ON 10th May 2014, the west lost one of its best known and passionate graziers when Kevin Albert (Sandy) Knuth passed away at the age of 76. In an ever diminishing group of people, Sandy's DNA reflected an absolute love of the land and the Brahman Cattle that he spent a lifetime breeding, improving and producing.
Sandy was born in Charters Towers on 20 March 1938, the youngest son of Eric and Violet Knuth. He was nicknamed "Sandy" very early in life after falling down a post hole on the banks of the Star River, where his father and uncle were yard building. The sand stuck and so did the name.
He spent his early years at "Chipley" and when he was about four the family moved to "Station Creek". In 1948, Eric bought "Linden Hills" and while his mother moved to Mingela, Sandy moved to the property with his Dad. In 1953, Eric purchased "Cuba Plains" which involved Sandy and his dad droving all the cattle to the new property.
For the next few years, he worked with his father in and around the district gaining valuable experience and broadening his horizons. He worked as a ringer on several properties including "Glencoe", a well-known property, which he eventually went on to own.
In the late fifties, he was quickly noticed as a promising boxer so he moved to Townsville for 12 months to pursue this career. He supported himself by working on a project to extend the main aerodrome and returned home whenever his father needed help. He quickly established himself as a most successful welterweight. He won a Golden Gloves and in 1962 was named Queensland Boxer of the Year.
On a trip to Sydney, he was introduced from the ring at Rushcutters Bay by Gus Mercurio, the Mr Boxing of Australia, as the best boxer ever to come out of North Queensland. The night he was to fight for Commonwealth Games Representation, he walked into his father's house at Cuba Plains declaring that he missed the land too much.
In 1959, Sandy obtained his pilot's licence and for the next fifty years owned many light aircraft. Flying was one of the great joys of his life and he would often just take off when he wanted to clear his head.
Flying also proved to be a provider during tough times when he would do contract flying in and out of the Gulf for Company Properties. His Cherokee 6 is now part of the Glencoe Enterprise and proves to be an efficient and valuable tool.
Sandy married Lynda Young in 1960 settling at Cuba Plains and together they produced 3 children, Kerry, Debbie and Kelly. In 1964, Sandy bought Cuba Plains from his father, and while Eric stayed on, he considered himself retired.
Cuba provided many happy years but in 1970, the family moved closer to Charters Towers for schooling reasons. Plumtree became their new home as well as purchasing Myrtlevale from his Uncle. It was during this era that another love surfaced- that of amateur racing.
In typical Sandy Knuth fashion, he threw himself right into things as a breeder, trainer and jockey. In one period of four weeks in the Gulf meetings based around Georgetown, he rode 28 winners, two seconds and one unplaced. He loved bush race meetings and perhaps he is best known for his achievements at Ewan, although his most memorable and proudest was at Charters Towers Amateurs where on the one day, he trained and rode a winner, his daughter Debbie rode a winner and his son-in-law rode the last winner of the day. Sandy was also one of the founding members of the Charters Towers Pony Club and actually built the arena.
In 1982, Sandy met his second wife and soulmate, Judy Stanger (nee Sweeney). In 1984, he sold Plumtree and together with Judy, his son Kelly and Judy's four children, Matthew, Melanie, Belinda and Ben, he purchased "Taemas" on the Cape River.
This was the beginning of a new life. Taemas was very unimproved but Sandy saw it's potential and together with his family, they worked day and night. Every morning at breakfast, Sandy would say to all - "if you don't achieve or learn something today, then you should stay in bed". He had a remarkable work ethic and this has rubbed off on all today.
He loved a challenge and over the next two decades, Sandy bought and sold "Taemas", Sunny Plains and Osbert in the Julia Creek area, Como, Glencoe, Langlovale , Hilltop, Glen Kathleen and finally "K Park" - his and Judy's retirement block - just 12klm from Charters Towers.
Every property Sandy sold was recognizable by the massive improvements he made. He was fanatical about water storage and land improvement and any money he made was always put back into the land. In 2004, he and Judy handed the Glencoe reins over to Kelly and Melanie and to this day they are living up to their father’s work ethic.
During this time, he kept on improving his base herd of purebred Brahman cattle, for this was Sandy at his most passionate. He firmly believed that the Bos Indicus genetics of Brahmans constituted 80 per cent of advances made in the northern and western cattle industry.
Although he had been breeding Brahmans since 1954 it was at Taemas, he began building a herd of high grade Brahmans using 1/4 Indu over De Manso bloodlines to produce big boned, docile and superior weight for age cattle.
He was a constant patron of the Tartrus Lancefield Annual Bull Sales and formed a firm friendship with the late Jeff McCamley. As far back as 1989, he paid $40,000 for a Lancefield Bull bringing up to $200,000 for that year's investment in bulls. Sandy's passion for the cattle industry and his properties was reflected for years in the top saleyard prices he achieved. He regarded the success of his stud breeding as his greatest achievement in life and was justifiably proud of his contribution to the industry.
Sandy and Judy together with Kel and Mel share the same passion for the grazing industry and right up until his death, he was breeding, buying and selling cattle - a perfect life for a man who was part of the land to which he belonged. He is survived by his wife Judy, three children, four step-children, 15 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, siblings Mick, Betty and Shirley and their families. A truly wonderful country gentleman who achieved in life what many of us can only dream of.
His legacy will live on.