From paddock to Pitt Street
Robert Millner exercises immense influence in corporate Australia as the chair of Washington H. Soul Pattinson (WHSP), whose holdings totalled about $5.5 billion as at December 2019.
The 118-year-old company is a conservative investor with diverse holdings, ranging from coal and resources to telecoms and pharmacies and many other sectors. The Millner family’s net worth is reportedly more than $1.1 billion.
When our photographer showed up at his property one Saturday afternoon in June, Millner met him in mud-stained blue jeans, a chambray shirt and Blundstone boots that look as if they could use a good scrub – a far cry from sharp city suits.
The two drove across the property in an all-terrain vehicle, passing cows, a dam, tall silos and a shed where a tractor idled.
“It’s a very intense farm; we’ve got irrigation and we run cattle. So I’ve got three-and-a-half men that look after that for me,” says Millner. “[We] predominantly grow lucerne hay [alfalfa]. We tried poppies but we didn’t grow any last year. I didn’t have enough water for it.
Millner is the fourth generation of the extended Pattinson clan to lead the business. His
