Christchurch multi-millionaire Tracy Gough was born into great wealth, something he was ashamed of. The 80-year-old richlister sat down with Mike Thorpe to talk candidly about having money, making more, and how ordinary New Zealanders can get ahead too.
At the gate that keeps a long tree-lined driveway private, it’s clear you’re about to enter another world – without actually leaving Christchurch. It’s not so much how the other half live - it’s a much, much smaller fraction than that. At the end of the driveway is a vast two-storeyed home built in 1933. The 30m-high trees that lead you to the front door could be older, according to their owner.
“The trees I reckon are 100 years old and they are just absolutely gorgeous. They’re London plane trees and they’re dotted all over the show, all around the world,” says the man who bought the home in 2018.
The seven-figure purchase price then was $6.8m. It’s now verging on eight figures through improvements and appreciation.
The home has long been appreciated by the current owner.
“I used to bike past this place on the way to school. I loved it,” he says.
The homeowner is Tracy Gough – a surname synonymous with wealth; in fact, one of Christchurch’s wealthiest families.
“That was a bit unfortunate, growing up Gough. I’m ashamed of it because we had a start in life that average people didn’t have,” Gough says.
The Gough family were two-thirds of Gough Gough and Hamer – founded before this 400sq m Fendalton mansion was even built. Tracy Gough’s grandfather – also Tracy, founded the company in 1929 and secured the Caterpillar dealership in 1932.
“He got a job doing the airport at Nelson [that] the Government wanted. And to do that you have 1000 men, 1000 wheelbarrows and 1000 shovels and you get on with the job and you make an airport. If you use machinery, life changes totally,” Gough says, telling the family story with great enthusiasm.
“But then the Government wanted an airport in Wellington. And the problem with Wellington is it’s all mountains and hills, no flat land anywhere.
“The job was to remove a mountain that was in the way and put that into the sea.”
Clearly, machinery was going to be required to make that feasible.
“Other people put in with 1000 wheelbarrows and 1000 men and whatever else,” Gough says, before revealing his grandfather and his machinery won the contract.
“So the next time you’re flying to Wellington, you’ll fly over granddad’s bit that he put in the sea and that made part of the runway.
It also made the company money – and it made a name for the Gough family.
“That’s how it arrived.”
That was the beginning, according to Gough, of a kind of mechanical awakening in New Zealand. An awakening that would generate enormous wealth for those who could supply machines for the newfound demand.
“The Government watched this hill go into the sea and they realised that there was something happening here and that life had changed.
“By using the tractors and things, suddenly you could have roads.”
Tracy Gough is the eldest son of Owen Gough.
“He inherited from my granddad [Tracy] and mostly he got an income for life. It was vast. It was in excess of the amount that the then Prime Minister of New Zealand got.
Gough is matter-of-fact when asked what his father taught him about wealth.
“Nothing.”
Tracy Gough’s own wealth came when he came of age.
“At the age of 21, I was sent to the family lawyer and he sort of coughed slightly and said, ‘I need to tell you something. I need to tell you, you have inherited 1/8 share of Gough, Gough and Hamer – the Caterpillar dealer for New Zealand'.
“I said, ‘What have I done to deserve this’?” Gough says. It is a question he still grapples with now.
Other shares went to Tracy’s brothers Harcourt and Antony and his late sister Avenal.
“Usually, the story is that the first generation makes it. The second generation sits on it.
The third generation spends it - blows it. And we didn’t want to do that,” Gough says.
Tracy Gough and his siblings did spend it – but they certainly didn’t blow it. The Gough children bought property. Today they own significant swathes of Christchurch CBD.
“When I read Jones on Property [by Sir Bob Jones, 1977], I couldn’t believe it. There’s a chance to get ahead. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life - apart from working for the family company, and I knew I didn’t want to do that all my life,” Gough says.
Side story – Gough couldn’t work for the family company “all his life”.
“I got fired.”
Gough won’t name the man that ousted him and says he forgets the reason behind it, but goes on to say he wasn’t the only Gough fired from the company they part-owned. He had previously helped design buckets for the Caterpillar wheel loaders.
“The [US-designed] buckets were made too big for New Zealand conditions. So what I did is I redesigned the buckets so it was slightly smaller, eight feet, two and a quarter inches wide.” That was half the width of New Zealand roads.
Back to property investment.
Tracy’s foray into bricks and mortar was not well received by his father, Owen.
“He didn’t believe in buying property in the slightest. And so, when I turned around and I started buying property, he just thought it was wrong, just wrong.”
Gough’s other passion was considered even more reckless. Cars.
“I couldn’t help myself. I mean, I do love Ferraris and Aston Martins,” Gough says with a look that suggests his love has only intensified over time. His newly built seven-car garage and its contents confirm that it has. But his love of cars pre-dates his personal wealth.
“I built myself my car with this Ford Zephyr engine. The windscreen was a rear window out of a Ford Consul,” Gough says, revealing that he bought the parts with a $750 loan from his mother, Avenal.
Gough’s ingenuity served him well but soon he had eyes on something better and far more expensive. A feeling he’s had more than once, going by his collection.
“When I learned I had all this money, I went to Archibald, the Jaguar agents.”
That was 1966 and he bought a brand-new E Type Jaguar for about £3000.
“Now, I did another thing which was unusual. I bought myself a logbook and from day one, I have written in the car logbook every trip that I did.”
His fourth trip in the car was to “take Dad for a run”.
He still has the logbook – and the E Type Jaguar. One owner. With 47,086 miles on the clock.
Gough estimates the car is now valued at between $300,000 and $400,000, making a one-time imprudent purchase look like an astute investment.
He has had a few of those in his 80 years.
“I’ve been lucky to make a lot of money, and I want other people to do the same.”
He believes the answer is still property – just as it was when he attended a seminar by Sir Bob Jones, and it changed his thinking entirely.
“I reckon property doubles every seven to 10 years.
“When you’re buying a property, expect to get buyer’s remorse and the thing is, it goes. It passes and a week later you’re fine and two weeks later you’re fine and seven years later it’s doubled in value.”
Being born into money has clearly given Gough many opportunities – but it has also made it harder to prove himself. Finding his own worth is important to him and as he says: “I want to be useful.”
He says his latest job couldn’t pay less – or reward him more.
“I teach art at old people’s homes. That’s my job now, I’m 80 years of age and I teach art. I love it.”
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Emergency services were called to the scene about 8.30pm.