In 1924, Harold Cottee gave up the study of law to marry an English nurse, Lois Spencer, who persuaded him to move to Sydney and try to make a success of the company registered by him and his father in 1927 (The Bulletin 30 July 1968).

While Spencer jumped from one venture to the next, his forward-thinking son Harold (HW) was curious like his father, but his curiosity was piqued more by people, particularly how their individual talents could be harnessed to ensure the success of his projects.

Their task was made more difficult when in 1929 the Great Depression following the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash led to many businesses closing down.

In 1961, he introduced passion fruit growing to Fiji and, after the sale of Cottee's Ltd., he bought the business himself to ensure the people of Sigatoka could continue to produce a cash crop and develop their community.

Cottee piped water several kilometres from the Murray River, and the property eventually became the largest citrus farm in the southern hemisphere, developed specifically as a donation to Wesley Mission.

On 12 June 1971, Harold Warnock Cottee, company director, received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to industry and the community,[3] and was about to be knighted when he died in 1973.