Eight Bells: Lang Walker

A titan of the property development industry and sailing philanthropy, Australia’s Lang Walker AO passed away peacefully at home on January 27, 2024 at the age of 78, surrounded by his family.

He founded what was to become Walker Corporation with his father 60 years ago – a company which began as an excavation group but grew to manage thousands of major urban and community projects across Australia, Malaysia, Canada, and the U.S.

As a philanthropist, Lang also contributed and gave so much of his time to the arts, education, social welfare, health care, and sport.

Walker personally supported the Australian Olympic Sailing Team and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Youth Sailing Academy, and urged other owners to “contribute to sailing clubs and academies to support the next generation of sailing talent.”

From childhood, he had a lifelong love affair with the ocean. With his first boat, a Vaucluse Junior (VJ), he began what was to become a succession of boats named Kokomo – the name later passed onto many of his other boats including several superyachts. It also became the name for his private island resort in Fiji.

He was heavily involved with one-design racing and was a major supporter of the Australian Farr 40 Association. He won the 2007 and 2008 Australian Championships on Kokomo and competed around the world. One of his other favorite boats was the stunning soft carbon yacht Yarrawin which had a classic wooden boat exterior.

In 2015, Walker was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the community.

Lang is survived by his wife Sue, three children, and 10 grandchildren.