LEGENDARY Queensland stock and station agent Stan Wallace – known to his thousands of friends and colleagues as ‘Old son’ – has passed away overnight, following a short illness. He was 92.

Stan was truly the quintessential first-era stock and station agent: hard-working, hard drinking, markets and opportunity-aware; and heavily reliant on personal networks and relationships to put business deals together. His working footprint extended right across the top half of Australia.

Stan Wallace during a visit to Cubbie Station, Dirranbandi. Image courtesy: Queensland Country Life

Stan will be remembered as a larger-than-life character who always made those around him feel valued, welcome and respected.

He was a fiercely loyal ‘umbrella man’ (the old Dalgety Winchcombe logo) his entire working life.

Stan’s early career from the 1950s was mostly spent in western Queensland, putting large cattle and sheep deals together for far-flung clients.

He gained his first branch management appointment in his mid-20s, firstly at small Dalgety branches like Mungallala and Morven, before progressing to bigger branches like Charleville, Winton, Roma and Longreach as his obvious talents shone through. Australia’s wool boom swept through the first years of his career.

He later worked on large corporate and pastoral company accounts out of Dalgety’s Brisbane head-office, and worked out of the now defunct Cannon Hill Saleyards – at the time the largest cattle and sheep saleyards in northern Australia.

Stan had a million anecdotes of his eventful early agency life in western Queensland. Many of the readers of this tribute will have their own.

One involved a road trip north to Longreach, where a large sheep sale was happening. Arrangements had been made for Stan to pick up a large client on the highway, on the way, and drop him home on the way back after the sale. Stan was distracted near the designated pick-up point heading north, and the client saw him sail past in a cloud of dust.

The client resorted to hitching a ride north with a stranger, got to Longreach, and ultimately bought half the yarding, making the sale a huge success. Everybody retired to the Longreach Club to celebrate the great result.

By 9pm, Stan decided it was time to hit the road back to Mungallala, and promptly forgot his client a second time. Despite that, Stan continued to buy and sell his sheep for years afterwards.

It was during Stan’s retirement party hosted by Dalgety supremo Malcolm Capp in 1991 that this reporter came up with the notion of ‘re-inventing’ Stan as a cattle and sheep markets commentator.

Decades of ‘nous’ about what makes the livestock markets across northern Australia tick, could have gone to waste, but within 24 hours of his sendoff party at Dalgety,  he and I had come to terms about writing a weekly markets column for my old newspaper, Queensland Country Life.

Somewhat fortuitously – if unusually given his later career path – Stan was a competent touch-typist, having learned the craft while still at at school. His justification? There were plenty of girls in his typing class.

He continued to churn out a weekly column for QCL for the next 27 years – rarely if ever missing a deadline – putting down his pen for the final time in 2018.

Stan’s written contributions were full of well-informed, perceptive observations about supply and demand, opportunities for cattle and sheep trading that might lie ahead, and anecdotes about industry personalities. Salted-in was a good measure of highlights from his enthusiastic social life, where he became a ‘celebrity guest’ at race meetings, field days and countless other industry gatherings across the bush.

Long after he had formally finished his agency career, Stan continued to market cattle for his close friends, including people like Bruno Giotti from Proserpine in North Queensland and Mick Gibson from the Channel Country.

His larger-than-life personality and ready-for-a-party spirit also made him the perfect host for overseas ag tours, leading parties of primary producers on expeditions into Asia, the US, Canada and Mexico, South America, New Zealand and Africa. Many of his tour party – people like Bill Rasmussen from Mackay – became regulars.

“He was always the last one to bed, and the first to rise,” one of his fellow co-tour leaders, Angus Adnam recollects.

• Stan is survived by his wife, Margie and daughter Anna. A private service will be held, but friends and colleagues are invited to gather at Brisbane’s Breakfast Creek Hotel (reserved area) from 2pm on Saturday, 5 July to celebrate his life.