Guru Stories

The president of Primac Gurus Assoc Inc, Mr. Richard Handley has compiled this comprehensive history of the important connection between Primac and the Santa Gertrudis breed in Australia. It commenced with the first on-property King Ranch sale at “Risdon” Warwick in 1952. Primaries stud stock officer, Scotchie Cullen played an integral role in this and

Primac Dalby’s intention to expand it’s services to the growing cotton industry was well reported in this article extracted from the October 1991 edition of the Rural Business magazine. Pictured in the attached photo was Bernie Caffery, a private cotton consultant, Peter Skerman, Dalby Branch Agronomist, and Wayne Fischer, Primac’s State Merchandising Manager. Article kindly

The coming together of two great Queensland based pastoral houses, Queensland Primary Producers Cooperative Association and Mactaggarts Primary Producers Cooperative Association took effect on the 1st May 1975, with the inaugural meeting of the newly formed board. A brief outline about the merger was made at the time by both Mr Doug Mactaggart and Mr.

“A big step forward ” was the quote when Primac purchased the interest of Morris Mills on the 1st of July 1980. Two proud Queensland based organisations came together, primarily to expand the marketing opportunities for producers. Morris Mills was established in 1934, and had it’s operations and mill situated on the banks of the

New Head Office Building “Over recent years the increase in staff and the diversification of the Association’s activities have overtaxed the capacity of our two buildings in Creek Street. The design and space limitations or our present Head Office vare making it impossible for us to organise for maximum efficiency and to cater for expansion

Page 12 of the 1990 Annual Report, highlights the focus on some very important divisions of Primac Limited. They include Rural Property, Rural Finance and Insurance. There is some interesting reading, including the appointment of Primac as marketing agent by the Water Resources Commission to administer the marketing of farms in the Burdekin River Irrigation

This landmark building, situated on the corner of Creek and Adelaide Streets, will hold a host of wonderful memories for many Primac Gurus. 99 Creek Street, Brisbane City, a.k.a. Primac House. Photo sourced and supplied by Richard Handley. Queensland Primary Producers Cooperative Association purchased the building in 1934, and it is from those early origins

In 1989, wool brokers, Elders, at the time, introduced some radical changes to their selling charges for wool consignments on large lots over 20 bales. In this article, Bruce Sneddon, the CEO of Primac, holds firm on following suit. After “crunching the numbers” Bruce mentioned in the article “that woolgrowers will find their total wool

That is how, chemical supplier, Hoechst Agrivet, applauded it’s relationship with the Merchandise Division of Primac Limited, in their magazine, “The Herxter” in September 1989. In this article, the latest kindly contributed by Mr Wayne Fischer, highlights the initiatives that made Primac a leading force in rural merchandising throughout the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

In July 1989, the Commonwealth Trade Practices Tribunal makes a ruling against the major Pastoral Houses, including Elders, Dalgety and Primac, in their application to have a facility to provide credit information and better control over livestock buyers. The idea was to reduce the risk of default by processors and increasing the value of del

Dennis Cotter has kindly dug out this rather rare footage from his personal collection of Primac memorabilia. It offers an insight into the “behind the scenes” goings on of the Merchandise Division staff, letting their hair down, after enduring another “hard day” at the Merchandise conference at a luxury island resort. (Note: There has been

General Manager of Primac’s Merchandise Division, Mr Wayne Fischer, provided a timely update of the departments activities, and it made for great reading during the 1994/95 financial year. Key achievements as outlined by Mr. Fischer included an 18.5% increase in turnover to $153 million. Market share rose in Primac’s key areas of operations, Anipro supplementary

The timeline is August of 1991, and this article from Milnes Rural Business, features the appointment of Mr Robin Hart as Chairman of the board of Primac Holdings Ltd. Two long serving directors, Mr Alex Nason, MBE, OAM and Mr. Gordon Reid MBE both retired in the same year, in accordance with the age requirements

Margaret Barton doing what she did best! In 1975, Marg was our very own female pioneer, taking a leading role at Cannon Hill Saleyards for Fitzsimmons. (Mactaggarts & Primac). As Marg said in a recent facebook post “From memory & at this time the only other females at Cannon Hill were the ladies working in

“Pastoral House Slump” were the attention grabbing headlines, according to the Milne’s Rural Business article of October 1991. In this article, all major pastoral houses across Australia recorded a huge downturn in revenue, highlighting a volatile period in the history of rural activities during the early nineties. It certainly makes interesting reading, with Dalgety Farmers

Once again, Primac Guru, Gary Baker has sifted through his treasure trove of old Primac memorabilia. He has come up with a “gem” from 1983. This letter, outlines with quite some raw emotion, the personal thoughts, of then retiring Primac Director Mr R.S. Wilson, of Calliope Station. Thank you to Gary, for once again providing

At the September 1988 convention of AVCA in Brisbane, two senior members of Primac Limited, Chairman Mr Robin Hart and Manager of Primac Merchandising, Mr Wayne Fischer, were invited to address the gathered delegates at the convention. Wayne, stated that “farm chemical storage and transportation needed to improve, to better protect industry members, the public,

Recently on the 27th November 2021, Primac Gurus President, Mr Richard Handley, rightfully represented our Association at the funeral service of the late Bruce Campbell AM MBE. Bruce Campbell joined Queensland Primaries Producers Cooperative Association in 1948, and was appointed General Manager in 1974. In 1975, when Primaries and Mactaggarts merged to form Primac he