GERARDUS JOZEF (DICK) DUSSELDORP

If John Baalman was the “Father of Strata Title” then Dick Dusseldorp would be the rich and influential uncle. Dusseldorp, known as “Dick” to his family and “Duss” to his work colleagues, was certainly the driving force and facilitator behind the development of strata title legislation in New South Wales. This Dutch immigrant was one of the most influential Australians of his time and one of the more important threads in the rich tapestry, which is multicultural Australia. In addition, he has a fascinating back story of escape and danger during World War Two.

   Dusseldorp was born in Utrecht in December 1918. His father was a wealthy entrepreneur, who had built an international grain trading business, but who lost everything in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Dusseldorp’s grandfather had also been a wealthy businessman, having built up a seafood marketing empire across Europe from “scratch”. In order to transport seafood, he had invented large railroad cars, which were, in fact, waterfilled and oxygenated rolling fish tanks.

   After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Dusseldorp’s life became a whole lot harder. At age 11, he had to help with his father’s new business, a corner store/garage, situated in the toughest part of Utrecht. He learnt how to fight; to work hard; and be strong, all the characteristics which he carried into his later life. After completing his education, Dusseldorp enrolled as a marine cadet, with the aim of becoming a captain in the merchant marine. He was, however, found to be colour blind when he sought entry into officer training and had to withdraw. He then undertook training as an engineer and, when the Second World War broke out in 1939, Dusseldorp was fully qualified, had a well paid job and was married to his wife, Anne.

    Even though Holland was a neutral country, the Nazis invaded and occupied the country in 1940. After the occupation, all aspects of Dutch life changed. The Nazis demanded that Dutch citizens join the Nazi party. Dusseldorp refused; was sacked from his job; and a few months later, was arrested and sent as forced labour to Berlin. He eventually escaped and took his family (he now had a daughter) to neutral Denmark, where he found a job working on building a railway from Copenhagen to Hamburg. However, when the Nazis occupied Denmark, Dusseldorp was arrested again in 1943 and sent with his family and his brother, Hank’s, family to Krakow in Poland as forced labour for the Siemens Corporation.

    Within months of arriving in Poland, Dusseldorp had established links with the local Resistance groups and, when the Red Army advanced on Poland and Germany in August 1944, Dusseldorp and his family, complete with false papers, fled west to Holland. At the Dutch border, Dusseldorp was arrested again by German occupation forces, but, after being held for a couple of weeks, he escaped once again and he and his family went into hiding until the war ended in May 1945. During this time, the family survived what became known as the “Hunger Winter” of 1944-45 and the famine lasted 6 long months. At war’s end, Dusseldorp, now a father of two children, and his brother, Hank, got jobs at Brederos Bouwbedrijf, one of Holland’s biggest building companies.

    By 1947, Dick Dusseldorp was the company’s Construction Manager and by 1950, Brederos was looking at expanding their reach overseas. The company’s directors had seen the world-wide advertisements, placed by the Australian government, requesting expressions of interest in tendering for work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, which, at that time, was one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world. Australia, with its small population, was unable to meet the huge needs of the project and, thus, was seeking expertise and workers from all over the world, particularly from Britain and war-torn Europe. So, in late 1950, Dusseldorp was sent to Australia to assess how much work Brederos could gain from this huge project. After consultations with the Snowy Mountains Authority, Dusseldorp returned home and convinced the Brederos board that work was both plentiful and available in Australia.

    In March 1951, Dusseldorp returned to Australia with 35 Dutch tradesmen; 10,000 pounds; and a 500,000 pound contract to build 200 prefabricated homes for workers and administrators in Cooma on behalf of Brederos. He was also accompanied by his wife, Anne, and their five children, who left their home in Utrecht in Holland to make a new life in Australia. Dusseldorp’s instructions were to win contracts and execute them in Australia’s burgeoning post war reconstruction market. To achieve this end, a small construction company called “Civil and Civic” was established, with its headquarters in North Sydney and, by 1953, Dusseldorp was its Managing Director.

    By 1958, Dusseldorp was looking to undertake projects of greater size and scope. The biggest of these was the building of “Caltex House”, a 20 storey “skyscraper” in Kent Street Sydney. The project required 100,000 pounds finance and Brederos declined to supply it. Dusseldorp eventually gained the finance from the Reconstruction Bank of Holland, but he realised that he needed to set up a company to finance future “Civil and Civic" projects and, so, he floated a separate entity, “Lend Lease”, in April 1958. Soon after, “Lend Lease” acquired “Civil and Civic” from Brederos and Dusseldorp could look to bigger projects, such as Australia Square and the Sydney Opera House.

    At the same time, Dusseldorp was looking to build housing in large, acquired suddivisions, like Middle Cove in Sydney, as well as large blocks of apartments, like Blues Point Tower, which he constructed in association with Harry Seidler. The biggest drawback with apartment construction was that the banks were loath to lend for Company Title or Tenancies in Common. A new, clearer form of title was needed for apartments. The State Government of NSW had been promising clarification of home unit title for some years, but nothing had been done. Banks and lawyers disagreed over the best drafts and there were no examples from overseas to use.

     In order to break this impasse, Dusseldorp approached the Attorney General of the Heffron Labor government, Robert Reginald Downing, in late 1958. He advised the Attorney General that he was planning to have draft legislation pertaining to “strata title” written and would then try to gain the approval of all stakeholders. If he, Dusseldorp, could do all this, would the Attorney General then push the legislation through the parliament? Downing replied that, if Dusseldorp could do all that, then it would be the easiest job in the world to get such legislation passed.

   Dusseldorp then engaged a lawyer, John Baalman, who, independently, had already begun to prepare draft legislation on strata title. He encouraged Baalman to complete his work, with the assistance of lawyers from the firm of Lend Lease board member, Dick Rothery, and representatives from the State Land Titles office. After setting Baalman to work, Dusseldorp next organised a lunch for March 1959, to which he invited the heads of all the banks and financial institutions; insurance companies; government departments; all the public utilities; and all the professional bodies such as architects, builders, surveyors and engineers. There were to be no deputies or lawyers present at this lunch, only Chairmen or Managing Directors. Over 90% of all invitees attended and Reg Downing, the Attorney General himself, was present to guarantee support for the proposed legislation. Everyone who attended agreed that, when the proposed draft bill was ready, their lawyers would examine it and, if there was anything in the draft that was not to their liking, they would provide an alternate form of words.

    By April 1959, Baalman’s initial draft was ready and the first such meeting of lawyers was held. This was followed by a series of meetings and negotiations which took place over the next six months. Dusseldorp and Downing organised a committee to oversee the process and to refine all the changes into a workable piece of legislation, which could be presented to parliament. The revised Bill was finally presented to NSW Parliament on Tuesday, 1st December 1959. The Bill was described, at this time, as “being without parallel anywhere else in the world” and it was, indeed, ground breaking, revolutionary legislation. After its introduction to Parliament, the Bill was “permitted to lie on the table of the House” to enable all parties and stakeholders in the community to examine the Bill and to make comment.

   On Thursday 10th November 1960, the Bill, revised by public scrutiny, was again brought before the House and proceeded to pass both Houses of NSW Parliament. After a second reading of the Bill in April 1961, the Conveyancing (Strata Titles) Act (Elizabeth II, No. 17, 1961) again passed both Houses of Parliament and was finally gazetted and passed into law on 1st July 1961. Dick Dusseldorp’s involvement and influence certainly facilitated and expedited this legislation. Without him, it would have taken years longer to see the light of day.

    Dusseldorp was the Chairman of Lend lease until his retirement in 1988, in which year he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for his services to business; the community; and philanthropy.

    He died in 2000.