There has been a real sense of sorrow and loss throughout the farming community this week over the death of a man rightly described as “a lion of the land” in Tasmania, Rod Thirkell-Johnston.
I know from calls that we have received at the TFGA that people are clearly upset – for his family and for what it will mean to the broader farming community.
People like Rod Thirkell-Johnston come along once or twice in a generation. They lead by example, by clarity of thought and argument and the power of their intellect to absorb detail, to understand conflict and to see a way through.
Rod would never have said so, but he was made in the mould of the man he most admired in rural public life, the late John Allwright. He had the same qualities.
Where Allwright rebuilt the national farming organisation and brought together the divided associations in Tasmania, it was Rod Thirkell-Johnston who rode the maelstrom that was Australian wool crisis of the 1990s in the aftermath of the crash of the reserve price system and the stockpile. He was cast aside as chair of the Wool Council in the final throes, but few doubt that, had he had his way, the crisis may have been averted.
He did, however, live to see the re-emergence of the wool industry, which is testament to his perseverance and faith in the superfine merino wool sector.
“We are coming into calmer and more sensible waters now,” he said recently.
Perhaps Rod will be remembered most for his championing of the Australian wool industry in its darkest hour, but Tasmanians who knew him place him on a higher plane.
The merino flocks he bred at Macquarie Hills and Saundridge at Cressy traced their origins to the original three ewes and a ram that he bought. As a single child, he had spent much of his youth in the company of adults, including the wise heads of the woolgrowing fraternity in the northern midlands. He looked, listened and learned.
As another in the Allwright mould, Ian Dickenson, noted in Tasmanian Country recently, you are given two ears but only one mouth for a very good reason. This was the style of Rod Thirkell-Johnston. It would manifest itself at sometimes feisty meetings of farmers.
“One thing about Australian woolgrowers is that they are all passionate and they all think they have the solution to a problem,” he said, “That makes it hard to make them work cohesively.”
His great strength was to listen to argument, to form a considered view and then present it in the most articulate manner. Public speaking does not come naturally to many farmers, but Rod was gifted with a presence of mind and the ability to condense a debate to its fundamentals and draw a conclusion that inevitably became the course of action that the meeting followed. It happened time and time again.
Rod joined the Tasmanian Farmers, Stockowners and Orchardists Association before it combined with the Tasmanian Farmers’ Federation to become the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association.
He had an unbroken relationship with the TFGA through its wool, environmental and firearm bodies. He served as its president in 1995/96, was chairman of the wool council for many years and was awarded life membership in 2009.
He was active in other industry roles, including the Tasmanian Fine Merino Breeders’ Association, the Tasmanian Racing Board, the Tasmanian Turf Club and the Tasmanian Thoroughbred Racing Council.
Rod Thirkell-Johnston was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2001 in recognition of his outstanding contributions.
Vale.
