![]() True to form, Foxy would sell for a sizeable profit, and move on. And, despite warnings to the contrary, his formula for good food, top facilities and services tailored for airline passengers’ was a huge success. His airport hotels, with a combined 320 rooms, opened in April 2005. Having formed a syndicate to secure the lease of the airport site, Foxy toured the world checking out airport hotels – what services they offer, how they trade, what makes them successful. The next significant milestone came when he built Darwin Airport Resort and Darwin Airport Inn, the first he developed from scratch. It was reported he bought it for $5.5 million, spent $5 million on it, and sold it to Mirvac some years later for $17 million. Foxy moved his family there in the mid-nineties and set about transforming one of the city’s most run-down tourist parks into the most expensive ever sold in Australia. First was the 30-acre Palms Resort caravan park and service station, just outside Darwin on the Stuart Highway. “Maybe a dozen – too many to mention – but I never hung on to them for long.” But two properties stand out … the big money spinners. These included the Redgum Caravan Park, Knotts Crossing Resort and the Adelaide River Pub.” Asked how many tourism properties he’s owned over the years, Foxy can’t really recall. I’d tidy them up, turn around the balance sheet, and sell them off. “I got my start by acquiring struggling hotels, motels and caravan parks in Katherine. It was in this leisure-based environment, that Foxy had the idea to enter the tourism industry. “So I was appointed the new manager and continued in that position for three years without a day off,” Foxy said. The manager, who often spent his weekends in Darwin, would throw Foxy the keys, with instructions to look after the place until he came back. He took a landscaping job at the Katherine swimming pool. The demise of that industry in the early eighties set Foxy on a new path, one that would ultimately make his fortune. Abattoirs were opening across the Top End and, for 15 years, he worked as a slaughterman in meatworks from Borroloola to Broome. After working for his uncle in Sydney for a while, Foxy moved to the Territory in 1965, aged 16. After three months they gave me the boot.” Why? “I guess I was a bit cheeky,” he laughs. First Foxy joined the navy, a bush kid in search of adventure. ![]() For many years, there was no inkling he was destined to be a wealthy entrepreneur and hotel developer. He also speaks with some pride of his humble origins, the fact he left school and home at the tender age of 13, and never progressed beyond primary school. “I’m descended straight down the Kelly line,” he declares proudly. Perhaps it’s the legacy of another legendry character on the family tree, Ned Kelly. Foxy was born in Bourke, New South Wales, one of seven children and the only one with red hair. Mr Robinson is nothing if not a shrewd operator. Yet, when it came to business dealings, it would prove to be an apt sobriquet. ‘Foxy’ is simply an innocent tag bestowed in childhood because of his red hair. Knowing John Robinson’s ‘rags to riches’ tale, it is natural to assume his nickname owes to his cunning ingenuity, his ability to go after and get what he wants. ![]() From an abattoir worker to number ? on the Northern Territory’s ‘most powerful’ list, his is one of Australia’s greatest accommodation industry success stories. John ‘Foxy’ Robinson’s climb to prominence in the Top End is the stuff of legends. Resort Brokers Australia Foxy Robinson - A Legend Of Top End Tourism
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