George Houen, graingrower lobbyist and landholder advocate, passes

Born on the Murrumbidgee, at Thononga near Hay, on January 28, 1937, George briefly attended Yanco Agricultural College - where he was "good at French but pretty ordinary at everything else" - before returning to help his mother run the property.

Securing a job with the iconic Scottish Australian Company, he was rapidly promoted to overseer while still a teen.

During the 1955 shearers' strike at Fernlee, Bollon, he put out the fire lit under the woolshed by a militant mob and spent many nights on armed guard with the other station staff and their working dogs.

Bendee Downs near Cunnamulla was next, and then Moombidary, west of Hungerford. Among his other skills, he was an accomplished horseman, winning the bending race at the Thargomindah Rodeo in 1957.

After an adventurous round-the-world trip, he was appointed overseer at Fairymeadow between Chinchilla and Miles in 1959, and then took on sharefarming at next-door Bottletree. In the early days there, George lived in a slab hut he built himself under an old pepperina, with no running water or electricity.

He loved driving the big dozer to excavate dams and created an impressive cropping operation largely single-handed.

He enjoyed the district's vibrant social life and made many lifelong friends across the Downs. Marrying Judith Woolrych - who had worked at Jimbour House as Charlie Russell's secretary, and for the AML&F - in 1965, the young family moved to Toowoomba when George was appointed general manager of the Queensland Graingrowers' Association in 1972 after his success as a grower delegate.

Queensland's cropping industries today owe much to George's leadership during his QGGA tenure in the 1970s and '80s. He steered many strategic solutions to issues impacting graingrowers and other primary producers, lobbied George Street and Canberra, tackled heads of industry, and always maintained strong ties to grower-level relationships.

Early on, as the government planned to introduce a vehicle tax on truck axle loadings to address road damage from large vehicles, George successfully argued to have graingrowers exempted as their trucks only used roads for a short period following harvest.

Later, as the Gulf War loomed, he realised fuel supplies would soon become a serious problem for the farming sector, advising an increase of on-farm storage and finding reliable fuel suppliers to pre-empt shortages.

He was also instrumental in gaining the cooperation of major machinery manufacturers when warranty and machinery breakdowns emerged as a big problem, not only helping individual growers with specific situations, but also bringing the government's attention to the issue.

In the late 1970s, complaints started to flood in to the QGGA about strangers entering properties without permission. Exploration for coal and gas was gathering pace, and conflict rapidly escalated. George investigated, finding that the legislation in Queensland had not been consolidated for many years - landholder rights and obligations for miners were obscure.

Successfully pressing for Mining Act consolidation, he clarified protections for landholders and the need for miners to request permission from the Mining Warden, lodge a bond, and comply with restrictions.

George then ensured QGGA members understood their rights, leading efforts to build understanding of access and compensation provisions and giving landholders back some power in a previously highly unequal relationship.

He also built a cooperative relationship with the Chamber of Mines, then led by Michael Pinnock, but not all mediations worked out. At one meeting in the QGGA boardroom, senior executives of a major international mining company were defensive and indifferent to the anger their actions had caused Darling Downs landowners.

George's quiet manner belied his 'speak softly, carry a big stick' approach. He told them that if they were going to adopt that attitude, they "had better bring a cut lunch", before laying out the facts gathered by the QGGA proving the entire pegging of the company's planned tenement claim was at risk. The matters were soon resolved to the landholders' satisfaction.

On leaving the QGGA in the early 1990s, George set up his own consultancy, Landholder Services, initially with friend Bob Challen (who was retiring from Mt Isa Mines), then later as a sole operator. For more than 30 years, he worked with landholders statewide on hundreds of complex, often multi-year compensation and environmental negotiations with mining, gas and infrastructure companies.

While not a lawyer by training, George's self-taught knowledge of the state's resources legislation was unparalleled. He helped secure more than $250 million compensation for clients, regularly challenged the Land Court, held government agencies to account, and developed a reputation he cheekily relished as a tough but respected opponent among the big city law firms.

He pioneered significant changes to make-good, water rights and land access agreements, and loved uncovering mistakes or loopholes in mining company documents that may have been detrimental to his clients.

At the wheel of his trusty Maverick - equipped with satellite phone, a Snickers supply and a swag - he racked up thousands of kilometres. Even in his 80s, he would often leave home in Toowoomba not long after midnight to get to an 8am meeting in a paddock somewhere.

George also did a great deal of pro bono work as the pressure on prime agricultural land, water, the environment and livelihoods increased exponentially under the weight of mining and infrastructure.

This work was important to him, as he believed organisations representing landholders no longer concern themselves with it but just 'make up the numbers' in stakeholder consultation processes. He was often asked for media comment and was a prolific correspondent on landholder rights with rural and national publications.

George's approach to life is encapsulated in one of his most-used sayings ... "If all else fails, read the instructions". He forged his own path, acted with integrity, and had a warm sense of humour with an optimistic enthusiasm.

Unfailingly a gentleman, his treasured RMs were always impeccably polished.

George died in Toowoomba on May 11 following a cancer battle and his beloved Judy's death in 2022.

He is dearly missed by his children Janet and Michael, daughter-in-law Sandy, grandchildren Brooke and Luke, his siblings Charles and Christina and extended family, and his many friends in town and the bush.

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