“What factors led to the present condition of the Bowden south Clipsal site?”
Firstly, just in size the site is extraordinary for the locality. In terms of land use, the Clipsal site represented the largest discrete block not only in Bowden Brompton, but in the Hindmarsh Council area. Only the former pughole sites, which in 1980 were still largely vacant or with very low value developments on them, would come close to the Clipsal in area.
The expansion of Clipsals began in earnest in 1976 when the third generation of the Gerard family took over the reigns of the private company. This expansion was later facilitated by the partnership with Singapore-listed Clipsal Industries Holdings (CIH) which gained a 50% stake in the business.
During the 80s, Clipsal acquired from the Hindmarsh Council the public roads through Bowden south, and a large block of Gas Company land from Botral Energy. Clipsal, through its personnel officer Kevin Inverarity , played a significant role in the fightback by local industries against Hindmarsh Resident Association campaigns, lobbying State Governments and the local council, and in one case, running a candidate in the Bowden Ward election.
Mr Robert Gerard OA, the high profile Gerards director, carried on the Gerard family tradition of philanthropic donations to various South Australian organisations, and was appointed South Australian of the year. .
He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1999 for
“FOR SERVICE TO THE SA DOMESTIC AND EXPORT INDUSTRIES, TO YOUTH, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD IN AUST, AND TO THE COMMUNITY AS A SPONSOR OF CULTURAL AND SPORTING ACTIVITIES”.
Mr Gerard was a patron of the South Australian Jockey Club, the Adelaide Crows and a generous benefactor to the Liberal Party, where he sat on the parties’ finance committee and State Council. Since 1995, Gerard Industries and associated companies have donated over $1,000,000 to the Liberal Party.
Rob Gerard is no stranger to controversy, it being alleged in Parliament that his company had made a donation of $25,000 to the 2006 election fund of the present Charles Sturt Mayor, Harold Anderson. It was during the subsequent term that the Council switched from fierce opposition to equally fierce support for the sale by the South Australian Jockey Club of the Cheltenham Racecourse to private developers.
Rob Gerard resigned from the board of The Reserve Bank of Australia in 2005 after it was revealed that the Australian Taxation Office in a 2001 Audit Report alleged that
“ there was either a deliberate and knowing intention on the part of Gerard
Industries, acting through its directors R.G. Gerard and W.R. Henderson, to avoid the payment of tax or that there was a flagrant disregard for the operation of taxation law that cannot be excused in people of their skill and experience in business practice and taxation law …"
The charges were not admitted by Gerard, who also denied through his lawyer Michael Abbott QC that the amount of the settlement paid by Gerard Industries was in the order of $150,000,000. Nevertheless, several reports in the media claim that the Gerard tax bill was paid out of the procceeds of the sale of Clipsalsto a French multinational
Given the significant effect the Clipsal company and Mr Gerard has had on the Bowden South area, I believe it is fitting that his activities should be commemorated in some way in the Bowden Village Development.
