, you’re not trying,” she says.

FOOD SCORES

Peggy: Toothfish 10/10

Anooska: Rib Fillet steak 9/10