Before we build a statue of Elon Musk, let’s consider what he’s done with his trillions of dollars

June 17, 2026 — 7:00pm

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There’s a statue in central Sydney of a man with a dodgy pair of trousers, a set of mutton chop sideburns that defy belief and an unerring gaze forward.

The man is Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. In my mind, he stands as Australia’s greatest entrepreneur, perhaps one of our greatest Australians.

Last week, Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire.

I’m confident that if Musk ever manages to establish a colony on Mars, there will be a statue erected by Martians in honour of the entrepreneur and businessman who founded civilisation’s first ex-planet colony.

But a key difference between Mort’s view of the world and those of Musk and most other members of today’s ultra-rich is contributing to the political shockwaves that are pulling apart the globe.

When Mort’s statue was unveiled in 1883, five years after his death, central Sydney was clogged with thousands of people – from the NSW governor to working men who had been employed by Mort – to recognise his astonishing life.

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Stephen BartholomeuszSenior business columnist

Senior business columnist

You may not recognise his name (although in Melbourne and Sydney you can see the term “Goldsborough Mort” on old brick wool warehouses central to Australia’s first great international service industry, wool brokerage).

But from AMP to Peters Ice Cream to Bodalla Cheese to Elders to Waratah Coal to the Sydney-Parramatta........

© Brisbane Times