In 1891, Carpenter left school at age 14 to join the Sydney office of
Burns, Philp & Co, Limited. In 1895, he was transferred to the firm's office at
Esperance, Western Australia, and in 1896 to the
Thursday Island, Queensland office. When
World War I erupted, he capitalized on the importance of
copra for making
munitions and as a food, and took enormous risks with resulting large profits which enabled his company to expand into New Guinea when the Australian government expropriated German property. The company branched out as major storekeepers, traders, and property owners in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, establishing W. R. Carpenter & Co. (Papua New Guinea) Ltd. in 1919 and W. R. Carpenter & Co. (Solomon Islands) Ltd. in 1922. In New Guinea, Carpenter took advantage of the development of the
Morobe gold fields to acquire hotels in
Wau and
Bulolo, set up electrical power plants and cold storage facilities, and operated a fleet of inter-island steamers and a desiccated-coconut factory. In 1933 he established the first
air service between
Salamaua and Wau with two
De Havilland Fox Moth aircraft, followed in 1934 by a direct shipping line between Australia, the Western Pacific, and European ports. In 1935 he launched an insurance company and in 1936 expanded his airline through a government-subsidized route between
Rabaul and Australia. At the outbreak of
World War II Carpenter's ships and aircraft were commandeered by Australian and British forces, so in 1940 he travelled to the United States and purchased two freighters which he operated in the Pacific free of European control. He formed a new company in Canada and built a copra-crushing mill near Vancouver to access the North American market. His buildings and plantations in New Guinea and the Solomon,
Gilbert, and
Ellice islands were destroyed when Japan entered the war, but he continued to benefit from wartime prosperity in Fiji, and later received compensation for war damage to his holdings. ==Philanthropy==