EXCLUSIVE
Bruce Lehrmann’s former landlady, Gaenor Meakes, is the mother of a rugby star and ex-partner of a sailing champion, but that doesn’t mean she’s noble.
Ms Meakes has recently made headlines for suing her accused rapist for the damage he allegedly caused to her $3.7 million home and is almost always known as ‘Lady Gaenor Meakes’.
Where Mrs Meakes obtained this title, which is usually awarded to the daughter of a duke, marquess or earl, or to a woman married to a lord or lord, is a mystery.
Ms Meakes, whose Instagram username is ‘ladygaenor’, is the daughter of the late distinguished Sydney architect Paul Reid and his wife Krythia and was married to lawyer Tim Meakes.
A notice of the couple’s engagement in The Sydney Morning Herald published in October 1986 referred to the bride-to-be simply as Gaenor Reid.
The birth of their first daughter, Matilda, in September 1988, was announced in the same publication and the parents were called Gaenor and Timothy.
There is no Lady Gaenor Meakes listed in the two recognized guides to aristocratic families in the Commonwealth nations, Debrett’s and Burke’s Peerage.
Gaonor Meakes has accused Bruce Lehrmann of causing $13,250 worth of damage to his home in Balgowlah, on Sydney’s northern beaches. She is referred to in media reports as ‘Lady Gaenor Meakes’, but how she came to use that title is a mystery.
A newspaper article about real estate on Sydney’s northern beaches published in November 2001 cited the then Manly resident simply as Gaenor Meakes.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Meakes and members of her immediate family, as well as her ex-lawyer husband, for clarification on the honorary title, but none of them responded.
Ms Meakes has taken Lehrmann to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal seeking compensation for his one-year tenancy at his Balgowlah home on the northern beaches.
That property was purchased by Ms Meakes and her then partner Mark Richards for $2.45 million in 2019 and transferred into their names in September 2022.
Richards is an internationally renowned sailor and boatbuilder who has skippered Wild Oats XI to honors nine times in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
He had a long successful partnership with the late billionaire philanthropist Bob Oatley, the owner of Wild Oats XI who bought Hamilton Island in Queensland after selling his Rosemount winery in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley.
Ms Meakes is also well known in ocean racing circles and was named “godmother” of a yacht called Crystal Spirit when she was christened in a ceremony in the Seychelles, off the coast of East Africa, in 2015.
Edie Rodriguez, chief executive of the ship’s owner, Crystal Cruises, was delighted to be associated with Ms Meakes, who was then engaged to Richards.
Ms Meakes purchased the Network Seven-leased Balgowlah property for Bruce Lehrmann with his then partner Mark Richards for $2.45 million in 2019. Richards won line honors in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Wild Oats XI. The former couple appears in the photo in 2015.
Ms Meakes is also well known in ocean racing circles and was named “godmother” of a yacht called Crystal Spirit when she was christened in a ceremony in the Seychelles in 2015. She is pictured third from the left, in front of Crystal Spirit.
“Among many options for Crystal Espirit’s godmother, few are as passionately dedicated to the world of yachting as Lady Gaenor,” said Mr. Rodriguez.
Mrs Meakes, who was once described as “a legend in the yachting world” and is now in her 50s, split from Richards relatively recently.
One theory about Ms Meakes’ use of ‘Lady’ circulating around the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, based in Darling Point, is that ‘it’s just a nickname she gives herself for fun’.
A source who knows Ms Meakes said she was well regarded in the boating community and considered “a really nice lady”.
That source believed that the title ‘Lady’ was inadvertently given to her during an introduction to an American shipbuilder who did business with Richards ‘and she followed him’.
Another nautical source had heard that Ms Meakes was one of the 13,500 knights and ladies of the Order of Malta worldwide, which dates back to the 11th century.
There is nothing legally preventing a person from informally calling themselves “Lady”, “Dame”, “Sir” or “Lord” if they wish.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that Ms Meakes has engaged in any misleading conduct, only that the media has regularly referred to her as Lady Meakes.
Gaonor Meakes’ son Billy Meakes played Super Rugby for Perth’s Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels and signed a contract with the Chicago Hounds in the United States last year. He appears in the photo with his partner Michelle Battersby.
Bruce Lehrmann moved out of Ms Meakes’s Balgowlah home (above) in April, leaving behind what she claims is a $13,250 damage bill. Ms. Meakes also claims she is owed $6,000 in rent because Lehrmann vacated the property three weeks earlier.
Ms Meakes was largely unknown outside the yachting world until she became embroiled in the long-running saga that has engulfed Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins.
She was thrust into the spotlight after the Seven Network paid $2,000 a week for Lehrmann to live in their three-bedroom home as part of an exclusive interview deal.
Lehrmann had sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an episode of The Project which he claimed identified him as the rapist of his former colleague Ms Higgins.
The former political staffer lost that action at the Federal Court in April when Judge Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
By then Lehrmann had moved out of Ms Meakes’ home, leaving behind what she claimed at NCAT was a $13,250 damage bill.
Ms. Meakes also claimed she is owed $6,000 in rent because Lehrmann vacated the property three weeks earlier.
There is nothing legally preventing a person from informally calling themselves “Lady” or “Sir” if they wish and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Ms Meakes has engaged in any misleading conduct. She appears in the photo of her with her son Billy Meakes.
Bruce Lehrmann (above) sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an episode of The Project which he claimed identified him as having raped his former colleague Brittany Higgins.
A brief conciliation hearing on Wednesday at which Matilda Meakes appeared on behalf of her mother failed to resolve the difference between the parties.
Matilda Meakes, who describes herself on social media as a paralegal, law student and freelance writer, told reporters “it’s been a journey” as she left court.
When asked if her family knew Lehrmann was the property’s tenant, the 35-year-old said: “I don’t think anyone would be willing to rent the property to him, right?”
Matilda’s brother Billy is a professional rugby player who spent three years with the Melbourne Rebels after spells with Perth and Gloucester’s Western Force in England.
A product of St Joesph’s College rugby nursery in Hunters Hill, Meakes was called up to a Wallabies team seven years ago but was never capped by the national team.
The 33-year-old signed with the United States’ Chicago Hounds last year and welcomed his first child with partner Michelle Battersby in May.
Battersby is an entrepreneur with 40,000 followers on Instagram who is best known for launching the dating app Bumble in Australia when she was just 25 years old in 2016.
The 33-year-old has since founded the app Sunroom to help women and non-binary online creators make money.
Battersby was with Meakes at Coachella in 2022 when he was photographed at the California music festival alongside wheelchair tennis ace Dylan Alcott, who was then Australian of the Year.
The dispute over Lehrmann’s tenancy at Ms Meakes’ Balgowlah home returns to NCAT on June 27.
Lehrmann, who is appealing Judge Lee’s findings, is separately accused of raping a woman in Toowoomba, in Queensland’s Darling Downs, in October 2021.
The 29-year-old has indicated he wishes to plead not guilty and is due to appear at a committal hearing at Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday.
