LASTING LEGACY
THE GOAL REACHED
ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S MOST ICONIC ENTREPRENEURS
Maha Sinnathamby AM is one of Australia’s most iconic entrepreneurs, declared as one of Queensland’s 50 greatest thinkers of all time by Newscorp in 2014
From humble beginnings in war torn Malaysia, Maha Sinnathamby is known as a visionary and one of the drivers behind creating Greater Springfield – an undertaking which former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, described as a “nation-building project of national significance”. An advocate for having access to good education, Maha Sinnathamby has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of New South Wales and champions the adage of education being the currency of the future.
Greater Springfield is now almost three decades in the making, with a population of more than 50,000 (2022) and a predicted growth rate of six percent per annum over the next twenty years. Maha Sinnathamby’s impressive accomplishments have been recognized around Australia, and have seen him receive Appointment as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in 2019, and was recently awarded the Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Business Honoris causa) at the University of Queensland in July 2023.
Maha Sinnathamby’s Nation Building Project – Greater Springfield
In 1992, Maha Sinnathamby purchased a 7000-acre parcel of land in a location which no other developer wanted to touch. It was a corridor deemed as economically and socially depressed, with only 10 percent of the land zoned for residential development. It had no access, no transport, and to most people, no hope. Most people, except for Maha Sinnathamby.
“I saw a beautiful parcel of land with wide open spaces, children going to school, couples taking romantic walks in the park, families building the dream home, busy professionals taking the train to work. It was so clear in my mind. The next step was to take what was in my mind and make it into a reality”.
Fast-forward to today, Greater Springfield is Australia’s newest emerging city and is part of the fastest growing region in South-East Queensland. Stemming from humble beginnings, Greater Springfield is now home to 12 schools with 15,000 students, a TAFE, the University of Southern Queensland and Mater Springfield Private Hospital. And that’s not all – “My friends, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.
As you think, so you will become.
So think REALLY big and you will BE big!”
Maha Sinnathamby AM
vision of a nation building project
“I saw a beautiful parcel of land with wide open spaces, children going to school, couples taking romantic walks in the park, families building the dream home, busy professionals taking the train to work. It was so clear in my mind. The next step was to take what was in my mind and make it into a reality”.
