Thomas Graham Greenaway: “Geraldton is a racist town”

A “racist town” and a fear of antisocial behaviour from members of a native title claim were the reasons behind keeping the real owners of a local hotel secret, a Geraldton businessman on trial for stealing almost $3 million from the trust has claimed. Thomas Graham Greenaway, pictured, took the stand on Monday in Geraldton District Court during week two of his trial, facing 33 counts of stealing and one count each of gaining benefit for another by fraud and stealing as a servant. State prosecutor Jason Chu has alleged Mr Greenaway abused his position as trustee of the Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust, a native title claimant group for lands in and around Meekatharra, by stealing $2.9m as its trustee in 2013 and 2014 to buy units in a company which owned the Freemasons Hotel. On the first day of the defence’s case, lawyer George Giudice questioned his client as to why details of the hotel’s then-ownership had been kept from members of the advisory committee and other unit holders of West Harbour Unit Trust, the company which owned the hotel, if it was in fact owned by the people’s trust. Mr Greenaway said only two members of the advisory committee, who have since died, knew about the investment and had arranged with Mr Greenaway to keep the knowledge on a “need-to-know basis” to protect staff working at the hotel, including redacting information from committee meeting minutes. He said one of the traditional owners raised concerns antisocial behaviour at the hotel from some Yugunga-Nya people would be an issue if they knew about the trust’s ownership of the hotel through putting pressure on hotel staff for money, food or alcohol. “The decision was made to keep it in-house,” he said. “There was no benefit for the ownership to be known in the general community.” He went on to say it would not be advantageous for the business and resale of the building, which itself was not owned by the trust but leased, if the ownership was widely known because of perceived racism in Geraldton. “Geraldton is a racist town,” he said. He later clarified he did not mean everyone in Geraldton was racist, but the trust’s ownership of a block of land on the corner of Durlacher and Brede streets had caused neighbouring property owners to be disgruntled. He said the block had been bought to eventually build a hotel on in which hospitality-trained Yungunga-Nya people could work. “There is a stereotype of antisocial behaviour from Indigenous people that flows into the community,” he said. “Neighbours in Durlacher Street thought property values would be lowered.” He said he was never aware he was a beneficiary of FAWRKT Pty Ltd, the company which borrowed funds from the Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust to buy units in Freemasons Hotel owner West Harbour Pty Ltd. Mr Greenaway said someone registering the company had incorrectly “circled yes” on a document he hadn’t known existed, making him a beneficial owner instead of just a trustee. He said he was never a beneficial owner in his opinion, and if he was, activities of the trust, including FAWRKT charging interest to the trust would not have been allowed. Mr Greenaway further claimed he allowed the people’s trust to use the company name FAWRKT Pty Ltd, the name of which he agreed was an acronym for his, his wife’s, children’s and grandchildren’s initials, as it was similar to a name it wanted to use, “Forked”, to represent the three-pronged foot of an emu which was part of an important Yugunga-Nya Dreamtime story. He said the company name had also been used as a trustee company for his family’s self-managed superannuation fund. The financial planner said he had spent most of his life in Geraldton and had served in many community positions, including Geraldton deputy mayor, hockey association president, Mid West Sports Federation chairman and helped form the Geraldton Buccaneers. The trial continues.