# I just walked past Australia's richest man

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 20, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779 "2006-01-20T03:31:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/1 "2006-01-20T03:31:19Z")

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At least, I assume he’s the richest since the death of his father Kerry a couple of weeks ago.

[James Packer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Packer)

There he was, wandering along the Pitt Street Mall at lunchtime, munching a sandwich. Goodness he’s tall.

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**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/2 "2006-01-20T08:56:54Z")

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And ugly.

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/3 "2006-01-20T09:20:03Z")

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The richest man in the UK (at the time) once came into the gas station where I worked for a fill-up. Charming, chatty, unassuming man, driving his own 10-year-old, slightly beat-up BMW. I only found out who he was because he was running an account. Turns out now he’s retired he’s become a [massive philanthropist](http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=garfield+weston&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8). What a nice chap. (Didn’t tip me, though.)

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**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/4 "2006-01-20T14:31:19Z")

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I loved this line from the Wikipedia article: “In October 1999, he married swimsuit model Jodie Meares (who has since changed her first name to Jodhi)…”

Of course, they’re divorced now and he’s solacing himself with Tom Cruise and Scientology. Wait, that didn’t come out right… oh, never mind.

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**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/5 "2006-01-20T14:31:27Z")

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Is he in fact Australia’s richest man? There’s Kerry’s wife, other child and lord knows how many mistresses and ex-nuptial children with likely legitimate claims on the estate.

I thought you meant Richard Pratt. No inside gossip on either this week though.

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-walked-past-australias-richest-man/340779/6 "2006-01-20T16:19:43Z")

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\>Takes off glasses, polishes them, then puts them back on and re-reads the title\<

I swear to OG, when I read that thread title, it said:

> [@](#):
>
> I just wanked past Australia’s richest man

I need coffee…