Latest news with #AlanBond
The Age
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The real housewives of Australia: How ‘Red' Bond led the way
On July 2, the news rippled eastwards across the Nullarbor. An extraordinary chapter in social history had ended. Eileen 'Red' Bond, the first wife of Alan Bond, had died in Perth from a stroke at the age of 87. Long before today's mawkish Real Housewives shows, Australia claimed a unique species of social fauna: the Socialitis Animalis Australis, a generation of larger-than-life, socially connected, cashed-up and indomitable women. Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, Lady Mary Fairfax, Pixie Skase, Lillian Frank, Diana 'Bubbles' Fisher, Rose Hancock, Lady Sonia McMahon and Susan Renouf became celebrities as they epitomised an era of unmatched excess. Some of them married wealth and power; others worked, accruing their own. They were the apex predators of the society pages at a time when Australia produced audacious billionaires, such as Alan Bond. He and Eileen built their own university, hotels and even launched a fleet of airships. Despite a deluge of noise complaints, 'Red' was all smiles in 1987 as she launched her blimps over Sydney; powered by two roaring Porsche engines, they were bedecked in advertising for her Swan Premium beer and ciggies. Privately, she endured the loss of her daughter, Susanne, of coeliac disease in 2000, but carried on despite the ignominy of her husband's billion-dollar bankruptcy, fraud conviction, infidelity (she famously cut up his expensive suits in revenge) and their ultimate divorce. A devout Catholic and devoted matriarch and philanthropist, she hosted lavish dinner parties as enthusiastically as she once did her infamous sausage sizzles right up to her death. '[These women] handled things with grace,' says Ann Peacock, daughter of the late Andrew Peacock and his first wife, socialite Susan; a political power couple, the Peacocks were once known as Australia's Kennedys. 'Some scandals were ridiculously overblown … In 1970, Dad offered his resignation [as army minister] after Mum's Sheridan sheets ad furore!' (She had appeared in print ads for the brand.) A photo of Flemington's 'Holy Trinity', taken at the Melbourne Cup in 2003, perhaps sums them up best. Red looks like a dazzling toadstool in an enormous hat and sunglasses. At left is Lady Sonia McMahon, who died in 2010. In 1971, she caused a sensation at the White House, which she was visiting with her husband, the then-PM, Billy McMahon, by wearing a cream dress by Victoria Cascajo slit to her thighs. Peacock's mother, Susan Renouf, is on the right. She died in 2016 after living a life of headlines, including the tumultuous end, in 1988, of her marriage to billionaire Sir Frank Renouf. She refused – in front of a salivating media pack – to leave their ironically named Point Piper mansion, Paradis Sur Mer.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The real housewives of Australia: How ‘Red' Bond led the way
On July 2, the news rippled eastwards across the Nullarbor. An extraordinary chapter in social history had ended. Eileen 'Red' Bond, the first wife of Alan Bond, had died in Perth from a stroke at the age of 87. Long before today's mawkish Real Housewives shows, Australia claimed a unique species of social fauna: the Socialitis Animalis Australis, a generation of larger-than-life, socially connected, cashed-up and indomitable women. Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, Lady Mary Fairfax, Pixie Skase, Lillian Frank, Diana 'Bubbles' Fisher, Rose Hancock, Lady Sonia McMahon and Susan Renouf became celebrities as they epitomised an era of unmatched excess. Some of them married wealth and power; others worked, accruing their own. They were the apex predators of the society pages at a time when Australia produced audacious billionaires, such as Alan Bond. He and Eileen built their own university, hotels and even launched a fleet of airships. Despite a deluge of noise complaints, 'Red' was all smiles in 1987 as she launched her blimps over Sydney; powered by two roaring Porsche engines, they were bedecked in advertising for her Swan Premium beer and ciggies. Privately, she endured the loss of her daughter, Susanne, of coeliac disease in 2000, but carried on despite the ignominy of her husband's billion-dollar bankruptcy, fraud conviction, infidelity (she famously cut up his expensive suits in revenge) and their ultimate divorce. A devout Catholic and devoted matriarch and philanthropist, she hosted lavish dinner parties as enthusiastically as she once did her infamous sausage sizzles right up to her death. '[These women] handled things with grace,' says Ann Peacock, daughter of the late Andrew Peacock and his first wife, socialite Susan; a political power couple, the Peacocks were once known as Australia's Kennedys. 'Some scandals were ridiculously overblown … In 1970, Dad offered his resignation [as army minister] after Mum's Sheridan sheets ad furore!' (She had appeared in print ads for the brand.) A photo of Flemington's 'Holy Trinity', taken at the Melbourne Cup in 2003, perhaps sums them up best. Red looks like a dazzling toadstool in an enormous hat and sunglasses. At left is Lady Sonia McMahon, who died in 2010. In 1971, she caused a sensation at the White House, which she was visiting with her husband, the then-PM, Billy McMahon, by wearing a cream dress by Victoria Cascajo slit to her thighs. Peacock's mother, Susan Renouf, is on the right. She died in 2016 after living a life of headlines, including the tumultuous end, in 1988, of her marriage to billionaire Sir Frank Renouf. She refused – in front of a salivating media pack – to leave their ironically named Point Piper mansion, Paradis Sur Mer.
News.com.au
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Australian socialite Eileen 'Red' Bond is farewelled during catholic requiem
Iconic Australian socialite Eileen 'Red' Bond has been remembered as 'wonderful, exuberant, loyal' mother and friend during a catholic requiem mass held in WA. The former wife of entrepreneur Alan Bond was celebrated on Monday morning in an 80-minute ceremony held at Fremantle's St Patrick's Basilica, her childhood church. Bond's casket, along with the church altar, was festooned with red roses and pink orchids, a dramatic and vibrant backdrop for the celebration of a similarly well-lived life. Bond's eldest son John, a West Australian businessman, said his devoutly catholic mother could be best summed up with a stream of 'F' words – faith, family, friends and fun. He spoke briefly of his father, the disgraced businessman Alan who built a property, brewing and media empire before it all came cashing down in the eighties while recalling the circumstances of his parent's introduction. Eileen Teresa Hughes had been all of 16 when she'd fallen for the motorbike-riding high school dropout at dancing lessons in Fremantle. Son John – and a wedding – Eileen's only marriage – would follow a year later in 1955. By age 21 Eileen had welcomed two more children, Craig and Susanne. Youngest child Jody (Fewster) would arrive years later after doctors informed Eileen she was unlikely to have any more children. Eileen's famously fiery temperament was referenced just once, by her son, when he recalled the unravelling of the Bond's four-decade-long marriage due to 'dad's behaviour'. That behaviour would spur Eileen to 'cut the legs off dad's suit pants and throw them out the window.' A keen swimmer, skier, horserider and dune-buggy driver during their marriage, life in the Bond household where Eileen was firmly at the tiller was a series of games, extraordinary parties and learning to party 'like the master', Eileen. 'The house was always open, the fun always on and the red wine and champagne flowing,' John Bond recalled. Not even school pick-up was permitted to be mundane with Eileen at the wheel of the family Bentley – and a miniature donkey in the back. During the Bond-backed 1983 triumphant America's Cup challenge and over four challenges, 'Red's' mothering extended as well to the yacht's crew. This was a woman who would win over America's snobbish yachting fraternity and be introduced to the sitting US president Ronald Reagan. So broad and diverse was Bond's circle of friends – 'exclusive was not a word (she) comprehended …' her eulogist offered – it would take three songs (Danny Boy, Take Me Home Country Roads, Somewhere Over the Rainbow) to screen a package of cherished family photographs to the St Patrick's congregation. In an attempt to explain the absence of a birth date on his mother's order of ceremonies booklet, Bond conceded Eileen's age had long been 'a closely guarded secret'. Even 'trusted staff were asked to leave the room' when his mother was required to give it. 'Red' would likely have cursed an online funeral register which gave it as June 4, 1937 – a date which made her 88 when she died on July 2 following a series of strokes. The faithful catholic never quite came to terms with a brother's vow of poverty after joining the seminary. She constantly attempted to fill brother Don's pockets with cash and hoped in vain to persuade him to pilfer a pair of 'good' shoes from their father's wardrobe. A second eulogist, a priest, recalled a woman who was an 'Australian icon' and 'like a red flame. Always radiant and warm, full of energy and passion to everyone around her, especially to her family and friends.' She was, he said: 'Humble, down to earth (with a) slightly larrikin nature who had a gift for getting along with anyone'. The priest reassured Eileen's surviving children, grandchildren and great-grand-children the family matriarch would now be ' … in heaven with God. Heaven help them.'
News.com.au
14-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Son John delivers funeral eulogy for mum and Aussie icon Eileen ‘Red' Bond
Beloved Aussie socialite Eileen 'Red' Bond has been remembered for her commitment to 'faith, family, friends and fun' in a heartfelt service at Fremantle's St Patrick's Basilica. Ms Bond, the wife of entrepreneur Alan Bond, was farewelled before hundreds of mourners on Monday following her death from a stroke on July 2 aged 87. Son John, delivering the eulogy, said his devout Catholic mother loved St Patrick's and it was 'entirely fitting' to say goodbye to her there. 'This place gave her strength to get through the tough times in life of which she had a few, the most significant being the tragic death of her darling daughter Susan,' he said. 'In times like these, this church was her refuge.' Ms Bond sported a shock of red hair as a child and she became known as 'Red' to her friends and family. On family, John said Ms Bond was 'fiercely loyal'. 'To mum, family could do no wrong even when we obviously had,' he said. 'She would brook no criticism whatsoever of family members.' On friends, John praised his mother's 'incredible knack' of being able to 'befriend anybody, at any time, in any circumstances'. 'She was vitally interested in people's lives, and I think that was the key,' he said. Mr Bond converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism to marry Eileen, John said, after the pair met when Ms Bond was still a teenager. She and Mr Bond welcomed four children: John, Craig, Susanne and Jody. Mr Bond was a successful developer in the 1970s and 1980s and became a household name after he helped Australia win the 1983 America's Cup sailing competition. He also founded Queensland's Bond University. He went bankrupt in the early 1990s and was sent to prison on bankruptcy and fraud charges. Ms Bond travelled the world and lived a life of luxury, forming friendships in high society circles across the globe. 'Our mighty team won the America's Cup and mum won the American public,' John said. But all the time, 'Red never really changed', he said. 'Wonderful, exuberant, engaging and loyal to the end, she will be terribly missed,' John said. In a statement on her death, Bond University vice chancellor and president Tim Brailsford said Ms Bond was a 'great friend and fierce supporter of the university since its establishment'. 'She was a regular visitor to campus and attended many events, always bringing her own style and grace,' he said. 'The room was always brighter once Red had entered and her cheeky sense of humour entertained many a crowd.'
AU Financial Review
03-07-2025
- General
- AU Financial Review
‘Vibrant, unforgettable': Bond family pays tribute to late matriarch
The children of Eileen Bond, the former wife of late West Australian businessman Alan Bond, have paid tribute to their mother, celebrating the 87-year-old matriarch as a vibrant, unforgettable woman who brought joy to everyone around her. Eileen passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening surrounded by family, three days after suffering a stroke.
