LUKE, THE FARCE IS WITH YOU ...
His father and brothers are successful multi-millionaires. But Luke Tomlinson’s chaotic life could not be more different, leading to a fateful day he was found on the side of a busy road with a bullet in his leg
LUKE Tomlinson is the black sheep of his family. He’s the son of a Gold Coast icon and the older brother of a millionaire businessman.
While his family have made waves across the Coast, Luke has been sinking.
Well known to local police, Tomlinson – according to sources – likes to dabble in the Coast’s underworld.
And he is preyed upon by people who use him for his family trust. It is understood he receives a hefty allowance each month from family coffers.
He lives in a luxurious waterfront mansion at Paradise Point, worth over a million dollars. Moored at the home is a large yacht, also thought to be worth a million dollars-plus.
But this once statement home is now a mess, with the people hanging on to Tomlinson for his money, like leeches, having turned the mansion into a dump.
And his alleged foray into the Gold Coast underworld has come back to bite him.
Earlier this month he was left horrifically injured after he was shot in the right leg and dumped on the side of a Helensvale road, allegedly over an unpaid debt.
Police allege Tomlinson knew his attackers and in the hours before the shooting, withdrew $30,000 from the Heritage Bank at Runaway Bay.
Two men have been charged over the incident. Tomlinson was also charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possessing dangerous drugs.
He is now recovering in hospital after having two operations to remove a large portion of his right leg. The first surgery removed his leg below the knee, the second lopped it off above the knee.
Days after the surgery, police raided the Paradise Point home, uncovering illegal exotic animals and a number of drug utensils.
Tomlinson was charged with two counts of possessing a declared pest.
Sources have told the Bulletin the home was a mess, smelling of urine – a far cry from the high ceiling, 1125 square metre home bought in 2006 for $1.4 million.
Tomlinson remains in hospital. It will be a long road to recovery. He will need extensive physiotherapy to learn how to get around with one leg. While he remains in hospital, he is not required to appear in court on the charge of possession of a declared pest until January 2019.
It’s a life of what could have been for Luke Tomlinson. His father Owen is well known, having brought the Gold Coast Blaze National Basketball League team to town.
Tomlinson’s younger brother Sean is an extremely successful businessman, reportedly worth more than $100 million dollars.
His other brother Ben is also successful and helped their father Owen launch the Blaze on the Coast and continued to own, train and breed race horses with Owen as late as 2015.
The family story of how they secured their wealth and grew into a Gold Coast success story is a long way from the life Luke Tomlinson leads.
Owen Tomlinson is the son of Canadian businessman Joseph Tomlinson, who ran a major construction company in the land of maple syrup and ice hockey. He was also a renowned player on the stock exchange.
As the family wealth grew, so did the family business interests. Joseph Tomlinson bought into MGM Studios and at one time was the largest shareholder in the company, with 250,000 shares. He was also on the board of directors of the film production company.
The family moved from Canada to the Bahamas, where they lived a life of luxury.
That was where Owen and his siblings began to make their own fortune. They invested in a wharf – not just any wharf, the biggest in the Bahamas. It was a tourist attraction, it was that renowned.
In a 2012 interview with the Bulletin, Owen Tomlinson said: “We sold the wharf and that’s where I made my serious money.’’
Mr Tomlinson’s father bought him a one-way ticket to Australia in the 1960s and worked as a strapper for the legendary Sydney horse trainer Tommy Smith.
He had development companies, bought and sold the Milton Tennis Centre, owned a pub and dabbled in real estate.
Then his true passion came along – the Gold Coast Blaze, first as an investor and then as a co-owner with his son Ben.
“Ben and I were only ever investors. We got left with it. You just can’t let these things die. So we’ve picked up the slack,” Mr Tomlinson said in the 2012 interview. “It’s taken a big toll. We’re just a family trying to run a club.’’
The club was struggling to make ends meet off the court. Then Basketball Australia put the knife in, ordering the family to post a $1 million bank guarantee before granting them a licence. They were dead in the water.
The Blaze went into liquidation. The club was no more.
Owen Tomlinson, who had never been keen on being in the limelight, dropped out of the public gaze.
Enter his son Sean Tomlinson, who made the BRW rich list in 2016 with a growing fortune exceeding $150 million.
Sean made his fortune through part ownership of retail sales software group Revel Systems, which in 2016 was valued at $US515 million.
He grew up in the family’s Nerang home and went to The Southport School, before following in his father’s footsteps, enrolling into Appleby College in Toronto.
He started a business degree at Bond University before dropping out, and went to work at his parents’ Digby’s menswear stores. The rest is history for Sean Tomlinson, who in 2017 ranked at number 13 on the young rich list. He currently lives in Hong Kong and is thought to be worth $154 million.
While Luke Tomlinson’s family have made headlines for their business and sporting endeavours, he has made them for being shot and thrown out of a moving car – a sad fall from grace for a family that has given much to the Gold Coast.