A force of nature with a wry smile: Lang Walker remembered
By Colin Kruger and Carolyn Cummins
Billionaire and philanthropist Lang Walker has been remembered as a transformative force in Australia’s urban landscape but also as a humble figure with an enormous sense of fun, at a memorial service at Sydney Town Hall.
“If it wasn’t fun, it wasn’t worth doing. And there had to be a story in the adventure,” his son Blake Walker told attendees, including former prime minister John Howard, and former NSW premier Nick Greiner, on Friday.
The memorial service to celebrate the life of billionaire Lang Walker was held at Sydney Town Hall.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Media billionaire Lachlan Murdoch also attended, along with Ryan Stokes, the head of Seven Group and son of billionaire Kerry Stokes.
“In so many ways, he embodied so much of what is best about the Australian spirit, and contributed so much to making our country an even better one,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement read out at the memorial.
Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
But it was Walker’s friends, including former Western Sydney University vice chancellor Emeritus Professor Barney Glover, who gave a glimpse of Walker’s ongoing impact via his work in urban renewal and philanthropy.
Glover noted the massive redevelopment still under way in western Sydney, energised by the second airport, which has triggered massive investments in transport, education, residential and commercial developments, and into the area’s arts and culture precincts.
“One name resonates throughout this transformational period: Lang Walker,” Glover said.
“He was quintessentially larger than life. An imposing man, never to be underestimated. Driven and charismatic, a force of nature, both hard and soft-edged. All traits, if you were lucky, punctuated by a wry smile.”
Walker helped to build the infrastructure of urban Australia via his privately owned development group, Walker Corp. It made him one of the richest people in the country, with a personal wealth estimated at $5.8 billion.
Developments ranged from high-rise office buildings in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to suburban housing estates.
In the 1990s, his company delivered the well-known King Street Wharf complex near what has since become Barangaroo, as well as the heritage-listed Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo where he lived.
But Walker also saw himself as a community builder, which was reflected in both his buildings and his philanthropy.
“We’re in the business of cities and how they come together,” he would say.
Jobs and Skills Australia Commissioner Barney Glover speaks at the memorial.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Walker’s philanthropic initiatives include scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in western Sydney, which Glover said on Friday will “ripple positively through families, neighbourhoods and communities for generations to come.”
As will the $50 million donated to the Lang Walker AO Medical Research Building. Construction commenced on this project just days after his death.
For his family, the legacy is as much in the many stories he loved to tell.
This included how a young Lang apparently got himself sacked from what his father regarded as an unsackable job at the tax office just weeks after he started.
He left school at year 10, with the headmaster offering the advice that he would not amount to much.
Some decades later, with obvious satisfaction, Walker acquired the school property for redevelopment. Some of these stories may have lacked some factual accuracy, Blake Walker admitted, but lost nothing in the telling.
This included the classic line from an entrepreneurial young Lang: “It’s only a rort if you’re not in on it.”
Lang and Sue Walker at his exclusive Fiji resort, Kokomo, in 2019. Credit: Louie Douvis
At his local golf course, one line of business included solving the problem of golf balls being stolen by local kids. Lang organised to buy these balls from the kids, polished them up, and then sold the balls – at a significant mark-up – back to the club.
His son and grandchildren described Walker as a devoted dad and grandfather who loved spending time with family more than anything. It was the kernel for his interest in a private island in Fiji, which became his beloved resort, Kokomo. He described it as “the glue that holds our family together.”
Walker is survived by his wife Sue, children Blake, Chad, Georgia and their spouses, and his 10 grandchildren.
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