Turning 90 is certainly something to celebrate – perhaps a few friends over for a quiet sherry or a glass of bubbly, followed by a three or four stage careful blowing out of all those candles – but throughout his colourful and productive life, Sunrise Beach retiree John Fraser has never been one to do things by half.
This becomes evident as the former timber baron ushers me into his Stephen Kidd-designed Provencal mansion, Villa des dauphins on the Sunrise seacliffs, via his garage so he can show me the gleaming red Ferrari he has just bought as an early birthday present to himself.
“Haven’t driven it yet,” he calls over his shoulder as he guides me into the villa, “but she’ll do 210 kph.”
I’m a little taken aback at the thought of a frail 90-year-old behind the wheel of a red speed machine, but this pales into insignificance as John walks me through the eclectic interior of the split-level home and explains how what may well be Noosa’s party of the century is going to roll next week.
“There will be 102 guests from all over the place.
“They’ll be offered Moet et Chandon on arrival and whatever they want to drink throughout the night. They’ll sit down to a three-course dinner, and the entertainment, oh, let me tell you about the entertainment!”
We’re in his large and messy office now – he might be retired but he’s still busy – and he rummages through a mountain of paper to find the list of performers.
“OK, I’ve got a brilliant opera singer and his pianist, a bloke called The Piano Man who does incredible impersonations, and three dancing violinists… people don’t just want to hear music, they want to be entertained!”
I ask who the opera singer is.
John has another rummage.
“Ah, here it is. His name’s Virgilio and his pianist is Kylie.”
Wait, what! Not Virgilio Marino, the star tenor of Opera Australia, most recently headlining in Madame Butterfly at the Sydney Opera House?
“Yep, that’d be him.”
God knows what that’s costing, but I’m guessing Virgilio doesn’t do private recitals for a free feed and a few glasses of Moet.
Well, you’re only 90 once.
But John Fraser wasn’t to the manor born.
After finishing school he did six months compulsory National Service and loved the army life so much that when it was over he re-enlisted, eventually becoming a commissioned officer.
Then one night he and another officer were out at a suburban dance hall not far from their barracks when the friend asked if he could borrow John’s car to take home a girl he had his eye on.
John reluctantly agreed, but a short time later his mate returned despondent.
“She won’t even dance with me,” he wailed.
John said: “I bet you 10 bob she’ll dance with me and I’ll take her home.”
They shook on it and by the end of the night John was 10 bob richer and he’d met the love of his life.
“Pat and I were married six months later – I was 23 and she was 18 – and we’re still together 66 years later.”
The army life involved too much moving around for a married man, so John resigned his commission and decided to give the wheels of industry a spin, starting his own small timber business at Toongabbie in Sydney’s west.
“I became a production engineer although I’ve got no degrees in that, but I built three factories and two houses and renovated eight, and I didn’t have degrees for that either! But I did have an accounting degree, so I knew how to make the numbers work.”
He certainly did.
Travelling to plantations in Malaysia, the Philippines and Canada three or four times a year to secure the best prices, John built Fraser’s Timber into a huge manufacturer of housing frames and trusses.
By 1973 he was able to indulge a midlife crisis at age 41 by buying his first red Ferrari, which featured on the cover of a motoring magazine.
When he finally sold the business two years ago at 88, it was for an undisclosed but huge sum, and last year he sold the six acres it stood on at Toongabbie to Microsoft for a data centre for almost $20 million.
Like a lot of self-made millionaires, John became passionate about yachting, buying and skippering a string of ocean racers, including his pride and joy, Evelyn, a 55-footer, but he also loved the cut and thrust of Etchell racing.
It was yachting that brought him to Noosa, and he and Pat fell in love with it, buying their clifftop block and commissioning award-winning architect Steve Kidd to build the holiday home of their dreams, now their permanent residence.
So it’s been a full and happy life, peppered with smart moves, good fortune and outrageous gambles.
Why not go completely over the top to celebrate it!
“At my age I’m here for a good time, not a long time,” John says as he shows me the multi-coloured water fountain he’s just restored, and demonstrates how he can change the colours using an app on his phone.
He grabs my arm to emphasise a point.
“This is going to be a hell of a party. The whole night will be videoed and a copy sent to every guest.
“Everyone will have a name tag because guests are coming from all over and we might not have seen each other for a while.
“Some of my old sailing buddies are coming, not all because most of my friends are dead.
“But the ones who are left are going to remember this night forever.”
