This is the very personal life-story of a charismatic Welsh seaman who moved to Australia for love and once there became a captain of industry. The work is ‘as told to’ by Paul Simons to the writer Terry Larder and contains many anecdotes that illuminate aspects of life in wartime Britain and in postwar Australia.
Paul had a happy childhood, though his family was a troubled one, his only sibling dying at age 11 and his parents separating in 1943 when Paul was 16. The Simons were sailors and Paul applied to join the Royal Navy; he there discovered the workings of the British class system, as he was rejected, he claims, for having gone to a state school rather than a private one. Undeterred, he joined the Merchant Navy, and saw action in the last two years of World War II, including a trip to Archangelsk, USSR, and the discovery of Nazi sex-trafficking in the port of Cherbourg, France. His stories are told in a very personal and lively way and give small forgotten details; for instance, that wealthy Americans would make luxury accommodation available to visiting servicemen in New York and even Copacabana.
When war ended, Paul stayed on with the Merchant Navy and eventually made his way to Sydney, where, on shore leave in 1946, he met and fell in love with Gwenda Grant. He quickly left his international seagoing career for a job still at sea, but mostly in Australian waters. They married in 1954, and soon after Paul abandoned the ocean. He started to work in business, where he proved to be a good organiser and quickly progressed into management. He spent 20 years with Woolworths, rising to be a Joint General Manager. But as he was disappointed by the culture at the upper levels of the company he moved to the rival Franklins, as Chief Executive (1979-87). Woolworths was not doing well and Paul was called back by its new owners. He was much impressed by the Managing Director, Harry Watts, whose slogan was ‘If you’re not serving a customer, you’d better be serving someone who is’. Between them Paul and Harry reformed the company, where the customers, not the directors, now called the tune. Profits soared, and Paul is now recognised as one of Australia’s great business leaders.
Gwenda Grant was a niece by marriage of Sir Walter Merriman, the famous pastoralist, and she and Paul purchased a rundown farm, Euralie, close to the Merriman holdings, south of Yass, NSW. The property had once belonged to Hamilton Hume, the great explorer. His great-nephew Stanley Hume had built a Federation-style mansion, which had become sadly neglected. The Simons bought it in 1982 and restored the house. Gwenda created a magnificent garden there, while Paul launched himself into the wool trade. He enlarged Euralie and bought another property, Glencoe, at Boorowa, north of Yass, where he has developed a high-quality product without the use of mulesing. Gwenda died in 1992, by which time Paul was Executive Chairman of Woolworths. He retired in 2000 and now lives principally at Euralie.
Most of the book is concerned with Paul’s life and career, enlivened with some quite racy anecdotes and more serious reflections on the way of the world. Paul has a sense of humour but also a strong moral sense. He has over the years been very generous at many levels to all sorts of people. The last 40 pages of the text are ‘testimonials’ from various colleagues and friends, recalling happy times and also wishing Paul well, for the publication was timed to coincide with his 96th birthday. There are a great many images, black-and-white and colour. Some are presented in blocks of pages where they constitute a sort of parallel text and are in themselves an interesting source of reflection on a life well-lived. If there is a second edition, as I hope there will be, it would be good to have a couple of maps, and an Index.
Authors: Terry Larder and Paul Simons
Publisher: Delhian Books, Australia, 2023
ISBN: 9780654612394
320 + vii pages; paperback; bw and colours illus.
