19 Nov 2013
Words Tim Admin

Foxy Robinson - A Legend Of Top End Tourism

John ‘Foxy’ Robinson’s climb to prominence in the Top End is the stuff of legends. From an abattoir worker to number ?? on the Northern Territory’s ‘most powerful’ list, his is one of Australia’s greatest accommodation industry success stories. Knowing John Robinson’s ‘rags to riches’ tale, it is natural to assume his nickname owes to his cunning ingenuity, his ability to go after and get what he wants. But no. ‘Foxy’ is simply an innocent tag bestowed in childhood because of his red hair. Yet, when it came to business dealings, it would prove to be an apt sobriquet. Mr Robinson is nothing if not a shrewd operator. Foxy was born in Bourke, New South Wales, one of seven children and the only one with red hair. Perhaps it’s the legacy of another legendry character on the family tree, Ned Kelly. “I’m descended straight down the Kelly line,” he declares proudly. He also speaks with some pride of his humble origins, the fact he left school and home at the tender age of 13, and never progressed beyond primary school. For many years, there was no inkling he was destined to be a wealthy entrepreneur and hotel developer. First Foxy joined the navy, a bush kid in search of adventure. But that career was short-lived. “It didn’t work out. After three months they gave me the boot.” Why? “I guess I was a bit cheeky,” he laughs. After working for his uncle in Sydney for a while, Foxy moved to the Territory in 1965, aged 16. Abattoirs were opening across the Top End and, for 15 years, he worked as a slaughterman in meatworks from Borroloola to Broome. The demise of that industry in the early eighties set Foxy on a new path, one that would ultimately make his fortune. He took a landscaping job at the Katherine swimming pool. The manager, who often spent his weekends in Darwin, would throw Foxy the keys, with instructions to look after the place until he came back. One day, he didn’t come back. “So I was appointed the new manager and continued in that position for three years without a day off,” Foxy said. It was in this leisure-based environment, that Foxy had the idea to enter the tourism industry. “I got my start by acquiring struggling hotels, motels and caravan parks in Katherine. I’d tidy them up, turn around the balance sheet, and sell them off. These included the Redgum Caravan Park, Knotts Crossing Resort and the Adelaide River Pub.” Asked how many tourism properties he’s owned over the years, Foxy can’t really recall. He brushes the question aside. “Maybe a dozen – too many to mention – but I never hung on to them for long.” But two properties stand out … the big money spinners. First was the 30-acre Palms Resort caravan park and service station, just outside Darwin on the Stuart Highway. Foxy moved his family there in the mid-nineties and set about transforming one of the city’s most run-down tourist parks into the most expensive ever sold in Australia. It was reported he bought it for $5.5 million, spent $5 million on it, and sold it to Mirvac some years later for $17 million. The next significant milestone came when he built Darwin Airport Resort and Darwin Airport Inn, the first he developed from scratch. Having formed a syndicate to secure the lease of the airport site, Foxy toured the world checking out airport hotels – what services they offer, how they trade, what makes them successful. His airport hotels, with a combined 320 rooms, opened in April 2005. And, despite warnings to the contrary, his formula for good food, top facilities and services tailored for airline passengers’ was a huge success. True to form, Foxy would sell for a sizeable profit, and move on. But this time, the deal had an unusual twist, one that made it taste all the sweeter. In 2008, he sold the four-star Darwin Airport Resort to a Melbourne investment company for $26 million, and leased back its operation. Then the GFC struck, and the buyer had to sell out. Foxy bought back his hotel for $5 million less than he’d been paid for it just 12 months earlier. Ultimately, in March 2011, he sold both airport hotels to a Sydney-based group for $70 million. During his years in the abattoirs, Foxy met and married Trish. The couple has been together for 35 years now, and raised four children. The grandchildren tally so far is eight, and rising. Thanks to Foxy, they’ll have a very different start in life to his own. So, what’s his secret? “The best looking businesses attract the best business.” he says simply. “Good beds, good linen, good food are crucial. I worked properties hard over two to three years, then sold. But I always left enough in them for the next bloke.” “If you have a property making $200,000 a year, and know it should be making $700,000, you get it up to $500,000 or $600,000 in the first couple of years, then you sell. There’s more in it after that, but the next rise will be steady. I’m after the big jump.” From time to time, Foxy strayed from the tourism industry, ‘though accommodation was still his forte. At Palmerston, he built the Bechtel work camp for the Darwin LNG Plant project, catering for over a thousand workers. Now he’s involved in another aspect of accommodation provision, on a very large scale, but confidentiality agreements prevent him from discussing it. But Foxy reckons his days of buying or developing tourist properties are behind him. “I’m trying to retire,” he says. And he’s found the perfect place to put his feet up. Buying it was particularly sweet for the former meat worker. In the late eighties, when working as a labourer on the construction of Darwin’s lavish Bellevue House, he was sacked by the foreman. In 2010, Foxy bought the vast mansion for $4.7 million, a record for Darwin. In ranking John Foxy Robinson on its ‘150 most powerful’ list, the NT News commented, “The bloke can’t put a foot wrong.” Foxy doesn’t seem to disagree, either. When asked, he couldn’t recall any major errors of judgment. “You have to be able to recognise the entry and exit signals. It’s like catching a rising tide. You have to know when to jump on and when to jump off because, in the end, the wave has to crash,” he said. “I’ve always put my own money on the line, backed my own ability and surrounded myself with a small team of loyal people who understand how I think and work.”