A pastoral empire that stretches across 5.8 million hectares has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
The North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Ltd (NAPCO) was one of six Queensland business icons inducted into the Hall of Fame at a gala dinner in Brisbane last night (July 28). (A digital story on NAPCO can be viewed here)
Now in its eighth year, the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame is a joint initiative between the QUT Business School, State Library of Queensland and Queensland Library Foundation.
The 2016 inductees are NAPCO, construction icon Sir Manuel Hornibrook, Queensland IT industry pioneer Mincom, Australia’s first female stockbroker Margaret Mittelheuser AM, insurance and banking giant Suncorp Group and leading company director Rod Wylie OBE.
The awards were presented by The Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Governor of Queensland, during the black-tie event at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The North Australian Pastoral Company is one of Australia’s most outstanding and enduring beef producers and today has around 200,000 cattle.
Its 13 cattle stations cover over 5.8 million hectares across Queensland and the Northern Territory and the largest, Alexandria (first acquired in 1877) in the NT, alone exceeds the size of Northern Ireland.
The company was founded in 1877 as a partnership between three Queenslanders – businessmen Thomas McIlwraith and William Forrest, who met on the goldfields, and Beaudesert cattle expert William Collins – and two English investors.
NAPCO survived dual financial and drought crises that swept Queensland in the 1890s due in no small measure to its Burdekin properties, which were less drought affected and close to abattoirs.
The first two decades of the 20th Century were also challenging due to more drought, war and changes in NAPCO’s ownership structure.
A turning point in the company’s history arrived in 1937 when Francis Foster invested in NAPCO, taking an 18 per cent interest which grew to 43 per cent, bringing with him exceptional pastoral skills and a long term vision.
Through successive generations of the Foster family NAPCO has enjoyed an enviable level of stability which laid the basis for development of their composite breeding program and pioneering contributions to land care, conservation and disease minimization.
William Foster, who is a director of NAPCO today, said several successful modern leaders had helped shape the company over the past 30 years – Chris Lyndon (a board member from 1986 to 2015, and chairman from 1990 to 2015), Ross Brunckhorst (general manager from 1982 to 1995) and Nigel Alexander (the CEO for the past 20 years).
“The significance of NAPCO also lies in the company’s ability to adapt and innovate through its long history, and in many ways it has been a path breaker in the cattle industry in Queensland,” Mr Foster said.
“I think it’s a great Queensland story because of the longevity of the company – 1877 to today – because of the stability of the company over that period, because of the long term perspective taken over that time, the ability of the company to innovate and adapt to circumstances, the focus on environmental awareness and the planning for the best use of the available resources. And I think it is really a matter of the role that the company has played in Queensland as a whole, and in the beef cattle industry.”
CEO Nigel Alexander said NAPCO had a strong history of managing the environment for profitable but ecologically sound outcomes and had ensured it didn’t overtax its pastures and always had grass in reserve.
“In more recent times, we’ve been instrumental in developing some of the world’s largest nature refuge agreements,” he said. “And this is something that the company has been extremely proud to be part of. It has (shown) that cattle production and a sound environmental footprint can go hand in hand.”
In May 2016, QIC Limited (a Queensland government owned corporation) acquired a 79 per cent interest in NAPCO, with members of the Foster family owning the remaining 21 per cent.
Professor Peter Little, QUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Corporate Programs and Partnerships), is on the Hall of Fame’s governing committee which chose this year’s inductees.
“The inspiring business leaders inducted in 2016 have demonstrated the innovation, entrepreneurship and resilience that are typical Queensland traits,” he said.
“Their extraordinary stories of enterprise have helped shape the development of this great state and they will forever be valued and remembered.”
Digital stories on all the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame members can be viewed online at www.halloffame.slq.qld.gov.au.
State Librarian and CEO Sonia Cooper said the Hall of Fame ensured the businesses and individuals who had played vital roles in the state’s business landscape would be recognised and remembered.
“The Hall of Fame records, retells and celebrates their outstanding stories, and highlights the importance of documenting, collecting and preserving Queensland’s business heritage for future generations,” she said.
Last night’s induction dinner also included the presentation of the 2016 Queensland Business History Award to architecture firm Conrad Gargett by the Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business, Leeanne Enoch.
Release date: Friday, July 29, 2016
Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, media@qut.edu.au or 07 3138 9449
- Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, media@qut.edu.au of 0407 585 901
** Biographies, high-res images and digital stories of this year’s inductees are available for media use.
TWITTER: Follow the event on the night - #qblhof
