Derek Bulman - An eye for opportunity

One of Southand’s leading wool auctioneers and classers by his early 20s, it was that keen eye for an entrepreneurial opportunity that would initially land Derek Bulman, 85 next month, in Queenstown.

While far less sophisticated, even in the early 1960s, Queenstown was a desirable ski party town, Derek, then girlfriend Marg, and friends spending weekends here skiing. “We’d drink after hours at Eichardt’s, the White Star, O’Connell’s and Hotel Esplanade. It was great fun.”

Marg and a friend had opened a ritzy hair salon in what was then the one-way Ballarat Street, now the Mall.

He first noticed Marg on her return from working in London. “It was the mid-60s, the ‘Twiggy’ days and she was very mod and stood out,” he says. “The local press got hold of it and took a photo of this gorgeous local blonde girl back from London in her white leather boots, mini skirt and raincoat. I thought, ‘Gee! What a bombshell!” Derek grins.

Marg’s parents came to visit Derek’s ailing dad, Marg coming too. “I thought, ‘Wow’, and I needed a partner for the Mercantile Ball. I thought all my Christmases had come at once!”

By now a highly skilled wool classer and auctioneer for Wright Stephenson in Invercargill, fresh from two years studying wool at Massey University, Derek commuted to Queenstown at weekends while they dated.

Trevor Gamble was a mate and a master brick layer, who did impressive stonework and fireplaces.  “In 1966 he invited me to join him in Wakatipu Stone Distributors.” He had all the contacts here to source the stone, like Lin Herron at Branches Station.

“We’d bring a team of guys up from Invercargill and put them up at the New Orleans to chip big slabs of stone and bag it,” Derek says. They’d then move it to Invercargill by rail from Kingston.

Soon after, they answered a franchise ad for Rylock Aluminum, American newcomers to New Zealand.  “They were all wooden window frames then. All the big timers wanted the franchise and when Trevor and I applied – he left school at 14, me at 15 - the big boss said, ‘Doesn’t any bugger down here get educated’, but we must’ve charmed him, Derek grins. “He took a punt on us which upset the big Invercargill players. I met one collecting my PO Box mail and he said, ‘What a fool you are boy, thinking you can make that work. I will run you out of town in two years.’ That was the only incentive I needed to succeed.”

Derek and Marg married in 1967. In 1969 Trevor bought Shotover Jet and Derek went solo, Marg pregnant and then running a busy Invercargill hair salon.

The next year Derek scored a huge contract with a company building a big motel block in Queenstown.

“By 1969 we’d put all the windows and doors in it and a mate called to say there was going to be an announcement on the 6 o’clock news! We didn’t wait, racing to Queenstown with some mates in the truck with the trailer. We worked through the night taking out all the windows and doors.” Another motelier dobbed them in but when the Police arrived, they offered for them to leave everything with their trailer outside the station. “The next morning when we were driving out the site was cordoned off with security guards.”

The framing was stored for several years when they struck a deal with the new owner’s builder to put it back in. “You’d go to jail for that today,” Derek chuckles.

Invercargill was their main base, Derek operating Rylock Southland there and in Queenstown, also breaking into Dunedin, with a Lockstone franchise added in.

He and Marg also built and ran seven pole house-style motels – Beech Cove, along Frankton Road.

Yachting has been a huge part of Derek’s life – a Frankton holiday cribbie since 1972 – Lakes Wakatipu and Te Anau, and Bluff Harbour, the family’s playground. Derek, mate Peter Adam and their sons clocked some big successes, including a handicap win in the Donald Hay Race. “Those Brown brothers taught us a lot about racing.”

A Queenstown Rotarian for 31 years until last year, Derek was Invercargill Rotary president in 1990 and Rotary District Governor in 1995, instrumental in establishing a highly popular programme – ‘Give Kids A Chance’ - to help support and upskill single parents of disruptive and troubled kids. “We called a meeting with Police, Salvation Army, social services and schools and said find us the families who need help. We got 50 or 60 in the first hit and ran seminars, arranging babysitters and picking up parents in our cars to get them there, working with social services to teach parenting and budgeting skills.” The Police and schools received letters of gratitude. “We got a lot of people turned around in just six years. Even the Commissioner for Children was on board.”                                                                                                                                                               

A Life Member of the Invercargill Squash Racquets Club, Derek was a top seed Southland player in his heyday, winning multiple Invercargill Club championships and a National Masters title in the 1980s. He’s served on the national executive and was an original founder of the Southland Squash Racquets Association.

Derek was Invercargill president and instrumental in introducing new glass wall courts in the late 1970s – a big first for NZ, catapulting Southland squash to the fore.

“We imported glass-backed walls, building four new state-of-the-art courts by raising debentures with our 100 members using voluntary labour. It took 18 months and membership numbers had skyrocketed to 900, attracting national championships and the likes of Ross Norman and Susan Devoy, also boosted by a NZ Association coaching scheme led by ex-world champion Egyptian Dardir El Barkary. “We had dozens of kids being coached and NZ soon had 10 players in the top 20 worldwide.”

In 1991 with daughters Jo and Kate strong netballers Derek managed to lure Silver Ferns captain Sandra Edge south to play for the Sting, putting Southland netball on the map.

When Derek and Marg moved to Queenstown in 1995 he got hooked on multisport, competing individually and in Coast to Coast teams from age 58.

He’s also completed nine Mototapus and while injury has put paid to multisport, Derek, turning 85 next month, is still out on his bike daily. “I value fitness.”