The man who built Dreamworld and iconic hairdresser Stefan were among five Queensland business success stories celebrated in Brisbane last night.
The Longhurst family, whose patriarch, the late John Longhurst, developed the Gold Coast theme park, joined Stefan Ackerie, computer company Data#3, indigenous and reconciliation leader Shelley Reys, of Arrilla Indigenous Consulting, and Australia’s largest pineapple growers Pinata Farms to be inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
Established in 2009 by QUT, the State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Library Foundation, the Hall of Fame recognises the State’s business leaders for their public contribution to the state’s reputation, and economic and social development.
In front of a crowd of almost 800 people in the Plaza Ballroom of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre the inductees’ stories of determination and perseverance were shared.
Brothers Tony and Rodney represented the Longhurst family and praised their father’s vision in establishing Dreamworld on vacant land in Coomera at a time when there was nothing between Brisbane and Nerang.
They also credited him with providing them with the belief to go on create additional successful Queensland businesses, with Tony now the chief executive of The Boat Works at Coomera, a boatyard, superyacht yard and marina services precinct and Rodney the owner of Riviera Australia, a state-of-the-art facility that is the largest luxury yacht building facility in the southern hemisphere.
In accepting his honour Stefan recounted his early days of opening his first salons in Longreach and Maryborough in the sixties.
He shared the story of needing to offer free hair cuts in Maryborough to spread the word and get his business moving and that he was two weeks away from shutting the doors.
Read more about all the inductees on the QUT website.
