It is with great sadness we share the news that Albert George Dennis OAM has passed away, aged 91.
Albert George Dennis DipCivEng. OAM was born in Sale Victoria, 12 April 1935, known to family and friends as ‘Alby’ and professionally as ‘Bert’ or ‘AGD’.
He is survived by his wife Dawn, four children, 11 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren along with a lifetime of passion and commitment to everything he undertook.
He was endlessly pragmatic and positive, a realist.
He was also an entrepreneur, striking out in new ways, willing to take risks in business that would bring long term benefit to the companies he founded.
From impoverished beginnings, through education and that entrepreneurial spirit, he built a truly unique Australian family business that will continue for generations.
He was one of five children, raised by their single mother, Coy, who moved the family around Victoria to ensure they weren’t separated by the welfare authorities at the time.
“It was lovely. A seven-year-old kid not going to school and living without shoes and without a shirt on the banks of the Murray River. It was great,” he told the Australian Financial Review in 2010.
In 1947 Legacy helped find them one of Melbourne’s first Housing Commission homes in Ivanhoe.
He remembered, “We thought we were made. That was a palace.”
Bert Dennis, centre, with sister Dawn right and friends
By the age of 13, he had lived in 15 different houses. He completed his schooling and Diploma by 21, attending 19 different schools.
He pursued education in return for the opportunity to play baseball for the school he was attending, developing lifelong relationships with similarly inspired individuals such as AFL footballer and coach, Ron Barrassi, and cricketer Bill Lawry.
His first professional job was at the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works.
Despite not meeting the stipulated experience, at just 22 Bert became Acting-Deputy City Engineer for the City of Chelsea.
He married Dawn Hicks at the St Thomas Anglican Church in Moonee Ponds on May 31, 1958.
Members of the Coburg baseball team formed a guard of honour with their bats as the newlyweds left the church.
In 1960 and at only 24, Bert joined retired City Engineer, Oscar Flight, in a civil engineering consultancy partnership.
Bert Dennis received an Order of Australia Medal in 2005, for services to land, housing and charitable organisations.
By 1965 Oscar had retired and Bert became the owner of the consultancy.
From 1968 Bert began developing land around Melbourne, transforming the consultancy into a property development business.
He then started a residential home building business which became known as Dennis Family Homes.
In 1992, Bert and Dawn met with their four adult children to discuss the future of the land development business.
“In 1992 I said to the kids, ‘Don’t live my dream, you tell me what you want to do with the business. It wouldn’t worry me if you were to sell it.’”
Collectively it was decided to pursue a multi-generational business, becoming a family in business, all pulling in the same direction.
Today the Dennis Group is one of Australia’s largest private property development businesses, creating communities where families can grow and prosper.
However business was never his first priority, it was his fourth.
“First is my health, if I’m not fit and well, I am of no use to the family. Second is the family’s health, third is sport, and fourth is business.”
Bert’s love of sport was a constant in his life, starting with baseball as a teenager. Later tennis became his preferred pastime which he continued playing well into his eighties.
In a speech for his 90th birthday held at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, he said:
“Creating the stable, healthy and loving family that surrounds us has undoubtedly been Dawn’s and my greatest achievement.”
Forever remembered.
Read the Dennis Family Corporation statement.
Albert George Dennis OAM
Awards and offices
- President, UDIA Victoria (1985 – 1988)
- President, UDIA National (1995 – 1997)
- Life Member, UDIA Victoria and UDIA National
- Family Business of the Year (Second Generation) (2001)
- Sir Phillip Lynch Award, the Housing Industry Association’s highest acknowledgement (2003)
- Order of Australia Medal (2005) for services to the land and housing industries, to the community through contributing to debate on urban planning, and for his support of charitable organisations.
- Richard J. Evans Award by the Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association (VPELA) (2010)
- The Urban Developer’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2023)
Send a message
If you would like to send a message to the Dennis family, please email [email protected]
Share your support
In lieu of flowers, the family has recommended supporting the Cabrini Foundation.
Cabrini Foundation is a division of Cabrini Health Limited.
All fundraising administration costs are covered by Cabrini Health Limited, therefore 100% of donated funds go to the area you choose to support.
All donations are tax-deductible.
About the Dennis family
