The 20 richest people in Australia

Every year Forbes publishes the list of the richest people in Australia. 2009 showed a drop in the number of billionaires (we’re down to 9), but despite changes in the economy, these entrepreneurs proved that fortunes can still be made. Almost everyone on the list started with a small business that eventually flourished with dedication and a mindset to defy the odds to make it big. They are an inspiration to Australians everywhere with dreams of success to stay the course and move forward.

#20 Maurice Alter (Married with 2 children, age: 84)

$590 million

Who wouldn’t mind having a $590 million fortune at the age of 84? Mr. Alter landed on the coast in 1949 direct from Poland and rushed to get a job, 2 jobs in fact. A little later he bought a couple of stores and a bank near Melbourne. Yes, that’s right, a bank! Today, his son Sam runs his Pacific Shopping Centers and manages his portfolio of premier retail properties in nearby Melbourne and Adelaide.

#19 Robert Oatley (Married with 3 children, age: 80)

$600 million

This rich tycoon from Oz likes things that provoke you. He began his path to fortune as a coffee grower, but really made a name for himself with the Rosemount Estates winery. In 2001, he sold the entire kit and caboodle for cash and stock to Southcorp. He turned around in 2003 and pitched the stick to Foster’s as a means to buy Hamilton Island. He has won the cup in the Hobart-to-Sydney race 4 years in a row with his yacht, Wild Oats. He keeps busy exporting his brand name wines to the US.

#18 Angela Bennett & Michael Wright (Married with 7 children, age: 64, married with 3 children, age: 71)

$650 million

This brother and sister team was lucky enough to have a father who discovered some tremendous iron ore deposits in Western Australia. Rio Tinto’s Hamersley mine provides them and other family members with annual royalties. Wright’s main concern is his Voyager Estate winery.

#17 John Van Lieshout (Married, 2 children, age: 63)

$690 million

It is rumored that as a teenager, Mr. Van Lieshout dropped out of school to work unloading bananas. After moving from his native Holland, he eventually started the furniture chain Super A-Mart, which he sold in 2006. He is currently in the Brisbane property market.

#16 Len Buckeridge (Married with 6 children, age: 73)

$700 million

Len Buckeridge is affiliated with the BGC Group, a major homebuilder in Western Australia. Apparently economic downturns mean nothing to him; 2009 was a year of big projects including the construction of a $200 million private port.

#15 Carlo Salteri (married with 4 children, age: 88)

$730 million

Salteri co-founded the Transfield Group in 1956 after moving from Italy to Oz. He took over defense operations when the company was spun off in 1997. His son, Paul, succeeded him as chairman in 2007. He recently sold several divisions to major global players like Lockheed Martin and Air New Zealand.

#14 Ken Talbot (Married with 4 children, age: 58)

$750 million

Talbot founded Macarthur Coal and later sold 80% of it for nearly $600 million. He sparked some scandalous conversations when he was accused of secretly making payments to a Queensland politician. He denies the bad news.

#13 Gerry Harvey (Married with 4 children, age: 69)

$870 million

Mr. Harvey began dropping out of agricultural college to sell vacuum cleaners door to door. He later co-founded Harvey Norman, the electronics retailer. The CEO is his wife, Katie Page. He is a horse man, with a stake in the thoroughbred auction house, Magic Millions.

#12 Michael Hintze (Married with 4 children, age: 55)

$900 million

He did time at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston before starting the trading company Convertible and Quantitative Strategies with $200 million. The profitability of the flagship fund has been 11% annualized.

#eleven. Stanley Perron (Married with 3 children, age: 86)

$950 million

Mr. Perron sold tissue boxes after leaving school and later tried to make a career as a plumber. He wasn’t really successful until an old boss gifted him a Toyota franchise. (Good boss!) He’s set up dealerships throughout Western Australia and now invests in real estate.

#10 Lindsay Fox (Married with 5 children, age: 72)

$970 million

Fox is a former Australian Football League professional who started his road to riches selling soft drinks from a truck. He founded Australia’s largest logistics company: Linfox. He likes classic cars, he has 130 of them.

#9 Kerry Stokes (Divorced with 4 children, age: 68)

$1 billion

Billionaire at last! Stokes is the leading dealer for Caterpillar equipment in Australia. He adds to his fortune by his involvement with the Seven Network media group. He lately he has been trying to take over the Western Australian newspapers from Perth.

#8 Kerr Neilson (Married with 2 children, age: 59)

$1.45 billion

Originally from South Africa, Neilson created Platinum Asset Management in 1993 with the backing of George Soros. When the company went public in 2007, it took in around $500 million. His next plan is to open a museum of contemporary Chinese art.

#7 Gina Rinehart (widow, 4 children, age: 55)

$1.5 billion

Along with other members of the family, he profits from his late father’s mining assets: Rio Tinto’s Hamersley Basin iron ore mine. (He had to fight his stepmother for it). Rinehart also owns a direct interest in the family business Hancock Prospecting.

#6 Anthony Pratt (Single, 1 child, age: 49)

$1.6 trillion

Pratt was at one point a consultant to McKinsey and ran Visy Industries’ US operations for 20 years. He now co-chairs the packaging kingdom with his mother, wholly owned by his family. He co-owns the global operations with his two sisters.

#5 Andrew Forrest (Married with 3 children, age: 47)

$1.65 billion

Forrest was Australia’s No. 1 Richest Person in 2008. Unfortunately, he lost his position as declining demand for iron ore hit shares in his Fortescue Metals Group. Recently, a Chinese steel group acquired part of the company. There was a bit of a fuss around the deal that he denied.

#4 John Gandel (Married with 4 children, age: 74)

$1.7 trillion

Gandel owns prime real estate, a lot of it, including half of Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Center and a stake in a trust that the other half owns. His private home is rumored to be the most expensive in Melbourne.

#3 Harry Truguboff (Married with 2 children, age: 76)

$2 billion

Affectionately known as “High-Rise-Harry”, he is Oz’s apartment building tycoon. He was born in China to Russian parents and began his career as a taxi driver. He now owns hundreds of flats in Sydney and the North Shore.

#2 Frank Lowy (Married with 3 children, age: 78)

$2.8 trillion

Lowy is another of the country’s real estate tycoons, as well as the president of the Australian Football Federation. He is a Czech immigrant and founded the real estate company Westfield Group. The company’s stock fell in early 2009, but hey, it still has close to $3 billion and that’s not bad at all.

#1 James Packer (Married with one child, age: 41)

$3.1 billion

Let’s hear it for the young man! What hasn’t this guy done? Packer is heir to his late father’s media group, Publishing & Broadcasting. He sold his cattle ranches for almost $300 million and has shares in Consolidated Media and the Crown gaming company. He also has a joint venture with Hong Kong’s Lawrence Ho.