| overview
a
Court
landmarks
|
landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
Context is provided by the broader communications and
media timeline on this site.
antecedents
1888
Albany Advertiser launched
beginnings
1937 birth of Robert Holmes a Court
1938 birth of Alan Bond
1950 Bond migrates to Australia
1960 borrows $13,000 for land development in Perth
1961 a Court moves to Perth to study law
1967 forms law firm
1969 Bond packages holdings as West Australian Land Holdings
1970 Holmes a Court gains control of WA Worsted &
Woollen Mills
1971 establishes Heytesbury Stud
1973 WA Worsted & Woollen gains control of Bell Bros
1973 Bell gains control of Albany Advertiser,
Katanning Great Southern Herald and radio station
6VA
1974 West Australian Land Holdings becomes Bond Corporation
1974 Bond's unsuccessful America's Cup bid with Southern
Cross
1977 unsuccessful America's Cup bid with Australia
1978 Bond Group buys and demolishes historic Palace Hotel
in Perth
1978 Bond becomes Australian of the Year
1979 Bell bid for Ansett Transport Industries
1979 Bond bid for Santos foiled by SA state government
1980 Bond unsuccessful America's Cup bid with Australia
into media
1980 Bell launches Western Mail in Perth
1980 Seagram makes unsuccessful
bid for St Joe Minerals
1981 Bond buys Waltons department store chain
1981 buys Swan Brewery in Western Australia for $164m
1982 Metals Exploration buys 35% of North Kalgurli Mines
1982 Bond buys discount retailer Norman Ross for $25m,
forms Waltons Bond
1982 Holmes a Court's Bell Group gains control of TVW-7
1982 takes over Lew Grade's Associated Communications
Corporation (ACC), which sells stake in UK ITV operator
Central Independent Television (acquired by Carlton)
1983 Bond Corporation buys control of STW-9
1983 successful America's Cup bid with Australia II
1983 sells Argyle diamond interest to WA government for
$42m
1983 Bell buys Wigmores, which becomes Bell Resources
1983 Wigmores makes first bid for resources and steel
conglomerate BHP. BHP buys Utah International from GE
1983 Bell's ACC gains control of Weeks Petroleum
1984 Bond takes 45% of Airship Industries
1984 Bell Resources makes second bid for BHP
1985 Bond buys Castlemaine-Toohey's for $1.2bn
1985 Weeks Petroleum buys 13% of US mining giant Asarco
1985 Bond buys Queensland Television (Nine network affiliate
QTQ9)
1985 Bell unsuccessful bid for Fremantle Gas & Coke
1985 Weeks sells Asarco stake to MIM
1986 Bond buys Australina Occidental Petroleum
1986 Bond buys of Burmah Oil's petroleum and gas interests
in Cooper Basin
1986 Holmes a Court buys lease of Grove House in London
for £10m
1986 Bell Resources makes third and fourth bids for BHP
1986 BHP 'rescued' by Elders IXL from Bell takeover -
Elders buys 20% of BHP for $2bn, BHP buys $1bn of Elders
preference shares
1986 Bond buys Pittsburgh Brewing (Iron City Beer), tenth
largest US brewer
1986 buys and then sells Thorn EMI
film studios and film library
1986 Elders buys Courage Brewery UK for $3.5bn
1987 Dallhold Resources becomes Bond International Gold
(BIG)
1987 Waltons Bond sells Norman Ross and the Waltons department
store chain to Cookes family
1987 Bond buys G. Heileman Brewing Company in US for US$1.7bn
1987 buys Bond Centre building in Hong Kong
1987 finances Endeavour replica
1987 buys 53% of Chile Telecommunications Co
1987 buys stake in British Satellite Broadcasting (BSBH)
after withdrawal of Virgin and Amstrad
1987 buys two Nine network stations from Packer
1987 Bell buys stake in Pioneer Concrete
1987 Crash
1987 a Court's Heytesbury buys Double Island
1987 Heytesbury buys Vasse Felix winery
1987 Bell buys machinery distributor Waugh & Josephson
1987 Bond buys 50% of Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie (GMK) to
control 47% of miner Kalgoorlie Lake View (KLV)
1987 BIG buys 90% of St Joe Minerals from Fluor, subsequently
lists on NYSE
1987 Poseidon sells KLV stake to Bond
1987 Bond sells Sydney Hilton for $300m?
1987 reported as paying $53m for Van Gogh’s Irises
1987 founds Bond University with Japanese property developer
EIE International under control of Harunori Takahashi
1987 Merrill Lynch withdraws Bell Resources' $1bn line
of credit after October 1987 Crash
1988 State Government Insurance Commission takes 19.9%
of Holmes a Court stake in Bell, Bond takes 19.9%
1988 Bond sells TVW-7 to Skase's
Qintex
1988 Bond buys Glympton estate in UK for $22m and Connell
residential site in Perth for $9m
1988 Rothwells collapses
1988 sells Bond Centre building and land holdings in Hong
Kong
1989 Heytesbury buys Victoria River Downs (VRD) pastoral
station
1989 Bond sells 19% of GMK to Poseidon
1989 sells 65% of BIG to LAC Minerals for US$373m
1989 unsuccessful bid for Lonrho
1989 Bond Corporation Holdings announces $980m loss
Bond goes belly-up
1989 Bond group goes into receivership
1989 Elders IXL MBO vehicle Harlin Holdings forced to
make $5.3bn bid for for all shares
1989 Gough & Gilmour (later a competitor of Stoke's
WestRac) buy Waugh & Josephson
1989 Eva Presser's Sunraysia Television buys STW-9 from
receivers of Bond Media for $95m, sells STV Mildura for
$18m to ENT
1989 Heytesbury buys Sherwin Pastoral Co cattle stations
for $80m
1990 Holmes a Court dies
1990 Observation City Hotel sold for $77m
1990 Airship Industries goes into receivership
1990 Australian brewing assets sold to Lion-Nathan of
New Zealand
1990 Packer regains control of Nine network for around
$250m
1990 Elders IXL announces $1.3bn loss, foreshadows sale
of all non-brewing businesses, become Foster's Brewing
Group
1991 Heilemann goes into Chapter 11
1991 Bond Corporation enters scheme of arrangement
1991 receivers take charge of Bell Group and Bell Resources
1991 Harlin changes name to International Brewing Investments
(IBI), with 32% of Foster's
1991
receivers float WA Newspapers as
independent company for about $220m
aftermath
1991 Heytesbury buys John Holland engineering group
1992 Alan Bond made bankrupt by Federal Court
1992 BHP puts receiver into IBI over debt of more than
$1bn
1992 Dallhold interests in Greenvale project floated as
QNI
1992 Bond jailed for 30 months after a jury convicts him
of dishonesty relating to ASIC investigation of Rothwells.
Released after retrial
1993 receivers reconstruct Elders IXL and IBI interests,
float Elders Pastoral Group as Elders Australia
1995 Alan Bond pays creditors less than one cent in dollar
as bankruptcy settlement
1995 Elders acquires Australian Agricultural Company (AACo)
1995 Elders acquired by Futuris Corporation
1996 Bond jailed by West Australian District Court for
three years over Manet painting La Promenade
1997 jailed for further four years after pleading guilty
to deceptively siphoning $1.2bn from Bell Resources. During
trial Bond claims to be suffering from brain damage, making
recollection of the details of his activities impossible
1997 outrage over leniency of sentence provokes federal
government appeal - court increases sentence to seven
years
1997 Heytesbury sells stud at Wallen for $7.3m
1998 Bond emerges from bankruptcy, having paid creditors
$3.25m to discharge personal debts of $500m
1999 Heytesbury sells 70% of John Holland Australia to
Leighton
2000 Bond released from prison on parole after High Court
rules in his favour on a constitutional technicality
2000 Bond associated with UK company The Money Centre
2002 liquidators appointed to The Money Centre
2003 Heytesbury sells remaining 30% of John Holland Australia
to Leighton
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