Tristan Venus Antico AC (1923 - 2004)

Ancestors

Biography

Tristan Antico AC is Notable.

Sir Tristan Antico AC was a prominent Australian industrialist, horse breeder, and patron of the arts. He is best known as co-founder of Pioneer Concrete.

Tristan Venus Antico was born on 25th March 1923 in Poivene, a small village near Venice, Italy. He was the younger son of Terribile, a veteran of the Great War, and Ermina Antico. Shortly afterward, Terribile, disillusioned by his country's treatment of its returned soldiers and appalled by Mussolini's fascism, left Italy for Australia, together with his brother 'Beppi'. For six years he toiled and saved so that his family could join him and when they did his children, Ninevis and Tristan, did not know him. Tristan knew just three English words: 'Yes', 'No' and 'Toilet'. Terribile regarded education of utmost importance and every night would have Tristan learn at least one new word of English. ^[1]

Tristan attended Darlinghurst's convent, Darlinghurst Public School and then Sydney Boys High School. He didi well academically and mastered the intricacies of that very English game, Cricket, playing first grade for Paddington. ^[1]

On leaving school he joined a small manufacturer, Malleable Castings, as a clerk and studied accountancy at night. After seven years he was wooed by the marble contractor Melocco Brothers, and here he learnt the foundations of the concrete, marble and terrazzo industry.

In October 1950, Tristan married Dorothy Brigid Shields, the daughter of a prosperous Mosman baker. ^[2] Within a few months he had bought, for £12,500, Tregoyd, a rambling federation stone house in Mosman, on Sydney Harbour's North Shore, built for a chief justice, Sir William Cullen, but which, 25 years on, had no gas or electricity and was all but invisible behind an overgrown garden. Restored, and listed by the National Trust, Tregoyd would become the centre of a happy family life over four decades. ^[1][3]

Tristan co-founded Pioneer Concrete, now known as Hanson Australia, in 1949 with Kelvin Conley. He borrowed £500 from Uncle Beppi, bought a 1927 Oldsmobile, two picks, two wheelbarrows, two shovels and two brooms and drove about offering his services to Sydney building sites. The duo employed two men but would also take turns in digging - Kelvin during the week, Tristan (who stayed on for a time at Melocco) on weekends. Their first job was to lay foundations of a house, part of a new development in Ryde. They made a profit of £42. Within 12 months they were employing a dozen or more staff in a business turning over £40,000. ^[1]

In 1959 Pioneer Concrete was listed on the Sydney Stock Market as a public company and diversified into building materials products. By 1980 the company owned pre-mix concrete plants in Hong Kong, Israel, United Kingdom and Spain, was expanding into Asia, Africa, and most of Europe, and owned 65% of Ampol. In 1988, the company changed its name to Pioneer International and gained full control of Ampol. Tristan became chairman of Ampol. In 1995, Ampol merged with Caltex to form Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd, with Pioneer holding a 50% shareholding. This venture was sold in 1998. In 1999, Pioneer International was taken over by Hanson and re-branded as Hanson Australia five years later.

In 1967, Italy recognised its lost son and made him a Commander of the Order of the Star of Solidarity, the first Australian to be so honoured. ^[1] He was created Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Birthday Honours June 1973 for 'service to industry'. ^[4] He was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in January 1983 for his 'service to industry and the community'. ^[5] A devout Roman Catholic all his life, Sir Tristan was honoured by the church with the Papal Order of St Gregory the Great and the ancient Order of Malta. ^[1]

Giving back to the Australian community which had accepted him as a boy, Tristan was appointed chairman of St Vincent's Hospital and was an influential founding member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation. ^[1]

In 1984 Sir Tristan purchased the successful Baramul Stud in Widden Valley, New South Wales (sold to prominant businessman Gerry Harvey in 1999).

Aged 81 years, Sir Tristan passed away on 26th December 2004. He was survived by Dorothy, two sons and four daughters; one son predeceasing him. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} McGinness, Mark. 'Something of the modern Medici about this Tristan'. Sydney Morning Herald 13 Jan 2005; accessed 23 Mar 2022
2. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #22384/1950
3. ↑ address given on both Australian Honours, in 1973 and 1983
4. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 19 Apr 2021
5. ↑ Australian Honours: AC; accessed 19 Apr 2021

See also

• Wikipedia profile: Tristan Antico; accessed 19 Apr 2021.