Stan Wallace - Best of the Bush Dinner 2013 - video Dailymotion

Queensland Country Life

A 2013 video tribute to Stan Wallace, former QCL columnist who has died, aged 91. The video was from the Best of the Bush Dinner 2013, which QCL hosted in Brisbane.

Transcript

00:00When Stan Wallace joined Queensland Country Life in 1992, he was already a legend across Queensland.

00:07He had built a reputation as being the livestock agent, whose word was his bond,

00:12and the deal he had helped strike between the buyer and the seller was the genuine interest of both parties.

00:19But it was the closure of Cannon Hill Sow Yards in Brisbane that marked the start of Stan Wallace's hugely successful career as a journalist.

00:26The man who had spent a lifetime in the agency industry and risen to the heights of Dalgettys, Queensland's livestock manager,

00:34was as of that Monday, as Stan still likes to refer to himself, a cub reporter.

00:40Stan, like me, was a charitable boy.

00:42He followed his career then as a manager at Mitchell and Roma, where he did very well.

00:49People liked him, he was good at his work, and he became known as Al's son, the length and breadth of Queensland.

00:57Stan has certainly had a huge impact through his time as an agent,

01:04and more recently his time with the Queensland Country Life.

01:10He's very sincere, he's so passionate about it, and his wonderful knowledge,

01:16which he's been able to contribute to everybody he's met and whatever he's done in life.

01:22Initially, Stan began writing his instantly popular column by hand and sending the seven or eight pages of copy

01:28and by the still relatively new phenomenon that was the fax machine.

01:33Not that journalism was an instant fit for a bloke who spent a lifetime arm with a little more than a company-issue blue pocket book

01:39and a pencil as a way of keeping track of even the biggest livestock deal.

01:43Each week, the entire column would be retyped and working with then-market EDDA, and now Queensland Country Life EDDA, Mark Phelps.

01:53The column that was published each Thursday was the effort of hours of discussion and analysis

01:59to give Queensland Country Life readers a real insight into rural Queensland, and in particular, the cattle market.

02:06I still remember the first time he came into the offices in 1992.

02:11You considered yourself a cub reporter then, and it was certainly a very big change from the catwalks of Cannon Hill.

02:18I've certainly learned a lot from you, and I look forward to a very long involvement yet.

02:23I first encountered Stan when I was a young reporter with the Queensland Country Life, based in Rockhampton, covering Beef 94.

02:30I first met Stan when I joined the editorial team in Queensland Country Life in 1995.

02:36When I started in that role, the two people I really wanted to meet was Malcolm McCosker and Stan Wallace.

02:43In retrospect, it's one of the best things that he ever said yes to, and as you know, he's still pursuing that career, loving every minute of it.

02:53But Stan's greatest strength from his first day with New Zealand loan, later NZL, which was taken over by Dalgetti,

03:02from working Sariavsa to Guluwa, Mitchell, Roma, Charleville, Miriam Vale, or Cannon Hill,

03:08was his boundless enthusiasm and respect for the people he worked with, and even competed against.

03:15As an example, Jim Scully.

03:18Stan's biggest contribution to rural Queensland is his dedication and ability to talk to people

03:26in his capacity as Dalgetti's chief auctioneer, of which he knew people from the length and breadth of Queensland.

03:33And I think someone said that he had a beer in every pub from Birdsville to Brisbane and Tweed Heads to Cookdown.

03:40I don't know whether that's right or not.

03:42In the very early 80s, as a result of the mergers, I found myself as a new boy at Dalgetti,

03:47and I was a bit lonely, and I can clearly remember Stan coming to my office and saying,

03:57Oh, mate, how can I help? I'm your friend.

04:01Stan was actually my father's and grandfather's stock agent at Tguluwa.

04:06At a weekly get-together of the Cannon Hill sale yard, where Stan would be selling,

04:12and now as a livestock buyer would be buying,

04:14and he had a great habit of forgetting that there was a 0.8.

04:19He would go 2.4 to the dollar, forget about the 0.8.

04:24Stan was always ready to share an opportunity,

04:27especially at the scene when the going was tough in the bush.

04:31It was Stan Wallace who was there with the mob of steers

04:33that would ultimately put dollars in the bank for his clients.

04:37Stan brought that same honesty to his writing.

04:40Here is what is happening in the market.

04:43Here's the people who are involved, and here's the opportunity.

04:47I think Stan's ability to deliver uplifting news,

04:51he certainly explodes the myth that good news doesn't sell.

04:54I know a lot of people that look forward to buying their country life

04:57to see what Stan's got to say this week.

04:59He always has interesting stories.

05:02He'll always present both sides of the story,

05:05whether it be the irrigation boys at St George or the live cattle trade.

05:10He will go and search out additional information that we all wait to hear.

05:16He's been one of those guys who actually knows everybody.

05:22He's connected with so many people over the years.

05:26He's been a real conduit in the bush.

05:28And his impact and influence over so many people

05:33stems back many, many years now.

05:36But of course, Stan is also known for his love of a good get-together with his mates.

05:41Often referred to as Queensland's oldest teenager,

05:44Stan has taken the loyal readers to almost every part of the globe

05:47on his study tour he organises with his close friend and travel expert, Mel Haycock.

05:52I was lucky enough to go with Stan early in his travelling life to Mexico

05:58where we took a bus from one side of Mexico to the other

06:03getting to know a lot of major producers in that area.

06:08Stan Lee took me away and taught me how to judge cattle at a sale,

06:13find out early in the morning who's going to pay the most with which pen

06:16and pick that. You'll never be wrong.

06:19Stan's greatest supporter, of course,

06:21has been his wife, Margie, who continues to hope

06:24that Stan Lee will one day appear in a picture

06:26where he is not holding a glass of red wine.

06:31Stan Wallace, good on you, old son.

06:34You're the best of the bush.

06:38Larger than life.

06:41Everybody he meets, you are immediately my best mate.

06:45He's unstoppable.

06:47A mighty man.

06:48A legend.

06:49I think that Stan Wallace is a true connector.

06:52Stanley, you're a legend, my little flowerpot.

06:55I think he's a positive, relational force of nature.

06:59I think Stan is just the best of the bush.

Stan Wallace - Best of the Bush Dinner 2013

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