Bill Waterhouse – once considered the world’s biggest bookmaker – is farewelled by royalty and hundreds of mourners after his death aged 97
- Tongan royalty attended Thursday’s service to Bill Waterhouse who passed away
- Waterhouse was once acknowledged as the biggest bookmaker in the world
- His son Robert and grandson Tom – who followed him as bookies – attended
- His colourful life saw him at the heart of one of racing’s biggest scandal
Tongan royalty has joined the Waterhouse clan to farewell family patriarch Bill Waterhouse at a service in Sydney.
King `Aho`eitu Tupou VI attended Thursday’s service as a tribute to Waterhouse’s long association with Tonga and its people.
Waterhouse, who at one time was the world’s biggest bookmaker, died last month aged 97.
He was the Honorary Consul-General to Tonga for many years after establishing a relationship with the heir to the throne, King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, when he was in law school along with best friend, the late New South Wales Premier Neville Wran.
He was also a property developer and hotelier and after the death of his brother Charles, Waterhouse gave up the law for the track.
Pall Bearers Tom Waterhouse and Robbie Waterhouse during the funeral service for Australian bookmaker Bill Waterhouse at St Mary’s Church in Sydney
Hoda Vakili, the wife of Tom Waterhouse, is seen with her daughter during the funeral service
Bill Waterhouse with his grandchildren Tom and Kate at Warwick Farm Racecourse in 2002
He fearlessly took on legendary punters with names to match – the ‘Filipino Fireball’ Felipe Ysmael, the ‘Hong Kong Tiger’ Frank Duval and Kerry Packer who he said defaulted on a debt of more than $1 million.
While he was a leviathan bookmaker, Bill Waterhouse became a household name with the Fine Cotton scandal.
Bill and his bookmaker son Robbie were warned off racetracks by the Australian Jockey Club, the authority at the time, for having prior knowledge of the substitution of galloper Bold Personality to race under the name of lesser performed Fine Cotton in a race at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm racetrack in 1984.
Kate Waterhouse, the wife of Luke Ricketson (right) during the service for the renowned Australian bookmaker
Suzanne, the widow of Bill Waterhouse (second from left) greets King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u of Tonga
Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop was among the mourners
The Waterhouses were reinstated in 2002 by Racing NSW with Bill retiring in 2010 after working alongside his grandson Tom to teach him the ropes.
His colourful life included a divorce and a second marriage to the same woman, Suzanne, who survives him.
Waterhouse’s son Robert, who is married to leading trainer Gai Waterhouse, and Tom helped carry Bill from St Mary’s Church with Suzanne and daughter Louise Raedler close by.
Waterhouse’s granddaughter Kate and her children joined other mourners including former speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop.
Former NRL player Luke Ricketson arrives at the funeral to farewell the family patriarch
Robert Waterhouse reacts following the emotional service on Thursday
Waterhouse was the Honorary Consul-General to Tonga, a property developer and hotelier as well as being a fixture at Sydney’s racetracks