Background
Fairfax was born in Warsaw and emigrated to Australia as a small child with her parents.
Fairfax was born in Warsaw and emigrated to Australia as a small child with her parents.
She attended the Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney.
Fairfax moved to Manhattan, New York, in 1988. She purchased a penthouse known as Chateau in the Sky, on top of the Pierre Hotel, Fifth Avenue, for United States$12 million. She returned to Australia in 1999, feeling she had never been entirely accepted into New York society.
The penthouse in Manhattan eventually became New York"s most expensive penthouse and was put up for sale in 2013 for an asking price of United States$125 million.
Previous tenants had included John Paul Getty, Elizabeth Taylor, Yves Saint-Laurent and Mohamed al-Fayed. Fairfax"s personal wealth in 2012 was estimated by the BRW at A$418 million.
Her assets include the residential land development, Harrington Park, near Camden in New South Wales. Harrington Park was the name of the cattle property once owned by Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax.
Her philanthropy includes gifts of A$750,000 to Street Vincent"s Foundation and A$250,000 to the Garvan Foundation in 2002 on the occasion of her eightieth birthday.