Founders & self-made

Alan Bond went from Perth sign-writing to the America's Cup, Nine and a Van Gogh, then prison. The full arc of the Alan Bond rise and collapse.

Andrew Forrest built Fortescue Metals from a shell company into a major iron ore exporter. The record is messier than the tidy keynote version suggests.

How Christopher Skase built a media and resorts empire on borrowed confidence, then spent his final years fighting extradition from a Majorcan villa.

Dick Smith built three separate ventures on cheek, timing and publicity, long before the retail chain bearing his name collapsed under other owners.

Frank Lowy went from a Blacktown deli to a global Westfield empire. Here is how the refugee built it, and why the timing of the sale looks so sharp.

Gerry Harvey built Harvey Norman from Norman Ross into a retail chain and property empire. The franchise model, the controversies and the founder.

Lindsay Fox left school at fifteen and built Linfox into a private logistics giant. Here is how the Fitzroy truckie held it together for six decades.

Nathan Tinkler went from Hunter Valley electrician to billionaire to bankrupt in about a decade. Here is how one leveraged coal bet unravelled.

Richard Pratt turned a small Shepparton carton maker into Visy, a global packaging group. Here is the full ledger, including the cartel case.

Solomon Lew built Premier Investments from Melbourne's garment trade and spent decades in the Coles Myer boardroom wars. Here's the record, plainly told.