Alan Bond
A flamboyant Australian tycoon who soared with a yacht club victory and crashed in a spectacular corporate scandal.
1938–2015 (age 77)·Australian businessman·Birthday: April 22·The Silent Generation
Biography
Alan Bond's story is a quintessential saga of boom and bust, a trajectory that mirrored the audacious spirit and eventual reckoning of 1980s Australia. Born in London and emigrating as a child, he built a vast empire from a humble sign-painting business into a conglomerate spanning brewing, mining, property, and media. Bond possessed a showman's flair, most famously bankrolling the Australia II yacht campaign that wrested the America's Cup from the New York Yacht Club in 1983, a national triumph that made him a hero. Yet his empire was built on a pyramid of debt and dubious deals. The glittering facade collapsed in the 'WA Inc' scandals, revealing corruption that reached the highest levels of Western Australian government. His Bond Corporation suffered Australia's largest corporate failure, and Bond himself served prison time for fraud. His legacy is a stark duality: the founder of the nation's first private university and a symbol of corporate excess and downfall.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Alan was born in 1938, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alan Was Born
The biggest hits of 1938
#1 Movie
You Can't Take It with You
Best Picture
You Can't Take It with You
Alan's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1938Born
Kristallnacht and the escalation toward WWII
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $2,850Min wage: $0.25/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Begin the Beguine" — Artie ShawBest Picture: You Can't Take It with You
1943Started school
Allies invade Sicily; Battle of Stalingrad ends
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,290Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I've Heard That Song Before" — Harry JamesBest Picture: Casablanca
1951Became a teenager
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1954Could drive
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1956Could vote
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $10,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Heartbreak Hotel" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: Around the World in 80 Days
1959Turned 21
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1968Turned 30
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1978Turned 40
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1988Turned 50
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 60
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 70
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2015Died at 77
Paris climate agreement; same-sex marriage legalized in the US
Gas: $2.43/galHome: $171,900Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Uptown Funk" — Mark Ronson ft. Bruno MarsBest Picture: Spotlight
Key Achievements
- Financed the successful Australia II challenge, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year America's Cup winning streak in 1983.
- Founded Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia's first private, not-for-profit university.
- Built a multi-billion dollar business empire encompassing brewing (Swan Brewery), resources, and television (the Nine Network).
- His corporate collapse was one of the largest in Australian history, triggering major financial and political repercussions.
Did You Know?
He purchased Vincent van Gogh's 'Irises' for a then-record price of $53.9 million in 1987, though he later sold it.
Bond was declared bankrupt with personal debts estimated at over $1 billion.
He was stripped of his Order of Australia honor following his criminal conviction.
His America's Cup victory inspired the Australian phrase "I'd like to see that!" as a taunt, mimicking Bond's reported words before the race.
“You don't get anywhere without taking a risk.”
