Generous Twiggy's burden of billions

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest says being a billionaire can be a burden, hence his decision to give away much of his wealth, including a $65m donation to UWA

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest donated $65m to attract the world's best minds to WA universities. (AAP)

The burden of being a billionaire weighs heavily on mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest.

Which is one of the reasons why the Fortescue Metals Group chairman says he will continue to give much of his vast fortune away. This week's $65 million donation to the University of Western Australia represents only a fraction of his wealth.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will lead the thanks at a gala dinner in Perth on Tuesday night to mark Mr Forrest's contribution - believed to be the largest philanthropic donation ever made in Australia.

Mr Forrest, a UWA graduate, has explained that astronomical personal wealth brings its own issues, which he believes can be balanced by equally immense generosity.

"It really does (become a burden), and I think it can alter behaviour and personalities," Mr Forrest told Fairfax radio.

"But I think if you make a decision early in the piece that you are going to give that wealth away, then you don't think of yourself as someone who is particularly special.

"Your children know they are going to get the same leg up as every other kid, which will be just enough.

"You can lead a normal life, and that is a decision which (wife) Nicola and I took many years ago." The Forrest Foundation, to fund scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships across all five of WA's universities, will be established with $50 million of the donation.

The remaining $15 million will build Forrest Hall at St George's College at UWA, a living space for researchers that is hoped will rival the best residential colleges in the world.

With iron ore prices still relatively strong, Forrest's shareholding in the company he founded is worth more than $5 billion, with other assets likely to put his fortune way above that.

And having become Australia's first participant in the Giving Pledge philanthropic movement begun by US billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, Mr Forrest has vowed to give half of his wealth away.

The 51-year-old said he used to donate in private, but wanted to encourage others, whether wealthy or not, to start giving.

"If you are not prepared to stand by it, it almost looks like you are not proud of it, or what are the source of these funds - is it illicit?," Mr Forrest said.

"And it is about the example it sets in the community. So we decided to give publicly and encourage philanthropy."

The gift to UWA follows other big donations from Mr Forrest and his wife.

These include $3 million to the Art Gallery of WA, $3.7 million that was shared between the WA Symphony Orchestra, WA Opera and the Black Swan State Theatre Centre, and $1.3 million to Murdoch University's Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.


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Source: AAP


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