Leslie Thiess
Sir Leslie Charles Thiess CBE was a construction and mining industries entrepreneur, based in Queensland, Australia. He was one of the founders of Thiess Bros, later known as Thiess Pty Ltd.
Thiess founded the contracting business, Thiess Bros, in partnership with Henry Horn in 1933. Under his leadership, the company became a major contractor in Queensland and was the subject of an initial public offering on the Sydney and Brisbane Stock Exchanges in 1958.
In 1968 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1971 he was knighted.
In the 1980s he allegedly delivered a hangar to the property of Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and did private civil engineering works for him that were written off as "Queensland Government Projects". He retired from the business in 1978.
In 1999 he received posthumously the Distinguished Constructor Award from the Queensland University of Technology.
