Arthur Hanson, a well respected western Queensland drover who spent his final years at Tolga has died in Atherton on May 22, 2018 aged 84.
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Arthur was born in Burketown on April 11, 1934 to Olief and Lorry Hanson. Olief (nee Stadhams) came from Miles and Lorry, who was managing nearby Armyranld Station came from Tasmania.
His brother Kevin was born in 1938. A year later, war broke out and the Hansons moved to Cloncurry.
Olief and Lorry drove cattle and and boys attended the convent school. In holidays Olief took the boys droving with her. Arthur told stories of riding in saddle packs when they were young with only their faces peeking out. While their mother tended to camp duties, they were tied around the waist and tethered to trees. In 1942 Olief and Lorry bought a house in Cloncurry as Olief fell off a horse. The lack of money and Lorry’s absences took its toll and they separated in 1944.
Every morning at five Arthur had to milk two hundred goats, clean out pens and deliver milk before making lunch for school.
When Arthur turned 14 he worked as a porter for Cloncurry Railway Station. He started going out with Margret Mummery. Arthur also went droving with his father.
Arthur was called up for National Service in 1953 with 11th National Service Training Battalion. After serving 98 days he went back to work for QR in Mount Isa as a guard. In 1955 he married Margret. Arthur was promoted to shunter-in-charge in Cloncurry. Their son Ean was born in 1956 followed by sister Desire in 1958.
In 1961, Margret leased the Blue Bird cafe in Cloncurry. Arthur started droving cattle with Sandy Huttley from Normanton to Julia Creek.
In 1963 Arthur came home to find the café closed and the family gone to Darwin. In 1965, Bill Karl the manager of Lawn Hill Station asked him to run the station camp. There, he met Mavis Bauer who bought the Gregory Downs Hotel. In 1969, Arthur drove for Lorraine Station trucking cattle to Kajabbi.
He was known for his knowledge of cattle and Kevin was famous for his knowledge of horses. Both brothers and mother have their photos in the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. In 1970, he began to romance Mavis Bauer and moved in with her.
In 1974 Arthur joined Mavis working full time in the hotel for a year before moving to Mount Isa. Arthur didn’t like the city life so got a job managing Neumayer Valley near Normanton. Arthur and Mavis moved to Coolullah Station, Arthur as head stockman and Mavis as station cook. Arthur and Mavis married in 1977. In 1981 Arthur went droving from Carandotta Station to Quilpie. Both he and Mavis then moved back to Mount Isa to restore and sell the flats.
In 1982, he managed Carsland Station. Mavis talked Arthur into moving to the Atherton Tablelands. In 1985 they leased the Tolga Hotel for six years. When the lease was up they brought a house in Tolga and both semi-retired. Mavis died in 2010.
At Arthur’s funeral on May 28, 2018, National Servicemen’s Association and Herberton Bowls Club members formed a Guard of Honour before internment in the Atherton Lawn Cemetery.
