Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

A short while ago, early in the winter, Wee Waa lost one of its most loved and respected citizens. Frank Hadley, a cotton pioneer, passed away at Wee Waa at the age of 97. Frank was a pioneer in the true sense of the word. Frank and Paul Kahl, his good friend and neighbour in California, migrated to Australia in the early sixties. Straightaway, they saw the potential to grow cotton in the Namoi Valley. It wasn't really considered an option by others at the time, but, with the completion of Keepit Dam and the regulation of the Namoi River, they saw that opportunity. They pooled their resources on, basically, a handshake agreement that they would work together until they were established and would then split their farms and go their separate ways. That they did. After a couple of years, Frank and Paul went their own separate ways, but they remained lifelong friends and farmed side by side until Paul's passing a few years back.

The early challenges that they had growing cotton on what was essentially a sheep farm were enormous. I remember Frank telling me that they battled castor oil plants, variegated thistles and the like. I think they had to take the first crop that they grew to Brisbane to be ginned. It wasn't long after they started growing the crop that Frank was instrumental in forming the Namoi Cotton cooperative so they could gin their cotton locally. He was an early director of Cotton Seed Distributors so they could take control of the cottonseed and also develop varieties that were suited to the Australian climate.

I had the privilege of having a few chats to Frank over the years. He was a true gentleman: a softly spoken man, a wonderful contributor to the community of Wee Waa, a volunteer in various organisations and an inspiration to everyone. He never quite lost his Californian twang, but, in that polite sort of Californian way, he gave the impression to everyone he spoke to that he was really pleased to see them.

Just recently, before Frank's death, Paul Kahl's grandson Sam took him for a drive on a modern cotton picker, and he was incredibly proud of the progress that this industry has made. From the early starts by Paul Kahl and Frank Hadley to being one of the most, if not the most, efficient cotton industries in the world, they now produce more cotton per megalitre of water and litre of diesel than anywhere else in the world. That is all because of the pioneering work of a wonderful man by the name of Frank Hadley. Rest in peace.

See this speech in context