In 2018 Ann Garms OAM, a key figure in the tourism, hospitality and entertainment industry passed away. In a long business career, the flamboyant Garms made a name for herself in the preservation of historic Brisbane buildings.

Not only did Garms establish numerous leading and innovative restaurants and retail outlets, she also changed the entertainment scene in Brisbane with the creation of the Tivoli Restaurant and Theatre. 

Her path began on the streets of Mount Isa – pushing a pram.

Born the eldest of four children in Brisbane, Garms spent time in Mount Isa in the 1960s with her husband Harry before they enjoyed the delights of London for a couple of years.

They moved back to Mount Isa in 1967 where Harry got his old job back as Lead Smelter foreman. Their first son, Christopher was nine months old at the time and their second son Richard was born in Mount Isa.

Garms got a job for $45 a week as an office administrator for Joe Viante at the Verona; $25 went to the Mt Isa Kindergarten and she saved $20 per week.

After one year she had saved $1,000 and saw an advertisement for the lease of a block of Gentleman’s Serviced Rooms with a $2,000 security required to secure the five year lease. She did her sums, developed a business plan to accommodate 28 residents and went along to see the Manager of the Bank of New South Wales.

The response to her request for a $1,000 loan was a short emphatic “NO! You are a woman and only 23 years old - we don’t lend to women”

So she went straight across the road to the National Bank where the manager was Nobby Clark. Ann put her business proposition to him and he replied:

“Are you the young lady who has had her pram retreaded four times at Curly Dann’s Bike Shop?”

She replied yes. How do you know?

He told her everybody knows - that you walk three miles every day from Townview to Mount Isa Mines Kindergarten with your two children in the pram and then go to work at the Verona.

She took over the Men’s Boarding House and her career in the hospitality industry was away.

She found her way back to Brisbane in 1977 and began buying historic buildings facing likely demolition, renovating them and then operating successful restaurants

She started with the Old Courthouse Restaurant at Cleveland - where, after much searching, Harry and Ann extended the main dining room using sandstone and porphyry salvaged from the demolition of Brisbane's Old Supreme Court, which had stood in George Street.

Two years later they snared Petrie Mansions in Petrie Terrace and the Roseville homestead at Newstead. The Roseville became one of Brisbane's fine dining venues after Garms painstakingly restored the former residence into an internationally known establishment.

Garms carried out extensive renovations and additions to convert it to a restaurant - redecorating the interiors, installing new stained glass, renovating the verandahs, adding a new double-storied service building at the rear, and extensively modernising the original kitchen building.

The Roseville became "a place to be seen by movers and shakers" - and in February 1986, former Police Commissioner Terry Lewis chose it as the venue to introduce new Police Commissioner Bill Gunn to those he called his 'special friends': Bjelke-Petersen, Sir Edward Lyons, Justice Angelo Vasta and Judge Eric Pratt.

As a former vice-president of the Liberal Party, Garms launched an unsuccessful tilt for the seat of Windsor in 1983 before joining the National Party - becoming a close confidante of former Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

In fact Garms was in the Premier's office on the day he received $100,000 cash in a brown paper bag from a developer. It was this bribe which led to the ill-fated prosecution of Bjelke-Petersen for corruption and perjury.

Garms and Mr Hoare were pushing the hotel development of the old Port Office site in Brisbane, for which Sng's company, Historic Holdings Pty Ltd, had tendered. With Historic Holdings approaching the 'final hurdle' of Cabinet approval, Garms took Sng to Bjelke-Petersen's office at Parliament House.

The next day Sng made a similar visit with Garms to Sir Robert Sparkes and handed over another brown envelope containing $100,000 - also for the Joh for PM campaign.

Cabinet awarded Sng's company the right to develop the Port Office site on 15 February 1987.

Following Joh's dismissal, Mike Ahearn became Premier - but when the contracts for Expo were handed out, the National Party Government offered a series of contracts to construction firms, suppliers and caterers without going to tender.

The former Premier's friend Sir Leslie Thiess won a construction contract despite being ranked seventeenth on merit by the Expo authority.

Garms was one such identity and she came in for criticism in Parliament for alleged 'cronyism'. Opposition members claimed that old habits die hard.

Despite the Bjelke-Petersen government's passion for knocking down historic buildings, Garms helped write the state's first Heritage legislation in 1984.

She began her involvement with the National Trust in 1982, was appointed to the National Trust of Queensland Council in 2007, and served as a First Director of the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) from 2014 to 2016.

In 1985 Garms received the National Trust Award for excellence in Heritage Conservation for the restoration and preservation of Roseville. Her conservation efforts helped her earn the Order of Australia in 1991 for Services to the Hospitality Industry and the Community. In 1993 she was awarded the Advance Australia Award by the Queensland Governor for her contribution to Heritage Preservation and the Community.

Her piece-de-résistance in restoration came in 1989 when she purchased a brick building constructed in Fortitude Valley in 1927 - originally a factory and office for successful cake manufacturer G E Adams.

If she couldn't save an entire building, Garms salvaged elements of heritage buildings such as the pressed iron ceilings, decorative sculptures and doors. She did this at the Tivoli by utilising remnants of Queen Street's two grand theatres - the Regent Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre.

After extensively remodelling the interior she opened it as the Tivoli Theatre and Restaurant.

Since that time the Tivoli - which can hold 700 seated or 1,500 standing patrons - has become one of Brisbane's most beloved live music venues.

When Telstra was launching its shares in 1999, Garms - along with several other business people taking legal action - were at the centre of a scandal. Their claims created poor publicity for Telstra while parliament argued over the second sale of Telstra shares.

Victorian businessman Ross Plowman, who fought Telstra alongside Garms after poor service allegedly ruined his Woodend country conference centre, said Telstra suddenly offered them $10 million in April 1999 as a confidential payment. The amount was to be split between him, Garms and three other plaintiffs who had pursued Telstra through a lengthy Senate inquiry. Plowman ended up with $1.8 million and Garms - who had incurred the greater legal debt - took the lion's share: $5.8 million.

Though Garms was affiliated with the National Party, National Party Senator Ron Boswell denied the payment was connected to political support of the Telstra sale. "The reason I voted for Telstra was that John Howard rang me and promised he'd put $1 billion into regional telecommunications."

Three years later she sparked an Australian Communications Authority inquiry when she claimed Telstra officials had hidden documents, bugged her phone and committed perjury during a ten-year dispute about poor phone service.

The Australian Federal Police investigated alleged tampering of Garms' phone mid-1992 but dropped the matter after insufficient evidence was found. Several months later, Telecom's own internal monitoring reported suspected "sabotage" of Garms' phone service.

An internal Telecom minute, dated September 14, 1992 and obtained under Freedom of Information, reveals that Telecom tried to keep secret from Garms the fact that her phone calls were being taped.

"It should be noted that we have tape equipment across the services at present to try and identify the transient faults that form the basis of the current faults. She is not currently aware of this activity and I would prefer that it remains so."

Telecom apologised to Garms for taping her phone calls without authorisation and paid her $360,000 compensation. She continued her legal action regardless.

The long-running feud showed Garms' tenacity - the phone troubles had first started plaguing her Roseville eatery as far back as 1984.

She was a pioneer, against the odds, in bringing about the establishment of the College of Tourism and Hospitality (COTAH) and was later appointed by government to the Board of the Southbank Institute of Technology with a focus on tourism and hospitality.

Her interest in supporting and mentoring young talent in the industry never waned - not only did she commit much of her time to it, but also personally sponsored work experience trips for many aspiring chefs to some of Europe's most prestigious hotels.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk hailed Garms as "a champion of Brisbane's heritage."

She started with a pram, a $1,000 loan and a boarding house. She left behind a city that looks a little more like itself.