LEGENDARY Queensland Santa Gertrudis bull breeder and commercial cattleman Alastair Bassingthwaighte passed away yesterday aged 81, after a short illness.

One of the most successful seedstock producers in Australia, Mr Bassingthwaighte and wife Louise built up the family’s Yarrawonga and Waco Santa studs over 65 years to become one of the cornerstone genetic building blocks of the nation’s beef industry.

Just four years after the breed’s arrival in Australia in 1952, Alastair’s father David in 1956 established Yarrawonga, located near Wallumbilla on Queensland’s western Darling Downs as Santa Gertrudis Breeders Association of Australia Stud Number 28.

The herd was based on Shorthorn females then being crossed with Brahmans. The stud herd was built around imported King Ranch bloodlines, with the foundation sire being King Ranch Associate soon followed by Risdon Banjo. The Santa breed’s most influential early sire, Elgin Downs A25 provided the stud’s foundations.

Alastair later drew a ballot block he called Waco (in honour of King Ranch’s local town in Texas) about an hour from Yarrawonga. After Dave and Mary Bassingthwaighte retired to Brisbane the two studs – Yarrawonga and Waco – were managed by Alastair and Louise.

The Bassingthwaighte family held its first bull sale in late September 1959, selling 30 Santa cross bulls, and has not failed to hold an annual sale in the 65 years that have followed. Bulls have sold across mainland Australia plus Tasmania, as well as overseas.

During the 1974-78 Beef Slump era, the family purchased Kiah in the Taroom district, neighbouring Waco.

The studs continued to evolve and make headlines in both show rings and sale arenas. Two years in succession, Elgin Downs A25 was named Santa Gertrudis Sire of The Year, with Alastair and Louise undertaking extensive overseas trips to familiarise themselves with global Santa breeding trends.  The 1988 Yarrawonga and Waco Sale created history being the first bull sale in Australia to gross more than $1 million in turnover. The next year, at the 1989 Anniversary Sale, Yarrawonga Zupert sold for the then breed record of $70,000.

As was the custom of the era, Yarrawonga Waco was a prominent stud beef competitor across the nation, exhibiting at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Royal Shows  since 1970, plus the Rockhampton Beef Expos held since 1988.

The stud’s tally of grand championships will likely never be bettered, with 30 bull and 27 female grand championships garnered in Brisbane since 1970. Southern states Royal Shows plus Beef Expos have yielded an additional 74 male and female grand championships. All this was achieved in the Santa judging ring, which often included the largest lineups of any breed on the grounds.

Just one of the stud’s countless show-ring highlights came at the World Santa Gertrudis Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Yarrawonga Xmas was judged grand champion bull.

Alastair Bassingthweaighte also had a well-earned reultation as an astute, informed and erudite judge of Santa cattle as well as other breeds, judging at major stud stock and led steer exhibitions from Rockhampton all the way to Perth, as well as overseas.

At a time during the early 1990s when the trend in Santa cattle breeding (as well as some other breeds) was towards larger and larger framescore, Alastair Bassingthwaighte led a movement back towards breeding more efficient, fertile, moderate framescore cattle, less exposed to maintenance challenges during periods of drought.

Over the years the Bassingthwaightes expanded their operations, with properties dedicated to growing weaners and herd bulls. At its peak the aggregation covered some 100,000ha, with other properties included Waco near Taroom, Dulacca West near Jackson, Stockade near Tambo and Lennox, outside Jericho.

Alastair Bassingthwaighte served for long periods as president of the Santa Gertrudis Breeders Association, and acted as a Royal Queensland Show Councillor for more than 25 years. He, along with his wife Louise were made Honorary Life Members of the Santa Gertrudis Breeders Association of Australia. In 2016 he was saluted for his contribution to the worldwide seedstock industry and the Santa Gertrudis breed with a presentation at the Fort Worth Livestock Show in Texas.

Alastair Bassingthwaighte is survived by his wife Louise, sons David and Andrew, daughter Wendy and their families.

SGBA statement:

The Santa Gertrudis Breeders Australia Association issued this statement:

An astute, well-respected cattleman and true gentlemen of the bush is how members of the Santa Gertrudis Breeders Association are remembering their former president and longest-serving councillor, Alastair Bassingthwaighte, who died on Sunday, October 6 at the age of 81.

SGBAA President Liz Allen said Mr Bassingthwaighte’s contribution to the breed and the broader Australian beef industry was immeasurable.

We’ve lost a man of grand vision, a mentor to countless cattlemen and women across Australia,” Ms Allen said. “He was always generous with his time, guidance and advice. He was someone we all aspired to be like.”

Renowned for his decades-long career as a stud breeder, commercial beef producer and tireless promoter of Santa Gertrudis cattle throughout the show rings of Australia, exhibiting animals from the Yarrawonga and Waco studs operated in tandem with wife Louise at Wallumbilla and Mungallala near Roma in Queensland, Mr Bassingthwaighte was drafted early in life to play a key role in the SGBAA’s administration.

Norn June 28, 1943, he was elected to the SGBAA Council in 1971, a position he would hold for a further 46 years until his retirement in 2016. He served as President from August 1987 until August 1989, earning Life Membership in 1992 with Louise, and elected Patron in 2016. His legacy, started by his parents David and Mary who established Yarrawonga in 1956, fours year after Santa Gertrudis genetics first came to Australia, continues with his sons David, the current SGBAA Deputy President, and Andrew, operating the Waco and Yarrawonga studs respectively, while daughter Wendy Ferguson is the co-principal of Glenn Oaks Santa stud, Nobby with husband Scott, also an SGBAA councillor.

Ms Allen said the indelible impression left on the Santa Gertrudis breed via Mr Bassingthwaighte’s unparalleled length of service and many noted achievements in taking the breed forward would make his passing keenly felt throughout the Santa Gertrudis community, both in Australia and overseas.

“His energy and contribution to the Santa Gertrudis breed was without peer,” she said.

“The entire Santa Gertrudis family extends its condolences to the Bassingthwaighte and Ferguson families.”

• Funeral arrangements have not yet been advised, but will be added here when made available.