ABOUT
About Clive
Clive Berghofer was born and bred in the Toowoomba area and his rags to riches story epitomises what can be achieved through hard work. It is certainly an intriguing self made success story that started when Clive left school at 13 years of age with little prospects for the future. While working in a sawmill and then as a builder's labourer, he taught himself how to efficiently complete a task while maintaining a very high standard. Clive worked weekends and took jobs that others refused and put his heart and soul into whatever project he took on. To this day, Clive still approaches life with the same vigour.
In 1964, Clive purchased his first block of land for subdivision along with the equipment necessary to develop the paddock. Since then, Clive has gone on to develop over 10,000 blocks of land contributing greatly to Toowoomba's growth over the years.
In 1972, Clive built the Wilsonton Hotel in Toowoomba which was another success story. Constructed in six weeks and opened in December 1972, the hotel grew to have the largest licence fee of any hotel in Australia. In 1976, Clive built a shopping centre to the south of the hotel and in 1996 he extended the shopping precinct to cater to the local community's growing needs. After selling the hotel for a record price in 1985, the Wilsonton Shopping Centre continued to be an extremely successful suburban centre. In 2006, Multiplex Property Services expressed their interest in acquiring the shopping centre and another record deal was signed. During this time, Clive also purchased Village Fair Shopping Centre in Margaret Street, and designed and built a retirement village which was completed and fully occupied within twelve months.
Over the years, despite the enormous demands on Clive's time, he still found time to give back to the Toowoomba community. In 1973, he was elected as a City Councillor and later became Mayor of the City from 1982 until 1992. Clive was also the State Member for Toowoomba South in the Queensland Parliament from 1986 to 1990. He was awarded an O.A.M. in 1994 for service to the community, then in 2006 he was awarded an A.M. for his service to the community through philanthropic support of medical research, sporting and educational organisations in Queensland.
Clive's business sense and strong work ethic have seen him rise from leaving school with little education to being listed in the richest 200 individuals in Australia. He still believes a handshake is his commitment to deliver what he promises. Over the time, he has been very generous to schools, sporting clubs, hospitals and charitable organisations throughout Toowoomba and the surrounding regions. In particular, Clive has donated $60.1 million to Queensland Institute of Medical Research to assist in finding a cure for cancer and then in 2020, he gifted them a further $1 million for research into Coronavirus. He has also made sizable contributions to Lifeflight, St Vincent's Hospital, Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House, Toowoomba Hospice and the University of Southern Queensland to name a few.
Clive is not driven by the need to accumulate money. Instead he has the ability to visualise the end result and derives pleasure from being able to produce the finished product exactly how he envisaged it. Clive's heart and soul belongs to Toowoomba and his group of companies are 100% locally owned. He proudly supports Toowoomba businesses and generously gives back to the community that has supported the Clive Berghofer Group over the years.
