Peter Menegazzo shook the rural sector when he came from apparently nowhere to take ownership of Stanbroke. His death late last year was an untimely end to a life of drive and energy.
Story By Pamela Robson
When Kerry Packer died, just after Christmas 2005, hundreds of thousands of words spilled out from the world’s media. The Bulletin magazine published an entire 100-page edition about its late owner. Packer was Australia’s second-largest producer of cattle, and fifth-largest rural landowner. One place behind him at sixth was Peter Menegazzo. And in many ways, Menegazzo’s life was just as interesting. His was one of the most remarkable life stories in Australia – one of those rare lives that actually change the course of our agricultural history.
Menegazzo was the unknown farmer, the immigrant’s son, who seemingly overnight snatched one of Australia’s great rural icons, the Stanbroke Pastoral Company, right from under the noses of the pastoral establishment. Certainly, his spectacular rise was both dazzling and brilliant. Yet when Menegazzo died tragically just three weeks before Christmas, the media was hard pressed to find something to say.
This story excerpt is from Issue #45
Outback Magazine: Feb/Mar 2006
