Download This Feature

100 MOST INFLUENTIAL37The John Hughes Group employsabout 560 people and sells over1800 new and used vehicles everymonth, with an annual turnoverof $650 million. The company hasits own insurance and financecompanies, four finance brokingoperations, underwrites its ownextended warranties, is a tyre andbattery business, provides its ownroadside assistance, has 11 mobileservice vans and has its own fleetof trucks to transport vehicles.The John Hughes Group isrecognised for its totallycommitted approach to “handson” management and qualitycustomer service. The company’spassion for excellence is wellrecognised in WA.John HughesWENTWORTH JOHN (JACK)WINTERBOTTOMIn 1905, Perth City Council had just 70vehicles on its register. Cars were new,motorisation was a touch scary, and vehicleswere prohibitively expensive.It was in this same year WJ Winterbottomset up his garage and repair shop, PerthMotor House. Within a year, according toWA’s pre-eminent motoring historian A JohnParker, Winterbottom had an early Fordtwo-seater in the yard and ready for sale.The people of Perth were slow to take tomotoring. Winterbottom became heavilyinvolved in what these days we mightconsider sales gimmicks: dealerships wouldpit their vehicles against each other inhill-climbs and sand-pull events onWelshpool Road.Winterbottom was, according to Mr Parker,“a man in a hurry in the business world”. Hesold his Ford dealership and went on a worldtour of car manufacturers and dealerships.When he eventually returned to WA (after aCLAUDEDEANEIf it ever comes up at a quiz night, the firstcar sold by a car dealer in WA was a sixhorsepower, single-cylinder Oldsmobile.It was sold in 1903 to a gentleman calledCecil Dent. The man who sold it was ClaudeDeane — the very first of the State’shigh-profile, highly successful, car dealers.According to WA motoring historian andauthor of Cars Characters and Crankhandles,John Parker, Deane was an automotiveengineer who, at the turn of last century,managed the American Motor Car andVehicle Company operating from the SurveyChambers on St Georges Terrace.“The company was in all likelihood part ofa national parent group,” Parker relates.“In 1908 Deane branched out on his own,setting up the Deane Motor Car and CabCompany at 853 Hay Street, selling . . . 27stint with Ford in Sydney and after takingpart in a Melbourne-to-Sydney car racethat must have looked much like the filmGenevieve) he opened a Dodge dealership inSt Georges Terrace in 1915. Despite the war,he sold 100 Dodge Tourers in his first year.By 1925 he had opened a new, £40,000showroom and assembly site at the corner ofthe terrace and Mill Street — and evendonated some of his land to widen Mill Streetitself. Winterbottoms turnover had increasedfrom £21,000 in 1915 to £132,000 in 1921 to£334,000 in 1924.Winterbottom became a strong advocatefor the motoring industry, wading into battlewith State governments over issues likelicensing, through the Chamber ofAutomotive Industries.Winterbottom’s became a publicly listedcompany in 1950. Winterbottom himselfdied the following year — a pioneer andluminary of the local industry.Trailblazer: Claude Deane’s first car is now inthe WA Museum. Picture: State Library of WA.marques (of car).” By 1912 he was inpartnership with Eric Wheatley and haddiversified into “reconstructing” and sellingFord cars and trucks, which Parker considers“an early dalliance into the used vehiclemarket”.JACKDE GARISMany of the men and women featuredbetween these pages could be considered“colourful” but only one has gone so far as tofake his own death.Clement “Jack” de Garis was one of theworld’s larger-than-life characters and,despite being in WA only briefly, left hisstamp on the State.De Garis was born in 1884 and grew up inthe Victorian fruit-growing area of Mildura.He was forced to leave school aged nine tohelp his father. By the time he was 14, he hadsaved enough from his own wages to pay fortwo years at Wesley College in Melbourne.He returned to work for his father’sdried-fruit business but became restless.In 1919, he used an aircraft to publicise the“Sun-raysed” dried-fruit brand and he wenton to set several interstate flying records. Hisfirst major interstate flight was fromMelbourne to Perth. While in Perth, hefound that the 20,000 hectare Hassell estateat Kendenup was for sale and decided hewould build a new Mildura.By 1921, the settlement had a population ofmore than 300. A brick kiln had been builtand a dehydration plant for processing thefarm output had been constructed. A yearlater, the population had risen to more than600 and 132 homes had been built. About262 town lots and almost 12,000 acres offarmland had been sold. Bumper crops ofvegetables had already been harvested andhundreds of fruit trees planted.But De Garis had over-extended himself sothe scheme collapsed. Most farmers had towalk off the land and two royal commissionscleared De Garis of any criminal intent.In January 1925, he faked suicide bydrowning in Port Phillip Bay. A week later, hewas caught on a boat bound for NewZealand. He died in 1926.Jackde GarisFriday, November 29, 2013