There are several people without whose help this book would never have been written. Foremost among them is Jo Puccini, who worked tirelessly and cheerfully to trace the players in this story. If anyone could raise the dead and make them talk, it would be her. Natalie Young, who worked briefly on this project back in 1995, when I first started looking at the idea, was also excellent. Her contacts, her knowledge of the law and her filing system were invaluable.
More recently, Mark Drummond from the Australian Financial Review has kept me up to date with developments in Perth and has helped me generously and unselfishly, even when I have been writing for a rival newspaper. So too has Jamie Fawcett, another long-time Bond watcher.
A host of people have told me their Bond stories or provided me with valuable evidence, but I suspect that they would prefer to remain anonymous, so I will let them do so. They know who they are, and without their frankness and courage, this book would not exist. So thank you.
It would, I think, be safe to thank the following, who also helped make this the book it is: Liam Bartlett, Lionel Berck, Paul Bowen, David Chaikin, The Hon. Michael Duffy, Lloyd Higham, David Kerr, Wayne Lamb, Anne Lampe, Pam Lesmond, Peter Lundy, David Michael, John McGlue, Bruce Phillips, Joe Poprzeczny, Anna Quilter, Colleen Ryan, Martin Saxon, Lee Tate, Ros Thomas, Garry Trevor, John Urch, Fiona Wingett, Mark Zanker and Julian Zakaras. Also, everyone in the registry at the Supreme Court of South Australia and in the libraries of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia.
I also want to thank all those at Four Corners who worked on the various Bond programs all those years ago but, in particular, Adelaide Beavis, Ian Carroll, Alec Cullen, Penny Lysaght, Rosemary Meares, David Pearson and Gary Russell, who all helped make Rich Man, Poor Man which introduced Jurg Bollag to the Australian public in 1993. Also Ann Connor and Jonathan Sequeira, who organised stills from the video. I owe a bigger debt to producer Stuart Goodman, who, in a moment of inspiration, sliced his name off his business card and gave it to me for Alan Bond to stamp on. It provided a moment of television that Alan Bond and I will certainly never forget. And all thanks to Stuart’s Swiss army knife.
Finally, I want to thank all the people at Random House who made this book a reality. Shona Martyn had the faith to commission it in 1998, and since then, Annabel Blay, Jody Lee, Maggie Hamilton, Fiona Henderson, Karen Reid and Katie Stackhouse have encouraged me, supported me and nudged me towards the finish line. Richard Potter’s and Anne Flahvin’s legal advice and Michael Sexton’s comments will, I hope, keep me out of trouble.
Finally, I want to say a special thank you to my two talented editors, Amanda O’Connell and Vanessa Mickan. It was a great pleasure working with you. Your comments made this a far better book. You were great.