Ladies Who Lunch

B/W Chair Susan Diver * TV news reader Natarsha Belling * Mem Fox * Julia Baird * Dame Marie Bashir * Kate Carnell

 The Black and White Charity Committee raises funds for Vision Australia to provide support services for children and their families.  Each year they hold the Women Of Achievement lunch at the Four Season's Hotel at Circular Quay.
This is a great event: every penny raised goes to the charity as the ladies on the B/W Committee, cajole, beg, borrow and steal every aspect of the day. They are all unpaid volunteers and it's a pretty good achievement in itself to be able to draw over 500 attendees as they did this year, to pack the hotel ballroom.
Three distinguished ladies of "achievement" give a speech outlining their career and how they got there. Most started from humble beginnings This years speakers were Mem Fox who is married to the billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, ABC TV presenter Julia Baird and Kate Carnell former Chief Minister of the ACT and currently the Ombudsman for Small Business.
Among the guests, Gina Rinehart arguably the world's richest woman with a mining fortune and Dame Marie Bashir former NSW Governor, Professor Ross Steele, one of world's great experts on the French language and Olympian Jessica Gallagher.

Judith Crawley * Daniel Trelease * Maria Finlay * Professor Steele* Jessica Gallagher * Mike Levendi

Went To A Garden Party

Pictured in our snap is TV personality Deborah Hutton attending the elegant garden party at Boomerang, that  much sought after mansion in Elizabeth Bay. The Shuttle has attended numerous parties there over the years with invites from at least 3 owners during it's long life. Guests can come from all areas of society. We've encountered Prince Frederick and Princess Mary of Denmark, Tom Cruise during the filming of Mission Impossible 2 and the recently released Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks chatting to the NSW Governor Marie Bashir.

The Governor also attended Friday's event, the launch of an expected yearly Mother’s Day garden party in support of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute which honours the Institutes founder, the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Amongst those attending - Sarah Murdoch, Ros Packer, Alex Perry and Lady Primrose Potter with treats dished up by chef Darren Taylor.

Below is Ricky Nelson's wonderful 1985 hit "Went To A Garden Party".

 

Terrible People

Former Foreign Minister under the Howard government, Alexander Downer  still believes David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib were "terrible people' and says 'the government always regarded Mr Habib as the more dangerous of the two" according to today's Sydney Morning Herald.

Alexander Downer

This follows the release of new Wikileaks cables about the inmates of Guantanamo Bay. Both Habib and Hicks spent years confined there without trial. The latest cables proclaim the two men were "dangerous terrorists and that Habib had 'trained the 9/11 hijackers" and had confessed in Egypt that he had "planned to hi-jack a Qantas jet"

When Egyptian students helped overthrew the dictator Mubarak in Egypt secret police files revealed that Habib had been rendered to Egypt  by the USA-despite official denials- where he was tortured for 5 months and questioned whilst an Australian government official was in the room.

Alexander Downer had always emphatically denied Habib's claim that he was sent to Egypt. Habib was eventually flown back to Australia (not by Qantas but in a government leased Lear jet) after being released without charge.

The Julia Gillard government has just made a secret settlement with Habib rumoured to be around the 2 million dollar mark to nip in the bud embarrssing claims about that torture. The exact details still may emerge because Habib is now suing the Egyptian government.

"No, I won't be changing my mind about them. They were both terrible people - absolutely shocking." continues Downer in the SMH.

Hicks was said to "have links to senior Al-Qaeda leaders" (he met Osama Bin Laden once) and he too was flown back by private jet when released on a dodged up charge. He has said of Alexander Downer  :" he is hardly in a position to call me shocking "

Aloysia & David Hicks with Governor Marie Bashir at Boomerang

The Shuttle met David Hicks seven weeks ago at a party at Boomerang, the Spanish style harborside mansion of trucking magnate Lindsay Fox. He seemed a likeable and friendly chap, if somewhat wary of the press but the NSW Governor, Her Excellency Marie Bashir chatted amicably to Hicks and his wife Aloysia and didn't seem at all 'shocked' by him.

Fact : from 1999 tthe Australian Wheat Board paid bribes of nearly $300M to Saddam Hussein in the 'wheat for oil scandal'. During a Royal Commission evidence was heard that the money was used to buy weapons that were used against the allies invading Iraq to depose Saddam.

The minister responsible for the AWB-Alexander Downer claimed that he had never read the hundreds of emails informing him of the bribes. Although the Commission recommended charges against 12 people, no-one ever faced a court.

Boomerang, A Swell Party and the Guantanamo Bay Inmate

"The Worst of The Worst" was how the former Foreign Minster Alexander Downer described him.



Alexander ' worst of the worst' Downer

The  pillar of the Adelaide Establishment who once famously posed on a TV chat show in stilettos and net stockings was speaking of the hapless David Hicks who spent years incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay  after the Northern Alliance pounced upon him in 2001 at a bus stop in Afghanistan and handed him over to the CIA for a $1000 bounty.

 In the hysteria following 9/11 Hicks spent the next 6 years at Gitmo chained to the floor of a cell for 22 hours at a time under fluorescent lights before finally being sent back to Australia after pleading guilty to the trumped up charge of "providing material support for terrorism".

The US chief army prosecutor later claimed Hicks should never have been charged and said the whole case was dominated by political interference from George W.Bush and PM John Howard.

 




David Hicks and wife Aloysia

  Hick's autobiography Guantanamo: My Journey is a harrowing read in which Hicks describes being tortured and beaten while blindfolded and handcuffed, forced to take unidentified medication, regularly forced to run in leg shackles causing ankle injury and being waterboarded by US agents.

Boomerang the amazing Spanish style mansion nestled by the harbour in Elizabeth Bay is far cry from Cuba.

It's owned by the billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox who threw the doors open for a party last night.  Hicks and his wife Aloysia were guests for the launch of the book Stories from the Wayside.

The Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross is a ministry that was begun by the saintly late Reverend Ted Noffs in 1964 and continues to assist the down and outs of the Cross, drug addicts and anyone else in crisis.



Boomerang beauties: Samantha Harris & Jessica Gomes



Current minister Rev Graham Long has gathered together some amazing sucess stories from over the years along with some brilliant photographs by four leading fashion and advertising photographers.

 The concept of Sydney art director Andrew Henderson, Stories from the Wayside celebrates the chapel, the people who work within its walls and the visitors for whom the Wayside is a welcome support system, as well as as a place where all are welcome 'just to be'.



Boomerang



Built in 1928 at a cost of $28000 for music publisher Frank Albert, Lindsay Fox purchased the Hollywood style Boomerang in 2009 for $21M from society hostess Julie Schaeffer who had paid $20M for the house from the Shuttle's favourite former Hong Kong banker Duncan Mount and his wife Sally.

The house featured in Mission Impossible 2 and the film's star Tom Cruise tried to buy the house as an Aussie base for he and then wife Nicole Kidman.

David Hicks is about 5'5", shy and well mannered. He says he met Osama Bin Laden twice but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also fought for the Kosova Liberation Army.

Hicks chats to NSW Governor Marie Bashir

 Alexander Downer comes from a wealthy and privileged South Australian political family. His father Sir Alec Downer was High Commissioner to the UK, his grandfather Sir John Downer state premier twice. When he was Opposition Leader Alexander Downer dropped a clunker in a speech when he guffawingly referred to domestic violence as "the things that batter". When he took the Foreign Ministry he declared the UN an "out of date" body although that was forgotten when he beat the war drums for the disastrous Iraq Invasion. He was positive that WMD would be found.

I think we'd rather share a drink with David Hicks.

little bay with big problems

It's only 3 kilometres from the city centre and a stone's throw from Kings Cross-Elizabeth Bay, a harbour-side suburb where a battle royal is about to break out.

The suburb has some rich and famous residents overseen by the imposing  Elizabeth Bay House, the historic homestead of Governor Lachlan Macquarie whose wife Elizabeth the area was named after. Chef Kylie Kwong lives there as does trucking magnate Lindsay Fox who stumped up $29M for the 1920's Spanish style residence Boomerang, built by the Albert's music family and the locale for the film Mission Impossible 11. At one stage actor Tom Cruise considered buying Boomerang as his Aussie base for he and former wife Nicole Kidman . Just up the road from Boomerang in Billyard Avenue have lived Russel Crowe and Lachlan Murdoch. A few hundred metres in the other direction in Roslyn Gardens is the imposing 4 storey terrace being restored by former Prime Minster Paul Keating-to date a 15 year project.

Rene Rivkin

 Owner of the fashion label Diesel and former James Packer partner , Theo Onosforou has a house there as does the head of the  Broome pearl empire Nick Paspaley while Consolidated Media's chairman, John Alexander lives in a magnificent penthouse. Right on the small park at the end of a marina where the action is taking place is controversial West Australian businessman Warren Anderson who has his elegant terrace for sale for give or take $30M.

Opposite Anderson's house is the Elizabeth Bay marina whose owners, rag trader Michael Dalah and the rich  panel beater Peter Fitzhenry wish to turn from it's present 30 vessel berth into 50. It's a fight that is sure to end  up in the courts as the residents oppose the development. They successfully saw off the last entrepreneur, the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin.

The Danish royals partied at Boomerang

Meanwhile John Alexander who led the fight to prevent the previous development has had to halt the renovations of his large terrace overlooking the harbour after another tenant of his building Julie Schaeffer took out an injunction in the Supreme Court citing lack off council approval. Schaeffer was the previous owner of Boomerang where she hosted the return home party for Princess Mary of Denmark when Mary paid her first visit back to Oz with her husband Frederick-the future King of Denmark.

Boomerang

And right across the road from Boomerang is the multi storey apartment of property entrepreneur Gary Baker and his wife Karin Upton Baker the head of the fashion label Hermes where they have hosted parties for Elle McPherson and Cate Blanchett. The Bakers-noted for their series of black autos-a Bentley Continental,  a Rolls Phantom , a vintage Mercedes sports car and a Mini Cooper all with XXX numberplate's, are facing a Supreme Court fight over their investment in a set of Bondi beach-side apartments once owned by the late singer Peter Allen the former husband of Liza Minnelli. The Bakers are being  sued by a credit company for around $18M and risk losing their home.

 

Directly across from the marina where all the woes are about to descend is tSS contributor Bill Ranken who has a pied-à-terre . He's not buying into the fight-he doesn't like boats.

Ligging at Neville's house

Lindsay Fox (left) chats while Neville looks for a buyer.

Suburu owner Kerri-Anne

They were out on force at Neville Crichton's gleaming new Ferrari and Maserati sale rooms in Green Square for the launch of a range of the Italian autos.

2 of Sydney's best known gate-crashers (they are called "liggers" in the UK) and a host of well known business, sporting and show-biz personalities. Will Neville notch up a sale or 2 from the night that generously included a fleet of chauffeured Maseratis to ferry guests to and fro-all the better for quaffing French champagne by the bucket ?. Hard to tell. tSS did a straw poll of some of the more well heeled guests and found few takers.

Daytime TV queen Kerri-Anne Kennerley drives a very practical Subaru which she says she loves as does husband John Kennerley, the man who started Britain's Littlewood Pools and sold out for squillions. They have a Lexus for more sedate moments.

What does nightclub king Justin Hemmes
(right) motor around in ?. Anything he wants with he and his father John's amazing collection of vintage and new luxury cars. But not a Maserati or a Ferrari amongst them and he won't be buying one soon.

Nor does the countries top jeweler Nic Cerrone-a Mercedes, and as for trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, he doesn't drive at all but has a man at the wheel of either the Rolls Phantom or Bentley Continental that slip into the Spanish style driveway of his legendary mansion Boomerang. We gave up after 12 inquiries. Not a Ferrari owner in sight. The 2 liggers ?. They share a taxi or an ancient Ford Falcon when it's running.

Still, everyone looks pretty sitting and posing in the gleaming autos.

Nic Cerrone-always happy to pose for the camera.

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Earlier that night the Oxford Street cabaret club Slide showed off some of it's season's upcoming acts that include the crooner Barry Crocker who pens the occasional play review for the Shuttle. Slide is run by French chef Marc Kuzma who doubles up as maitre de and as drag act, Claire De Lune.

Claire de Lune

Crocker's squeeze Katy Manning, the original Dr Who co-star is still in London and working at the BBC.

Slide maitre de Marc Kuzma with Sharon Sargent and Barry Crocker

Barry played the Private Eye comic strip character in the film Barry McKenzie Hold His Own. It's difficult to tell which came first-Barry Crocker or Barry McKenzie. Did Barry inspire Baz ?.

A question for creator Barry Humphries next time we see him.

Hoges land back on the market

Just 4 years after eccentric British banker Duncan Mount and wife, ex-model Sally purchased the Possum Creek property built by Paul Hogan and wife Linda just outside the resort of Byron Bay on the NSW coast, Mount is selling off parcels of the gorgeous landscaped grounds with  their rolling hills to finance a move back to the Sydney social scene.

                                                           Duncan Mount

                                                      Possum Creek                               

Mount made mega millions in China with his Hong Kong Bicycle Co before moving to Sydney and buying the 1920's Spanish styled harbour-side mansion, Boomerang-built by the wealthy Alberts music publishing family. Duncan spent a small fortune re-furbishing Boomerang which was used in the film  Mission Impossible 2 and threw lavish parties before selling up 5 years ago to build an equestrian centre on the Northern Beaches for horse mad Sally.

Hogan himself made a tidy profit on the Point Piper house he purchased a few years ago and sold last year  after spending little time there, preferring to hang out in his Hollywood Hills abode while he fights his endless battles with the Australian Taxation Office. Boomerang was bought by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox in 2005 for $21M from cleaning company boss John Schaeffer who purchased it for then wife Julie who fell in love with it after attending one of the Mount's amazing parties. 

Julie  continued the Mount's tradition, hosting her first soiree for Denmark's Crown Princess Mary and Prince Frederick on their first visit to Australia following their toy-town style wedding.

                                                                                                                          Boomerang