PIONEERING North-East farmer Bert Farquhar died at the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Farquhar died on Saturday at the James Scott Wing of Scottsdale's North- East Soldiers Memorial Hospital, aged 91.
Former Dorset mayor Peter Partridge said Mr Farquhar was one of the great men of the Scottsdale district.
"He was always a leader of agriculture and he has certainly done a lot for this region - a lot of people worked for Bert," Cr Partridge said.
"I think everybody who grew up in the district knew of him."
Mr Farquhar started his working life at age 14, tin mining at Lottah and Weldborough with his father.
He soon bought land and began an innovative farming career, which included using early irrigation methods from former mine water races and using millions of worms to make the sandy soil on his North-East properties around Musselroe and Waterhouse more productive.
In 1986, Mr Farquhar bought the huge North-East property Rushy Lagoon, taking his land portfolio up to 27,930 hectares.
For decades, Mr Farquhar was influential in bringing employment and industry to the North-East and was credited with the establishment of the Dewcrisp vegetable processing plant in Scottsdale, where he served some time as its managing director.
He was instrumental in bringing the Armed Forces Food Science Establishment to Scottsdale in the 1970s, and dabbled in mining and sawmilling industries throughout the state.
Community-minded, Mr Farquhar served as chairman of the North-Eastern Soldiers Memorial Hospital for a number of years.
Mr Farquhar's full life and varied working career was detailed in a memoir he wrote in 1990 called Bert's Story.
A funeral will be held for Mr Farquhar at the Uniting Church at Scottsdale this Friday from 11am.