33 Colin Wheeler

MISTER BOAT SHOW

Entertainer, event organiser, Boat Show entrepreneur … Barry Jenkins has done it all over his long and varied career.

MOST PEOPLE HAVE A TALE or two to tell, however, when you have lived a life as interesting and diverse as Sanctuary Cove stalwart Barry Jenkins, you literally have enough to fill a book.

The stories come thick and fast during our two-hour interview as we cover everything from his childhood in Brisbane to his years at the helm of the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show and everything in between.

While I don’t have room to share all of them let’s start, if not at the very beginning, with his early years when he interrupted a fitting and turning apprenticeship to pursue a career in the Merchant Navy with the Adelaide Steamship Company.

“Unfortunately, because of an accident at sea, my deck officer apprenticeship was terminated after three years and a return to land was ordered by medicos,” Barry recalls.

So he came back to Brisbane to complete his original Engineering Fitting and Turning Diploma, working as an engraver by day, while also playing piano at the city’s first international standard restaurant, the Camelia Restaurant, in the evenings on weekends. WORDS RHONDA OXNAM

Then came a pivotal point in his career.

“Stewart’s Criterion Hotel had undergone a major renovation and our company, Engraving Unlimited, won the contract to supply all the signage,” Barry recalls. “While installing the last sign of the project in the Hour Glass Bar I overheard the maître d'hôtel mention that they were urgently looking for a pianist to play at an event that evening.

“From my position at the top of the ladder I said I could do it, and after much discussion I was reluctantly given the job.

“I didn’t have time to go home and get changed so I ended up in a very dark corner of the room, playing with my white overalls done up to the neck, wearing a black bow tie and a red waiter’s jacket over the top, hoping nobody could see me.”

After this inauspicious start, he went on to establish BarryJ Entertainment, providing entertainment for Stewarts Hotels and a number of venues in Brisbane, on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and in Japan.

Fast forward a few years and Barry and his partner are running Caballo Riding and Saddlery Centre on the Sunshine Coast.

During their regular trips to Brisbane, the pair often had dinner at the iconic Oriental Restaurant in The Valley which was operated by Judy Lee, a former Miss Australia, and her husband Albert.

Having decided he would quite like to learn the role of front of house manager, Barry had a conversation with the proprietors and Judy agreed to show him the ropes.

“On my first night, I turned up smartly dressed, ready to greet patrons, only to learn I would be literally starting at the bottom,” Barry explains.

“Judy said, ‘no, no, no, you don’t start on the floor, don’t be ridiculous, come with me’.

“She took me down to the basement and right at the very back there was room full of wine and you have never seen a bigger mess in your life.

“She said, ‘your job is to clean this all out, learn about the wine that is here and catalogue it all’.

“Once I got my head around that, Albert took me into the kitchen and taught me the basics of Chinese cooking.

“And then they turned me loose on the floor.”

On his very first night, Barry proceeded to spill six bottles of Crown Lager into the lap of a very

important customer, however, he quickly learned the trade and forged a career in the hospitality industry, eventually returning to Stewarts Hotels where he had a brush with royalty.

“Stewart’s won the contract for the catering at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and I was placed in charge of the Viceregal Dining Room at the main venue hosting Her Majesty Queensland Elizabeth II, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, The Honorable Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister of Australia and other dignitaries.

“I was also engaged by Stewarts to oversee the catering and service at the official opening of the Brisbane Cultural Centre by Her Majesty the Queen.”

Not long after, in 1983, fate led Barry down the M1 to the Gold Coast where he joined the original Fisherman’s Wharf as Entertainment Manager.

“They were great years,” Barry recalls.

“The venue was very successful from day one and on the weekend you couldn’t move in ‘Fishies’ … it was the place to be.”

When Sanctuary Cove opened with much fanfare in 1988, there were a few teething problems with Waves Restaurant, so Barry was asked to take on the role of Assistant Restaurant Manager.

This was to be ‘only for a month, mate’ but Assistant Manager became Manager and soon after he was appointed Food and Beverage Manager for all the Sanctuary Cove operated venues on site as well as Entertainment and Promotion Manager, which included developing a program to entertain visitors to the resort during the six-month Brisbane World Expo period. 1988 also saw the very first boat show held in the Sanctuary Cove marina during The Ultimate Event.

Over the years, Barry has witnessed first-hand as the show has morphed into the very successful Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, now affectionately referred to as SCIBS.

“The Boat Show was a great promotional vehicle for Sanctuary Cove but it was always about the boating industry … and that industry was … and still is … all about personal relationships.

“When we decided to get serious about promoting the Show, it was agreed that we could start some moderate international promotional activity.

“Our initial foray was the very first Singapore Boat Show,” Barry remembers.

“It was agreed that myself and our Corporate Communications Manager Kate Duryea would go up there and bang the drum for the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia.

“About two hours out of Singapore, just as they were wheeling out the food trolleys, the plane hit clear air and just fell out of the sky.

“One of the trolleys went up and broke an overhead locker, food was strewn everywhere, not to mention a few people were quite seriously injured.

“When we landed, we weren’t allowed off the plane till we’d been assessed by the medical staff. "That was our first introduction to international promotion, but we were able to generate a lot of interest at the Singapore event which resulted in international visitors to the show at Sanctuary Cove.”

Since then, Barry’s involvement and influence on the boating industry has become legendary.

Not only was he the General Manager of SCIBS for 25 years, he is Past President of the Boating Industry Association of Queensland, Past President of the Australian Marine Industries Federation and the Founding Chairman of Super Yacht Base Australia – now SuperYacht Australia.

For many years he was also a director of the Australian International Marine Export Group and he was presented a Highly Commended Award for Export Industry Champion at the 2009 Australian Marine Industry Awards.

These days, Barry is happily semi-retired, still indulging his love of piano, still keeping his finger on the pulse of the marine industry and still entertaining journalists like me.

“In the very early days, when I was moved out of the factory and into the admin side of the business, I remember attending a management training course and one of the lecturers said ‘You don’t reach your business maturity, until you learn not to separate your business from your pleasure’.

“I still don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but for me, everything has revolved around the entertainment, hospitality and marine industries and I have enjoyed that more than words can express.”