Peter O'Sullivan

Peter O'Sullivan was the first Australian to successfully design and manufacture swimwear for export to the United States of America.

O'Sullivan began labouring in wheat silos at the age of 14 after leaving his parent's financially strapped farm in Inverell, NSW. He purchased a motorcycle franchise in Gunnedah, then went into car repair in Sydney, service stations and then onto importing and assembling foreign cars. He worked briefly as a trainee manager at Woolworths before switching to swimwear design and manufacture and bought into a partnership in a knitting mill. After WWII he developed a chain of 25 delicatessens and then moved into real estate in the 1950s purchasing properties in Toorak Rd Melbourne. He also acquired several properties near Melbourne at Woodend and began breeding Murray Grey cattle in 1963. One became the countries largest Murray Grey cattle stud - Cadella Park.