Bill and Imelda Roche

Bill and Imelda Roche
Bill and Imelda Roche
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Businesspeople
Known for	Establishment of in Australia

Bill Roche and Imelda Roche AO are Australian business persons who established International (Australia) Pty Limited in 1968. ^[2]^[3]

Biography[]

The couple met in a supermarket in 1956 and started in business selling lamps door-to-door. ^[4]

In 1968 the couple bought the Australian franchise to Nutrimetics, starting with $6,000 of stock. In 1991, they acquired the worldwide interests of Nutrimetics International. The Nutrimetics Group was sold in 1997 to the Sara Lee Corporation. At the time of sale the company had a turnover of A$250 million a year.

Bill and Imelda Roche are now property developers and investors. They started their real estate investments with the purchase of a Sydney warehouse in the late 1950s. They now own residential land subdivisions, rural properties and office complexes.

Imelda Roche was Acting Chancellor of Bond University from 5 August 1999 to 25 November 1999, and served as Chancellor from 25 November 1999 to 30 May 2003.^[5] Imelda Roche was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large. She is now retired.

Roche Group has a strong presence in the Hunter region, owning several Hunter Valley landmarks, including the award-winning Hunter Valley Gardens, the live concert venue Roche Estate and Harrigan's Irish Pub.

In 2020 controversy continues to grow around a Roche Group housing development planned at West Wallsend, NSW.^[6] For almost ten years, activists have been fighting to protect an Aboriginal women's site situated on land slated for development. Despite both the NSW government and the Australian Federal government recognising the site's significance via legislation, ^[7] ^[8] Roche Group appear to be pushing ahead with plans that could see the Butterfly Cave women's cultural site desecrated or damaged.

Net worth[]

Their net worth was estimated at A$1.42 billion in the 2019 Rich List of the Australian Financial Review.

Year	Financial Review Rich List		Forbes Australia's 50 Richest
Year	Rank	Net worth (A$)	Rank	Net worth (US$)
2019^[9]	62	$1.42 billion
2020^[10]	84	$1.21 billion
2021^[1]	95	$1.22 billion

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the previous year
	Has increased from the previous year
	Has decreased from the previous year

Gallery[]

Imelda Roche life size bronze sculpture with her grandchildren as centrepiece of rose garden in Hunter Valley Gardens by Linda Klarfeld
Life-size bronze statue of William Roche outside Hunter Valley Gardens by sculptor Linda Klarfeld

References[]

^ ^a ^b Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (27 May 2021). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
^ "Imelda Roche AO, b. 1934". National Portrait Gallery people. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^ "The Year that Made Me: Imelda Roche 1968". ABC Radio National. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^ "The Roche formula for lasting wealth". Australian Financial Review. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^ "Chancellor - University Governance - Bond University". Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
^ McMillan, Melinda (25 October 2017). "Butterfly Cave threat". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^ "Butterfly Cave | NSW Environment, Energy and Science". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^ Agriculture. "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Butterfly Cave, West Wallsend, NSW) Declaration 2019". www.legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^ Bailey, Michael (30 May 2019). "Australia's 200 richest people revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
^ Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (30 October 2020). "The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

Academic offices
Preceded by Paul Scully-Power	Chancellor of Bond University Imelda Roche 1999 – 2003	Succeeded by Trevor Rowe

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[afr2021-1] Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (27 May 2021). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 28 May 2021.

[2] "Imelda Roche AO, b. 1934". National Portrait Gallery people. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

[3] "The Year that Made Me: Imelda Roche 1968". ABC Radio National. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

[4] "The Roche formula for lasting wealth". Australian Financial Review. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

[5] "Chancellor - University Governance - Bond University". Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.

[6] McMillan, Melinda (25 October 2017). "Butterfly Cave threat". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2020.

[7] "Butterfly Cave | NSW Environment, Energy and Science". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.

[8] Agriculture. "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Butterfly Cave, West Wallsend, NSW) Declaration 2019". www.legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.

[afr2019-9] Bailey, Michael (30 May 2019). "Australia's 200 richest people revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 May 2019.

[afr2020-10] Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (30 October 2020). "The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

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