Plenty of Gold

Last year Whispers attended the Gold Ball held at the Darling Point home of Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond. One guest crashed to the floor perhaps overwhelmed by the lavishness of the Symond digs with it's sweeping harbour views.
Fortunately numerous doctors were on hand, as guests, and our patient quickly recovered to enjoy the evening. This year the Gold Ball which raises funds for the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick- Nicole Kidman is a patron- packed in over 400 guests at the Royal Hall of Industries in Moore Park and we are happy to report not one ball goer swooned and a massive $1.6M was raised for the kids. Our snap (below) shows nightclub mogul Justin Hemmes with John Symond on the right and Symond's wife Amber. Amber & John were married earlier this year and it's the second time round for both- Amber was married to former prime minister Paul Keating's son Patrick Keating (yes we were at that wedding too as out exclusive snap above right shows).
On the subject of Prime Ministers and kids- Justin held a fundraiser on Saturday night for Malcolm Turnbull at his magnificent Vaucluse pile The Hermitage (pictured above) and a bunch of children turned up correctly dressed and waving bundles of cash asking to be admitted so they could grill the PM over environmental matters. Sadly they were rejected.

photograph by Belinda Rolland

Mrs Keating's Raincoat

Min Keating and our Paul Keating portrait

The Keating clan assembled last week at St Patricks Catholic Church in The Rocks to farewell their beloved matriarch Min Keating who died at the grand age of 94. Min was the mother of former Prime Minister Paul Keating and notable businesswoman Anne Keating. Whispers & Min had a long association first formed via our own late mother who was a long time pal of Min's.
 In the late 90s Whispers held an exhibition of Warholesque style photographic screen prints on a blustery June night in Kings Cross. It was a huge success with many of the portraits being snapped up by their subjects including Kylie Minogue and Elle McPherson along with Lady Mary Fairfax's daughter Anna and brother Charles purchasing a picture of Lady Mary for the family art collection.

Unashamedly influenced by Andy Warhol (he was an old friend) the famed New York society photographer Patrick McMullan who had two regular social pages on Warhol's Interview Magazine flew out for the opening night of the exhibition. Patrick was chuffed to meet members of Sydney society including Lady Sonia McMahon and Min Keating who was pleased to see a portrait of her son Paul in the exhibition. As we all dined later in a nearby restaurant Min finally left at around 2am.

McMullan was startled to receive a rather frantic phone call from Min at his hotel at 7am the next morning. Min had left her raincoat at the restaurant but it was a very special one- purchased by son Paul on one of his Prime Ministerial trips to the UK.
"I dined out on this for weeks to come when I got back to New York" said Patrick later. " Having the PM's mum telephone is like having the US presidents mum on the blower.".
But what has he done with those photos from the night?,  Somewhere in his extensive archive is a series of pics taken after Min left the dinner, of each of the guests parading in Min Keating's fetching leopard print raincoat, including Lady Sonia McMahon!
" I seriously though of holding an exhibition in New York titled The Prime Minister's Mother's Raincoat" said McMullan. "It's the sort of arty thing that goes down well in the Big Apple"

Jesinta Unmasked

Jesinta Campbell attended last night's Silver Party at the splendid Point Piper house of Aussie Home Loan's boss John Symond. Whispers had exclusive access to the grand party (more tomorrow).

Jesinta opted not to wear a mask at the themed masked party and masked little else as well as our snaps show

Out In The Open

It's been the gossip of the town but at last week's Silver Party mega millionaire John Symond finally appeared in public with his new girlfriend Amber Keating.

Amber & 'Aussie' John

Keating is the soon to be ex-wife of Patrick Keating, handsome son of former Prime Minister Paul Keating and when the Shuttle attended their wedding at St Mary's Cathedral in 2002, it was regarded as the match of the year.
 Patrick is now living with fashion identity Penny Hunt and the pair are expecting a baby.
(right : Amber & Patrick at their 2002 wedding)
Last Thursday at the fundraiser for the Sydney Children's Hospital the affection between the pair was obvious when John who walked up the driveway in the pouring rain spotted Amber who was waiting for him and the pair embraced.
Two weeks ago Amber was also on hand when Aussie Loan's John gave away his son Stephen Symond who married his partner Ed Smith in a civil ceremony in the garden of Symond's $60M Darling Point mansion.

Krug & Sushi at the Park Hyatt

The Park Hyatt Hotel celebrated it's $60M recent makeover with a swish party on Tuesday evening.

Amber Keating in Louis Vuitton

Nestled beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and directly opposite the Sydney Opera House, the Park Hyatt clearly has the premier location of any Sydney inn and it's the home away from home for most visiting celebrities.
But what was with the report in a Sydney tabloid newspaper today that implied that while the Star casino (possibly Australia's most ghastly looking building) served Krug champagne for it's glitzy launch last year, the Park Hyatt settled for photographs of the French tipple ?. Perhaps the journo was pre-occupied with the dramas about his newspaper's parent company unfolding in the Leveson Inquiry in the UK.

Not only was the Krug flowing freely at the Park Hyatt, it was '98 vintage which doesn't come cheap. There were buckets and buckets of the stuff and the Shuttle knows as we could only look on in sheer envy, reduced as we are to sipping mineral water because of a course of anti-biotics.

If the service at the Park Hyatt's launch party is anything to go by, it's position as the hotel of choice for superstars (and other mortals) will remain un-matched. The hotel had flown in chefs from around the world including two to prepare superb sushi, and with a series of rooms serving up various cuisines, this was one of Sydney's most memorable parties.

Bridget & Louise Abbott

Jo Ferguson & Catriona Rowntree

As for Star, which the Tele helpfully informs us attracted the likes of Leo DiCaprio, Stevie Wonder and others of that ilk to it's launch late last year, they forgot to mention the millions of dollars paid out to the slebs or in DiCaprio's case, the entire floor of it's hotel they laid on gratis for Leo's staff to live in while he filmed The Great Gatsby. Or of the Star's private jet that was laid on for DiCaprio's exclusive use during his stay. Even then he only turned up to the launch party for an hour or so and stood sullenly in a corner scowling at the media.

 Sipping Krug at the Park Hyatt : Hon Bruce Baird, Amber Keating, Kerri Anne Kennerley, gossip writers Jo Cassamento and Ros Reines, Catriona Rowntree, Sandra Sully and two new entrants to the social scene, Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's daughters Bridget and Louise Abbott.

                      the view from the Park Hyatt's bar