Class of 1976

Peter Hutchinson is one of the most entrepreneurial people to come out of the school. Born in Beverley he was sent off to board at Aquinas in 1972 at the age of 13, a day he remembers well as he tucked himself into one of 100 beds in the Year 8 dormitory. He was a good all-rounder, a prefect who participated in tennis, athletics and football. He rowed in a winning first eight and learned what it was to be part of a team something that no doubt helped him in industry and later life. Although fit he was light in frame and so did not row at a senior level beyond university. This has never dampened his love for the sport and today says “ the discipline and hard work I experienced as a young man has been a major influencing part of my life”.

He graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree while in residence at St Thomas More College. Peter spent three years in Cape Town where he was the CFO of a large retail department store, meeting his life partner and experiencing the injustices of racial legislated prejudice in apartheid South Africa. These were formative years. He arrived back in Perth during an eventful period and settled to raise his family.

The year 1987 will be forever etched in his mind, not just because of the stock market crash. His career took off after landing an assisting accountants position in finance for Kookaburra’s I, II and III during Australia’s defence of the America’s Cup. He opened a granite quarry in the Kimberley where he assisted the indigenous people of the region register one of the first sacred sites in WA. Fate was kind to him, and he worked hard. His role in two stock market listings one involving hi-tech underwater robots and the other revolving around satellite communication services introduced him to the exciting world of corporations and national and international business.

A 30-year journey through corporate life has had some phenomenal highs and lows culminating in the ASX listing of Forge Group Ltd where he presided over a company with a market capitalisation of $450 million at the time of his retirement, the fruition of 15 years’ of hard work and perseverance in which he built up sales to over $750 million and employed over 2,500 people. Sadly, two years after his resignation and retirement the company collapsed and is a reminder to him that “failure and success are not disparate concepts and which you will only ever experience if you try in the first instance”.

In recent years Peter has turned his experience to co-investing alongside the next generation of businessmen and women with interests in sustainable fishing, mining services, water extraction and plant hire. In his downtime, he enjoys working on the family farm adjacent to where his life journey began.

He reflects: “Good business foundations are created by hard work, good governance, decency to others, trust, honesty and being true to yourself. My early life was surrounded by a loving, humble and decent family and at Aquinas and St Thomas More Colleges where strong Catholic and Christian principles were quietly educating, shaping and reinforcing my thoughts.”

Peter continues to build value and profitable enterprise and will do for some time to come.