Two of a kind

Melissa Calder-mason and her daughter Taya are beautifying Newcastle, one property and one dress at a time.

If you’ve noticed the city looking particularly gorgeous lately, it’s likely due to boutique property developer Melissa Calder-Mason and her entrepreneurial daughter, Taya. While Taya is busy outfitting Newcastle in designer dresses through her business, Goldie’s Dress Hire, Melissa is enhancing the city and its surrounds with timeless homes and grand estates. “We’re a family of doers, we don’t overthink things, we just do it,” Melissa says.

That enterprising spirit is behind Melissa’s decades-long career in designing, building and refurbishing elegant and highly functional properties in the region. After studying interior design and building her first home with her husband Tony at 23, she knew she would never be happy working for other people so found opportunities for property development instead. “It was very hard at the beginning because my husband ran an ultrasound practice but he was my man-slave at the weekend, plus I had three kids so it was pretty full on,” she says.

Taya has found a way to outwit a $27 billion industry and carve her own path in life

Melissa, 54, has developed numerous houses and highrises around Newcastle and she owns and runs luxury Hunter Valley accommodation Whitevale Estate. Also in her portfolio is high end wedding venue Greystone Estate, which features Gow House – the historic Merewether home Melissa purchased, split down the middle and transported to Pokolbin on the back of two trucks. “I like doing things I haven’t done before, and I hadn’t done that before so I thought I’d have a go. The house is so beautiful, I knew Betty who owned it. I didn’t want to pull it down and I knew the neighbours would hate me if I did. We had the property in the country and we thought, let’s just move it.”

But the project she holds closest to her heart is a boarding house for people with a disability. “When I put forward the plans, I think I had 50 objections, but I ended up doing it. The people who live there couldn’t live by themselves, but could live in a community. That’s one of my proudest achievements. I drive past and think there are 18 people who live in that property that now have independence. That makes my heart happy.”

Melissa’s sense of community, business drive and sharp eye for exquisite design has been passed down to Taya. Goldie’s, which Taya Calder-Mason opened just weeks before Covid-19 lockdowns were introduced, houses hundreds of designer dresses for hire in sizes 4-18. When Covid hit, Taya, 24, spent the downtime thinking about how she could expand her business and today, the store is triple the original size and employs three staff. “Adapt or die is my mentality,” she says.

While helping women to affordably dress in beautiful clothing is one of Taya Calder-Mason main goals, she’s also helping reduce the city’s fashion footprint. Goldie’s ‘Rent Your Dress’ program allows local women to hire out the designer dresses they have at home for a commission, and the nature of the business itself is inherently sustainable.

“We had 120 women hiring a dress last weekend, that’s 120 women who haven’t gone out and bought a dress they’ll wear once, then it will sit in their wardrobe, then it will eventually end up in landfill,” Taya says. “It’s about being smarter than the fashion industry tells us to be.”

It comes as no surprise to her mum that Taya has found a way to outwit a $27 billion industry and carve her own path in life. “I knew by the time she was five that she wouldn’t work for someone else,” Melissa says, laughing.

“I don’t like being told what to do,” Taya says, echoing Melissa’s early thoughts on her career. “I’m very much my own person. I think the only time mum and I fight is when I ask for an opinion, then when she gives it to me I don’t like it. But then it makes me realise I already knew what I wanted to do all along