Goldsworthy History
Once Upon A Time…
The year was 1963. A 21 year old named Bob Dylan releases Blowin’ in the Wind. Gregory Peck wins his only Oscar for To Kill a Mockingbird, a baby girl named ‘Elle Macpherson’ is born, beehive hairstyles are trending, push button phones are brand new, Robert Menzies is the Australian PM and an African American man declares he ‘has a dream’ for people everywhere.
While all of these historical moments are occurring, on March 18th a former WWII fighter piliot named William (Bill) Orr begins work for the Australian Mutual Provident Society (AMP) as an agent.
That day marked the start of a family legacy that has grown to celebrate its 60th business birthday in 2023 as the oldest original family owned AMP practice to this day. Today, under the Resilium Insurance Broking network of advisers, Goldsworthy continues to provide quality general insurance services based on the original foundation it was built upon. Trust.
The Start
Bill Orr begins work AMP as an agent. He lived with his wife and 3 children in Tamworth, NSW where he went door knocking, selling life insurance policies.
The Orr family migrated North to Brisbane where Bill joined the AMP office on Queen Street, Brisbane's CBD, before moving to the first dedicated sales office in Stones Corner in 1967.
Bill spent his time cold-call door knocking and phone calling. It was during this era that AMP started selling home and contents insurance policies. 3 of Bill’s children would join the society, however it was only daughter Katrina that would eventually carry on.
Having left AMP and moved to Emerald, Katrina met a cattle farmer named Ralph and the two married in 1975 and welcome first son Michael in 1977.
Meanwhile in Brisbane, Bill’s wife Millie helped as his admin assistant and looked after the general insurance. Katrina and Ralph welcome second child, a daughter Kate. During her hiatus away from the industry, Katrina enjoyed a very creative life teaching workshops, making wedding dresses and running Lara’s Craft Cabin.
Ralph and Katrina decided to move back to Brisbane after their son Michael passed away from Leukemia in 1985. Katrina started to help her father Bill in the office, which was now located in Coorparoo and Ralph signed up to become an AMP agent.
Bill retires and Katrina officially takes over the General Insurance side of the business from her Dad. Lots of knocking on doors and cold calling. No online software or processes existed. Certainly no Google!
Under "Ralph Goldsworthy & Associates", Ralph and Katrina hired their first staff member - Michele Stanton (who still works for us today) and they moved from Coorparoo to the AMP Sales Office in Upper Mount Gravatt.
During 1997 the Goldsworthy family trust is established and "Goldsworthy Investments Pty Ltd" is launched with a new logo, where it would remain for the next 25 years.
Kate joins the family business after moving away from her Governess role on Cattle Stations in far western Queensland and studies in Early Childhood.
Katrina is diagnosed with breast cancer and Kate steps up to help manage the team and receives her formal accreditation as an insurance adviser.
The business moves to the Hypercentre in Upper Mount Gravatt and the logo is reinvented introducing ‘The Flame’ element which represents the 3 family generations to date.
After further health set backs Katrina decides to retire and Kate takes over as the General Manager.
Goldsworthy take their first step into the world of social media and start a Facebook account.
Kate wins the prestigious AMP and Resilium Fire Helmet for Top Australian Agent' in 2013 and would win it again the following year. Her team would continue to win Silver and Gold practice awards every year from then on.
Instagram and Linked In profiles are added to the online mix and a further version of the logo is born with the pink introduced to reflect the next generation.
We all know what happened in 2020. The big C threw the world on its head. But we adapted and kept 'business as usual' going through phone and ZOOM appointments while staff were scattered across Brisbane in a new 'work-from-home' world.
With Ralph's own retirement starting to loom - the first stage of this transition occurred with Kate buying the general insurance arm of the practice becoming the new Director of Goldsworthy General Insurance Services.
Ralph retires this year and Kate’s younger sister Jennifer takes over the Financial Planning practice under Goldsworthy Private Wealth with the original Goldsworthy business splitting in 2 ‘on paper’ for the very first time. We still share an office though!
March 18th marked our 60th year in business across 3 generations. From a one-man band in Tamworth to a team of 15 strong across 2 companies today.