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Rottnest Island’s stunning The Lodge Wadjemup development a real family affair for the Fogartys

The patriarch with a mane of silver hair and proud jawline stands by a resort swimming pool, flanked by his son and daughter. The Succession vibes are so strong that you half-expect to hear the HBO drama series’ piano motif borrowing a Beethoven sonata float over the hotel. However, this isn’t the fractured, infighting Roys but the Fogartys, a WA family far more adept at balancing their hectic overlap of business and private life. The older gent by the pool is Peter Fogarty, one of Australia’s leading wine entrepreneurs with more than 40 years’ experience in corporate life. Then there’s second son Mark and daughter Anna. The trio are mid-photoshoot for this STM feature to mark the imminent completion of The Lodge Wadjemup, the $50 million-plus hotel and hospitality offering on Rottnest Island already heralded by Time magazine as one of the 100 most extraordinary places on the planet to stay in 2025. The Lodge, which will feature 109 rooms, the Sunsets bar and restaurant, Pelican kiosk, heated pool and conference centre, welcomed its first guests in December and has recently put its poolside rooms on sale. With most rooms facing west towards Garden Lake, the sprawling venue has transformed the area once occupied by the old Karma Rottnest resort. Building something of this scale in Perth would pose a significant challenge. Building it on Rotto, a Class A Reserve with government, ecological, heritage and Indigenous stakeholders to appease, is another thing entirely. Towards the end of the photoshoot, Fogarty — who may have negotiated the purchase of another winery between posing for pictures — bellows: “Whose stupid idea was it to build a hotel on Rottnest?” Via its investment firm Pendulum Capital, the Fogartys have been formally involved since mid-2021. More than financial backers, the family has worked closely with operators Social Grounds (local hospitality veterans Graeme Dick and Miles Hull), with Mark handling finances and development while Anna was responsible for interior design, styling and branding. While they have an extensive portfolio of wineries, some with restaurants, this is the Fogartys’ first foray into accommodation. And while both scions have worked in the family businesses, alongside older brother John, who is immersed in their wineries, neither had worked on a project from scratch. “The kids have learnt a lot,” Peter says. “Throw them in the deep end? This was the deepest end. “I remember Mark walked out of his office after a steamy day and said ‘Why the f… did you take this project on? It’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done’. “But every time he comes over here, he goes ‘I love it’.” Anna insists: “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.” Born in 1952, Peter recalls vomit-inducing “rock’n’rolling” ferry rides to Rottnest as a kid where he’d play with cousins, enjoying the relative freedom of the island. “With our kids it was the same,” he says of family holidays with wife Lee and their children. “We’d come with our friends, book at Bathurst and get two or three houses side-by-side, and the kids would run riot all day. “That’s always been Rotto. To me, still, when you step off the ferry, you just feel like you’re on a bloody Greek island or something. You’re a million miles from Perth, it’s got that chill-out factor.” Rottnest is the great equaliser, according to Mark. No fancy cars, everyone’s just cruising around the island in boardies and thongs. “Kids have freedom, riding around the island, going snorkelling,” he adds. “It’s incredible what’s on the edge of the island. We go snorkelling at Little Armstrong and we see crayfish, which is remarkable to have this close to the coast.” Anna says the Fogarty family co-owning The Lodge Wadjemup is an “honour” and a “legacy” to be passed down to future generations. The three Fogarty siblings have eight children between them, aged four to 12. The Lodge has been a family affair from the moment the Fogartys became primary owners alongside two other families. Peter immediately asked his oldest mate, former Melville Toyota owner Bruce Shannahan, what he thought. “He said ‘Rottnest? You’d be mad not to’.” The businessmen have known each other since high school. “His dad was a copper, got transferred up bush, so (his parents) left him with us for a week. Five years later, he moved out,” Peter explains. “We grew up like brothers and we’ve remained best friends all our lives.” After Peter had a near-fatal accident in 2003 when a tractor landed on him at Millbrook Winery, Shannahan was his first visitor in hospital. When the Lodge development looked like it was going to cost more than expected, again Peter looked close to home. The Fogartys’ various businesses have offices at Rhodes House in West Perth, the commercial building built and owned by the Rhodes family who made their pile via iron ore royalties and farming. “The Rhodes family, who aren’t very well-known but they’re worth a squillion and are terrific people,” Peter explains. “They’ve got assets everywhere.” The Fogarty, Shannahan and Rhodes families each own around 30 per cent of The Lodge Wadjemup, with the rest split between smaller investors. Peter studied law at the University of Western Australia and worked as a lawyer until 1985, when he entered corporate life. In addition to extensive involvement in the wine sector, beginning with the establishment of Perth Hills vineyard Millbrook Estate in 1996, he has interests in water, agriculture and technology, as well as experience in negotiating mergers and acquisitions. His skills came in handy, massaging the various (and often competing) interests of Rottnest’s stakeholders. “The biggest challenge of the island is that you’ve got very different vested interests,” Peter says. “It’s rules-ridden and you have to live with it.” He also proved adept at working with the notoriously inflexible Rottnest Island Authority. “They’re hard-nosed because they’re trying to protect the island,” Peter says. “They’ve got 50 stakeholders to look after. One is government and the rest are all these different groups that want different things for Rottnest. “Without their support, we wouldn’t have gotten the project to completion.” Most of the hurdles were mundane. Logistics are a daily puzzle, mostly getting materials, workers and food on and off the island. Kiwi-born hospitality guru Graeme Dick from Social Grounds said things just take longer. Call it island time. “You can’t just run to Bunnings to grab something,” Dick laughs. He adds that, so far, 80 per cent of guests are from WA. He hopes The Lodge will make staying on Rottnest more feasible for international tourists, most of whom only visit on daytrips. Peter Prendiville, whose family company owns and operates Hotel Rottnest and the Samphire hotel plus restaurants Lontara and Isola on the island, and his son Warwick offered invaluable advice during the development process. The Fogartys hope their businesses complement each other to drive more traffic to Rotto. “We’re going to compete and we’ll fight on (room) rates, but at the end of the day let’s focus on advertising the island,” Peter says. “We all win.” Mark recalls staying at the old Karma Resort before handover of the project. While the pool was closed, the Governor’s Bar stayed open and pumped music till the wee hours. “The numbers of people coming to Rottnest on ferries is going through the roof. It has been consistently increasing each year,” Peter says. “One of the things that stops people coming to Rottnest is the quality of the accommodation.” The biggest cosmetic change from the days of Karma and Gov’s bar, was getting rid of “Rotto brown” and replacing it with island white. The clean, resort aesthetic continues in the rooms. Working with her cousin, interior designer Lauren Tarrant, Anna wanted to create a coastal vibe that blurs the line between home and hotel. “Rottnest is the hero,” she says, explaining that the colour palette nods to blue water, orange sunsets and olive tones of the trees. While the developers spared no expense on the pool area, there were occasions when Anna butted heads with her brother over the cost of materials. “When you’re in a family business, so that it works, you have to really respect what each person is doing,” she says. “I don’t want to do numbers. I hugely respect Mark’s ability to understand numbers and when he comes to me and says ‘Look, I get that you really like that material or that tile, but you think it’s worth this much?’ “But if he starts giving me advice about colours, I’ll tell him no.” Peter insists the three siblings have a relationship remarkably unlike that portrayed on Succession. “The three kids have got a fantastic friendship between all of them, and their partners, which is a bit unusual,” he chuckles. The patriarch adds that working closely with his children since his 2003 accident refocused his energies on Australia has been great. “Before that I spent all the time travelling all over the world and was hardly ever home,” says Peter, Qantas’ former No.1 frequent flyer two years in a row. “I didn’t spend enough time with my kids. Luckily, my wife did a good job. “It’s been great to be able to work as a family, together.” Mark says that, like the wineries, The Lodge will be part of the Fogarty story for generations. “We’re not building this to sell it. This is something we’re building for the kids.”

The West Australian exclusiveRottnest Island’s stunning The Lodge Wadjemup development a real family affair for the Fogartys

exclusive
Rottnest Island’s stunning The Lodge Wadjemup development a real family affair for the Fogartys