Early Life

Nicholas Willem van Gelder was born in Geelong, Victoria. He was the youngest and cheekiest of three sons to Helen and Malcolm van Gelder (Lieutenant Colonel).

Nick’s extraordinary life and achievements are a testament to his loving parents.  In Nick’s words, they explained “the Malcolm Fraser philosophy that life wasn’t meant to be easy. That the rewards of life come from:

• Learning and knowledge;

• Sacrifice and hard work;

• Christian beliefs and principles;

• Honesty and truthfulness;

• At least three vegetables a day and a glass of milk (without milo);

• Fresh air and exercise; and

• Friends and relations.”

Like his older brothers, Nick attended Tudor House as a boarder from the age of ten, where very early on in life he developed his entrepreneurial spirit.  He was infamous for being the mastermind behind a school shoe shine business that saw him paid in food from the canteen at the end of each week.  Nick was never one to miss a meal!

Whilst home from school on holidays on the family farm in Canberra Nick continued to develop his entrepreneurial skills starting a fertiliser business, selling manure he had scraped up on the farm to locals.  Nick was too young to drive so he enlisted the help of his older brothers to help him make deliveries paying them a small delivery fee and pocketing a tidy profit.

Following Tudor House, Nick attended Geelong Grammar School, also as a boarder, where he developed a wide network and friendships that would last a lifetime and beyond……truly a band of extended brothers.  His Geelong friends will remember Nick as a cheeky, fun loving, forever hungry, generous and intelligent man who always took an interest in their latest endeavours, often providing guidance and advice.

Nick finished Year 12 at Geelong Grammar School in 1983, however he wasn’t done with playing school boy rugby and decided to repeat his final year at Canberra Grammar School purely so he could play another year of rugby!