Entrepreneur Bevan Whitaker has played a leading role in Queensland’s aviation and tourism industry. Born in Maryborough, he left school at 13 to help run the family service station business and began a mechanical apprenticeship at 17. After starting his own repair business he branched out into selling harvesters, trucks and cars, expanding his interests to include dealerships across Queensland. In the early 1970s he turned his attention to the aviation industry and founded Sunstate Airlines (which he later sold to Qantas). This evolved into numerous interests in Queensland’s tourism industry including the purchase of Lady Elliot Island and Great Keppel Island.
