SENATE HANSARD
LANG HANCOCK AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Extracts from a Speech by Senator IAN
CAMPBELL
to the Senate on Monday 18 November 2002
Regarding the 50th Anniversary of the
Pilbara Iron Ore Industry.
About 50 years ago a storm blew through the Pilbara region of Western
Australia—in fact, around the Hamersley Range National Park. That particular
storm had an incredible influence on the history of Western Australia and
ultimately on the economic wealth of Australia. It forced a small aeroplane,
known as an Auster, and anyone who wants to see what this aircraft looks
like can travel to Kalgoorlie and see the plane, down below the cloud line
and into those famous gorges throughout the Hamersley Ranges. Flying that
little plane was Lang Hancock. This week we will commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the discovery of the greatest iron ore province in the world
by someone who is a legend, and who was a legend in their own lifetime. A
man with limited education, a pastoralist with no training in geology,
discovered one of the greatest resources and brought to fruition its
development. It had the effect of changing Western Australia from a
mendicant state, a state with a very little capacity, into a powerhouse
state within the Australian economy that now creates over 30 per cent of the
export wealth of this nation.
Lang Hancock wrote some years later: I was flying down south with my wife,
Hope, and we left a little bit later than usual, and by the time we got over
the Hamersley Ranges the clouds had formed and the ceiling got lower and
lower. I got into the Turner River, knowing full well that if I followed it
through I would come out into the Ashburton. On going through the gorge in
the Turner, I noticed that the walls looked to me to be solid iron and was
particularly alerted by the rusty looking colour of it. It showed to me to
be an oxidised iron.
This was the beginning of a quite extraordinary story, and I think it is
entirely appropriate tonight that not only the Senate but all Australians
note that this week is the 50th anniversary of a man who created an economic
miracle for Western Australia and Australia.
By the end of the fifties it had been established that the Pilbara was rich
in iron ore; however, there were a number of bureaucratic hurdles. These
hurdles and the ensuing political fights would test Lang Hancock throughout
his life, almost to his dying days. One hurdle was the Commonwealth
government embargo on exports which, after many years of vigorous and
relentless lobbying by Lang, was raised. Another hurdle was the state
government bans on pegging. Much of this is already history, and history
shows us that Lang realised how he could overcome some of the state hurdles
to the development. He pulled together some very powerful international
backers and, with the backing of Rio Tinto, which went on to form Conzinc
Rio Tinto Australia or Rio, as we know it now, and which in turn created
Hamersley Iron, the Hamersley Mine at Mount Tom Price was commissioned in
1962.
Within five years a further four iron ore mines were created, and the towns
of Mount Tom Price, Newman, Paraburdoo, Pannawonica, the port at Port
Hedland, Karratha and Dampier were created—effectively developing an area
that prior to that had been predominantly developed for pastoral leases and
other purposes.
The history of Lang Hancock is not only about developing the iron ore
provinces— although they were absolutely crucial to the development of the
powerhouse economy of Western Australia. I am sure all Western Australians
would ask themselves just how far the development would have gone in the
Pilbara region if it had not been for Lang Hancock and his partner, Peter
Wright. Would we have had the North West Shelf development? Would we have
had places like Dampier and others being developed there? Would we have had
the highway networks and the railway networks? To a large extent, the answer
is either no or other developments would have been somewhat delayed as a
result.
The mines have earned hundreds of billions of dollars worth of export
earnings and royalties for the state—last year, I am told, it was $286
million. They have not only brought significant social benefits but also the
development of fantastic technological advances to Western Australia and
Australia as a whole.
I
had the great privilege of taking Australia’s Treasurer, Peter Costello, to
the Pilbara in an RAAF Falcon jet in July of this year. We both reminisced
about the flights we had taken there with Lang Hancock when we were young
men. He made a habit of taking politicians, journalists and civil servants
on trips to his beloved Pilbara to try to convince the southerners and the
easterners just how important these discoveries were and that, if only the
bureaucrats and the politicians would realise that if they would just get
out of his way and let him build his railway and let him get on with
building his ports, all of Australia’s economic woes could be changed.
I
owe a great debt of gratitude to Lang Hancock. I must have been about the
age of 21 or 22 when he took me up there. He certainly opened my eyes to
that region of the state and to the great possibilities of its mining
development. Since then, I have visited there more times than I can count. I
have very fond and clear memories of sitting in the backyard of Lang’s
property at Wittenoom and watching a movie that I think he has shown all of
us— it must have been a pretty worn out old tape by the time I got to see
it. I shared four days with Ken McCamey and Lang on that visit.
A
lot has happened in Western Australia since then, and it is sad to say that
I think a lot of people’s memory of him has been tarnished. I want to put on
the record that I think a number of the controversies that have surrounded
him after his death will diminish in time and that people will remember the
enormous contribution that Lang and Peter Wright made to the development of
Western Australia.
Lang Hancock was a remarkable character. He worked very long, hard and
courageous hours. He supported his family and many others. He once spent
seven months of a year in the saddle herding sheep and hunting dingos. It
was a lonely existence in the very remote parts of the north-west. He was a
passionate pilot and learned the basic skills in very short lessons. In the
opinion of his lifetime friend and cousin—a mutual friend because I had the
privilege of knowing this man too—Air Vice Marshal Sir Valston Hancock said
that Lang was probably the finest bush pilot in the country. After having
established himself as a bush pilot, he established his own facilities to
service his plane. There were no aircraft maintenance facilities in the
Pilbara at the time. He built his own workshop and obtained the relevant
qualifications to service his own planes. At the age of 65, he went on to
become a qualified pilot of a Falcon jet. Those of us who have flown in
Falcons would know that that is no mean feat for a person of 30 or 40 years
of age. It shows the dedication and the devotion of the man to have pursued
that at the age of 65. Quite simply, Lang Hancock was a remarkable
character. Having signed the royalty agreements with Rio and with Hamersley
Iron, he could have taken the soft option and retired at a very young age
anywhere in the world as a multi-multimillionaire. He chose not to. His
dream was to develop his own mine and a railway across Australia to link the
coalmines of Queensland with the iron ore mines of Western Australia and to
develop downstream processing.
That dream is now carried on by his daughter, his grand-daughter and his
grandson. I wish them well in their quest, but the important thing tonight
is that the Senate remember Lang Hancock and his fantastic contribution to
the great state of Western Australia and to the Commonwealth of Australia.