gina rinehart - a daughter looks back

A daughter looks back on a father who loved his land.

Gina Rinehart From: The Australian June 14, 2010

DAD was born in Perth on June 10, 1909, to his parents Lillian and George Hancock who were pastoralists in the state's North West.

Dad enjoyed his childhood growing up in the bush, hunting dingoes, mustering sheep, fixing windmills, riding horses over thousands of miles and getting to know the area, but the North West of his youth was greatly different to the Pilbara of today.

For Dad to get to school in the 1920's, there were no cars to take him to the coast to catch the occasional ship to "civilisation" in Perth, but a long bumpy stretch of track over some 200 miles to the coast, for horse and buggy.

At the coast itself, there was no passenger terminal to then board the ship, but large baskets were lowered overboard for passengers to then climb into and be lifted aboard. More often than not, it was usually a rough sea journey down to school in Perth and at the end of the year, back from school, my father preferring the latter!

Such was the tyranny of distance and remoteness that there was little hope for people who became ill in the bush to get down to Perth for medical attention. Mothers had to look after sick children as best they could themselves, and people who had serious accidents could not get hospital attention. Nor was it possible to pick up a phone and ask for medical advice, as there were no phones in the Pilbara in those days, the people of the bush had to "learn to do for themselves, or do without". A phrase my father often said.

This was certainly the case with supplies that might only come up every six months or once a year. Weevils were in the flour by then, and a tin of jam was a luxury, you either made your own fruit and vegetable garden, or went without fresh fruit and vegetables. There was no nearby supermarket if you ran out of something, and no "Hungry Jacks" for a convenient meal.

The bush environment was harsh and unforgiving, for months on end over 100 degrees in the shade, damaging cyclones, dust storms, droughts, snakes, flies, mosquitoes, (over the decades this has not changed!), my father often said it was very hard for a woman to live in the bush.

Living in this harsh and remote environment gave my father an understanding of the North and a very strong desire to see the conditions improve for his family, other pastoralists and all people battling up there.

He actively campaigned for a tax free zone to be established north of the 26th parallel to encourage other people to live in the area and by so doing to bring more conveniences to the area enjoyed by larger centres of population.

He campaigned that those who lived in the north should receive this tax benefit immediately, and proposed that companies would have to reinvest their profits in the area to qualify for the tax benefit. Eventually a pale version of this appeared, but not significant enough to see the improvements for the north my father had strived for.

Dad's battles to improve the conditions in the Pilbara, did not stop there. His legendary flight of discovery on November 22, 1952, when flying south with his wife, my mother, Hope Hancock, and storm clouds forced him to fly low alongside the walls of a gorge, freshly washed by the rain, spearheaded dad towards pioneering the iron ore industry in the Pilbara.

Should I say, despite significant opposition and detractors. These jealous types even went as far as to say there were no recorded storm clouds that forced dad to fly low through that gorge, so dad was "lying" about his discovery flight. They are yet to be able to name and prove where such weather station was in this part of the then remote bush (which was in those days without even a road, let alone an airfield) to support their claim that there were no storm clouds!

My father however did have a witness, my mother Hope Hancock, who was in the plane, a little Auster, with him, and very grateful for my father's piloting skills on that bumpy, hazardous flight.

Exciting as the initial discovery flight was, that was only the beginning. My father went back early the next year, in 1953 after the cyclone season, found a flattish part of land to land his Auster on, brought the Auster down in the spinifex as there was no airstrip, and then over a period of time, walked 60 miles along the gorge area collecting rock samples. He then had to arrange to get these rock samples back to Perth some 1,000 miles, as that was where the nearest laboratory was. Months later he then learnt the assay results, the rock samples averaged 2% higher Fe than the feed then used for the American steel industry.

Dad immediately recognised he had found an iron ore discovery of world significance. But his recognising this and the Government suitably recognising this, were a long way apart.

My father, in addition to his ongoing exploration, had to lobby Canberra over an eight year period, to get the Federal Government to lift the government export embargo on iron ore. This was eventually achieved in 1960. In addition, and in stark contrast to the stories later concocted, my father had to lobby the then Government of West Australia to lift the pegging ban, so that it was possible to achieve title to the ore, title required for investment and development.

The concocted version readers may be familiar with was how the then government of West Australia was all ready for this massive development and made a major contribution towards assisting the development of WA's iron ore industry. The fact however remains that during the further one year's delay before the WA Government lifted its pegging ban, and the Government's lack of preparation for the massive development of the Pilbara iron ore industry which caused further delays, the world did not stop still and wait for the WA Government.

The news spread of the size and importance of this major iron ore field so close to Asia and as a consequence, when the iron ore contacts were eventually written they were written in terms of an ore buyers market, not iron ore sellers market, and an important lesson was learnt, (or should have been learnt) about the difference. This difference in revenue from ore sales directly and significantly impacted West Australia.

The development of this major iron ore industry was achieved by substantial private investment, including for new towns for the Pilbara, initially at Tom Price, Newman and Dampier, and the private investment provided modern shops, hospitals, post offices, police stations, schools, sporting facilities, hotels, cafes, garages, workshops etc plus more roads, better communications, airports, job training and opportunities, amenities those in the cities might take as the norm, but were greatly needed in the north.

Some of the amenities my father had strived over so many years to see brought to his beloved Pilbara, arrived in the mid 60's, thanks to this private investment (non Government) in the iron ore industry. Very exciting times. People came from many countries to work in the Pilbara. New towns were built, railways constructed, new port and new mines. The first ore from my father's discovery, Tom Price, was shipped from Dampier in 1966. Unfortunately, those jealous of my father's success, even gave others the credit for discovering Tom Price despite earlier maps drawn by Dr Bruno Campana and published in his book 'Hamersley and Its Men', showing the discovery of Tom Price prior to company geologists being sent there to collect samples, to which my father would reply - "well if I didnt find Tom Price, what in the bloody hell are Rio paying us royalties for?"

There were many obstacles against dad's vision for the north and his success. Steel mills he approached for investment initially told him "go away, find something nearer the coast" or "There's no (iron) ore there, we checked with the Bureau of Resources in Canberra".

Even in later years after Tom Price was developed, dad tried for a long time to get Rio executives interested in Paraburdoo. He was told by Rio "no, you could never build a railway in that country. It's too rugged". However dad persisted and eventually Paraburdoo was developed, a railway was built between Tom Price and Paraburdoo, a railway that has carried hundreds of millions of tonnes of ore, earning royalties for this State and providing many jobs, and great revenue for Rio! Indeed from dad's discoveries, more than two billion tons of ore have been sold, and this continues. Try to imagine where WA, which up until the Pilbara iron ore industry had been a mendicant or handout state, unable to support itself via its then largely agricultural and pastoral industry, would be without the benefit of such revenues.

Fortunately dad had immense persistence and perseverance, a persistence and perseverance that lost him friends, but provided so much for the north he loved, the State he loved and the country he loved.

My father strongly believed in the importance of the mining industry to Australia and our future, to grow Australia's economy, to improve the standards of living for Australians, to help pay for our defence, our police, our hospitals and medical care, to improve our infrastructure in remote areas, to provide opportunities for Australians and so on. His own life contributed to this and the company he founded, continues to do so today.

My father also recognised the importance of continuing to welcome investment into the Australian mining industry for our future. He recognised Australia was not in a unique position having mineral resources and never closed a blind eye to the reality that the rest of the world also had mineral resources, but recognised we must compete for investment.

My father became increasingly outspoken against policies that he believed would be destructive to Australia's future. Such as policies that reduced our competitiveness when our resources need to compete on the world market, or policies that made our country less attractive to investment.

He did not go along with theoretical views that did not consider the real world, that could be harmful to Australia's future.

My father was well known for his views that greater taxation levels did not lead to greater investment and greater tax revenues, stating instead if you raise taxes excessively those who can leave that tax regime will do so instead of paying increased taxes. He used to cite the doctors who left Britain when personal taxes were raised and the obvious result this had on the standard and availability of medical care in Britain. Even the pop industry, such as the famous Mick Jagger and colleagues, left Britain to escape raised tax rates. In other words, the theory of raising tax levels to increase tax revenue didn't (and does not) work.

Dad also cited the examples of Ceylon and Rhodesia, both wealthy countries in their own right decades ago, until the popular mantra was raised of taxing the rich more to redistribute to others, with resultant severe declines in those countries economies, and their people unfortunately being worse off than they were decades ago.

As dad used to say - "it takes a hell of a lot of thought and effort to create something, but it only takes little thought to destroy".

So today, as we commemorate what would be my father's 101st birthday and think of the efforts he put into this country to give it a far better future, is there really any question as to what his birthday wish would be? "Keep Australia Strong - No RSPT"

It is wonderful for me and our family to be greeted by people who, despite the negative endeavours of some, admire my father's work ethic and perseverance, his love for his country and outstanding contribution to Australia and its future, and appreciate what he did for our country.

If you asked me, as some do, if Lang Hancock were with us today what would he do? I can guess after munching on that birthday pavlova, we would be off to the office, stirring up so called industry "leaders" who try to delicately walk a tight rope without commitment, in the hope that they are devoured last, encouraging those who do stand up for Australia's interests, trying to correct a barrage of misinformed or theoretical comment, and in particular stating that this RSPT debate has gone on too long, Australia is being badly damaged whilst this RSPT risk continues, and calling for our PM to throw out the RSPT in the interests of Australia for all the rational reasons involved.

And later that morning, he liked early starts, no doubt he would progress enthusiastically, what else he could do for the north, before heading off for a game or two of tennis.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/