Vale, Jack Wheeler.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade would like to pay tribute to a cattle industry stalwart and offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ian George “Jack” Wheeler who passed away at the end of July after a short illness.
Ian George “Jack” Wheeler has been a part of the Katherine Research Station for so long, he’s part of the fabric of life there. So it shouldn’t surprise people to discover that he was the station’s first Northern Territory Government employee. The farm manager had already been working as a Northern Territory Government stock inspector for several years across the Victoria River and Bulman Weemol districts before he took up the role.
Jack was already familiar with being a leader. He’d been the head stockman at Wave Hill Station since he was 16, providing him with a wealth of knowledge about the NT cattle industry and machinery and vehicles. The bush mechanic’s knowledge and guidance helped shaped the station, its staff and those who walked in the front gates through his impeccable work ethic and focus on practical solutions.
Sunday Creek Station’s Tom Stockwell (and former Regional Director of the department in Katherine) said when Jack joined the Katherine Research Station team after acquiring the farm from CSIRO the region was desperate for someone who could return the research farm to its glory days.
“I knew Jack could handle anything to do with cattle or horses, and could put up with the sometimes ridiculous demands having been caught on the constantly shifting ground between the station managers and the BTEC Vets in carrying out the most difficult of assignments,” he said.
“Jack showed a thirst for new knowledge and skills, and rare ability to assimilate it and make sense of it, become good at it and demand good work from his team.
“His honest no-nonsense approach to people made for productive relationships with everyone – his own farm staff, the researchers and the bosses, visitors and anyone from any of the primary industries who increasingly saw Jack as their point of contact, advice and solution to a problem.”
A rodeo-loving horse whisperer, Jack was born in Mackay in 1955 and grew up with three siblings in properties in the Mackay hinterland before moving to Cattle Creek in the 1970s. He married Leonie Spelta in 1980, and they had three daughters. Emma was born in Darwin while Jack was the Douglas Station overseer, before the family moved to Katherine and then Kalkaringi. After Nicole was born and sadly passed away soon after in Darwin, Leonie moved to Townsville, where Kimberly was born. Jack never stopped boasting about his daughters, as those who followed his Facebook page would know.
In around 1996, Jack met Sharon, and the pair embarked on a loving, honest relationship. The resilient pair were dedicated to each other and their families, and worked hard raising the next generation.
The straight talker was willing to share his years of accumulated wisdom with his crew and the many researchers who visited the Katherine and Victoria research stations or worked on the department’s Manbulloo paddocks.
His experience and approach to running the station meant that it became one of the most well regarded agriculture research facilities in Australia. A recent Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) project was carried out at the station. Staff involved said their faith in Jack and his ability to find solutions meant that the Katherine Research Station was the only place in Australia that this research could be carried out.
The way Jack interacted with people was also one of his strengths. The University of Queensland’s Emeritus Professor Dennis Poppi said in the 20 years that ACIAR had been sending sometimes naive and young budding scientists to the station, Jack was always respectful in his dealings with them.
“We all benefited from his experience and advice” he said.
“There is no doubt many people owe their successful research to his actions.
“I have worked on many research stations in northern Australia and overseas, and Jack Wheeler has been the best research station manager I’ve had the fortune to be associated with. This is because of his personal skills, but also his vision for the station and his ability to deliver on that vision.”
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade’s Katherine Regional Director, Kieren McCosker, said Jack was always willing to go above and beyond in supporting research and development projects and was known for his strong moral compass.
In the recent CalfWatch project to address calf loss across the region, Jack’s help managing cows, mustering them for data collection, inserting birth sensors and attaching GPS collars was invaluable. He also designed and built four 12 metre high towers in remote and difficult to access locations to receive calving alert signals and transmit them to the station via the internet.
“Jack was a front-line departmental representative for the general community and broader staff of Katherine Research Station during the response to the 1998 Katherine flood, and the more recent PFAS contamination issue.
“Whenever staff ran into a problem, it was usually solved with a quick call to Jack who would come up with a practical solution and a way to move forward.”
Vale, Jack Wheeler.