Vestey was the chairman of the Meat Training Council from 1991 to 1995, before becoming chairman of the Vestey Group (now
Vestey Holdings) in 1995. He was also a
liveryman of the
Worshipful Company of Butchers. In 1980, a
Sunday Times investigation revealed that he and his cousin,
Edmund Hoyle Vestey, were found to have paid just £10 in tax on the £2.3m profit made by the family's Dewhurst chain.
Wave Hill walk-off Through his family company, Vestey was associated with
Wave Hill Station during the
Wave Hill walk-off, which began in 1966. Around 200
Gurindji workers and their families walked off the station after negotiations with its owners broke down over the non-payment of wages and reliance on rations, later expanding their demands to include the return of traditional lands. The dispute later became a landmark event in the
Indigenous Australian land rights movement, contributing to the passage of the
Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 and shaping subsequent debates over Indigenous land ownership and
native title. The strike and Vestey's role in it were referenced in
Ted Egan's song "Gurindji Blues", written in 1969 with
Vincent Lingiari, and later popularised in the 1991 song "
From Little Things Big Things Grow" by
Paul Kelly and
Kev Carmody. It also appears in Irish folk musician
Damien Dempsey's song "Wave Hill Walk Off", from his 2016 album
No Force on Earth. ==Public service==