Mr Bond bankrolled Australia's fourth bid to beat the US in the America's Cup
When Australia shocked the international yachting community in 1983 by winning the America's Cup, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke declared a public holiday and famously said: "Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum."
Australia II, skippered by John Bertrand and equipped with a novel winged keel, sailed into national folklore when it grabbed the cup away from the prestigious New York Yacht Club, breaking the longest winning streak - 132 years - in sporting history.
Most Australians had never heard of the America's Cup. But the victory sparked massive celebration across the country and Bertrand was welcomed home with a ticker tape parade.
But it was Alan Bond who made it all possible.
Australia continues to race in the America's Cup but has not repeated its 1983 win
The British-born Australian, then one of the nation's richest men, bankrolled the antipodeans' fourth bid to beat the Americans, and Australians loved him for it.
Already anointed Australian of the Year in 1978 for mounting the second of four attempts to win the America's Cup, the 1983 acclaim made his fall from grace a decade later that much steeper.
Corporate fraud
By 1992, Bond was bankrupt with personal debts totalling A$1.8bn ($1.4bn; £900m).
In 1997, he was convicted of fraud and imprisoned for four years after pleading guilty to using his controlling interest in a resources company to deceptively siphon off A$1.2bn into the coffers of Bond Corporation.
Thanks to other convictions and a dubious art deal - Bond bought Vincent van Gogh's renowned painting, Irises, for A$54m but art dealers said it was designed to artificially inflate values - he was labelled the biggest fraudster in Australian history.
John Bertrand says Australia could never have won the cup without Alan Bond
Alan Bond was born on 22 April, 1938, the son of Frank and Kathleen Bond in London's Hammersmith. In 1950, the family emigrated to Australia.
Bond began his career as a sign writer but the small company he formed in 1959 - Bond Corporation - would eventually including brewing, gold mining, real estate and television assets.
In 1989, he established Australia's first private non-profit university, Bond University, on Queensland's Gold Coast.
For two decades he was one of Australia's best known businessmen but even before his convictions the viability of his investments was questioned.
After initially offering A$400m in 1987 to Australian media mogul Kerry Packer for Packer's nationwide Channel Nine television network, he ended up paying A$1bn for it.
When Bond went bankrupt, Packer made a handsome profit when he bought back the network for half that price. He famously quipped: "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I've had mine."
Bond's America's Cup win was still being celebrated 30 years later
'Model prisoner'
Despite his convictions, some remained fond of the businessman.
In an interview to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1983 America's Cup win, Mr Hawke said Australia owed Bond "a great deal of gratitude".
"The way he helped to lift the Australian spirit as a result of that great historic victory of 1983 was great for our country," Mr Hawke said.
"While he served and was found guilty appropriately, I like the way he faced up. He didn't, like others, try to run away. He was a model prisoner."
On 2 June, Bond underwent open heart surgery in Perth, to replace and repair his heart valves. There were complications and he was placed on life support and in an induced coma.
He died on 5 June aged 77. He is survived by his ex-wife Eileen and three of his children, John, Craig and Jody.
- Published5 June 2015
