Dubbed by some media as the “secret millionaire,” it’s somewhat surprising that former Mosgiel electrician Garry Robertson has managed to keep such a low profile for so long.
The 59-year-old came to public notice in 2018 as the financer of a new film on the life of the late social justice advocate and author, Celia Lashie.
Robertson said at the time he was motivated by his admiration for Lashlie after he and the mother of his four sons had followed her advice on raising teenage boys. But it’s clear he has always had a passion for the underdog, and his success seems to be testament to a gritty determination to make the most of his lot in life.
As a youngster, he always had an interest in how things worked, which led to an electrical apprenticeship at Dunedin Railways. He also worked at the Tiwai Point smelter.
His interest in property was apparently provoked during an argument with his father who claimed his son was too stupid to build a picket fence, let alone own a house. Having read Sir Bob Jones’ best-selling book, Jones on Property, Robertson set about proving his father wrong.
According to his own promotional material, Robertson has since helped create some of Auckland’s largest housing developments including those at Milldale, Silverdale, Flat Bush and Karaka.
A 52ha swath of property on the southern outskirts of Auckland marked as “bare land with subdivision potential” also bears testament to his claim to be one of New Zealand’s leading land aggregators.
One of his more recent investments has been the stalled Ocean Ridge development in Kaikoura, which has been under development since 2005. Originally touted as an $80 million project involving the construction of 300 homes on 135ha, Robertson is reported to be looking at a new pricing structure – perhaps in light of a 2018 Kaikoura District revaluation, which noted Ocean Ridge had seen “a decline in land values with many vacant sites selling for below their 2015 LV.”
However, Robertson’s Auckland land bank shows much more promise. In addition to the 52ha around Drury, which has a rateable value of $35m, Robertson can lay claim to a combined Auckland property portfolio worth more than $60m, including a 49ha dairy farm in Karaka where he lives.
An amateur blue water yachtie who has sailed from New Zealand to Fiji on several occasions, Robertson is also a devoted classic car and motorbike collector.
A member of the NZ Vintage Car Club, he owns more than 100 classic cars that he has stored throughout NZ and Australia, including 11 Rolls-Royces, 4 Coupe de Villes, 15 Lincolns, an Edsel and a Mercury. One of his most interesting purchases is a 1984 Silver Spur Rolls-Royce, decorated with blue peacocks, which was supposedly once owned by the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
Known as “a passionate philanthropist,” Robertson is also an avid supporter and financial contributor to the New Zealand Coastguard’s Hibiscus Coast unit and he was a volunteer at the Christchurch Blood Bank for many years.
He also sponsored Lee Munro, the great-nephew of legendary Kiwi speedster Burt Munro, when he attempted to break the 200mph limit at Bonneville in 2018.