Australian Dictionary of Biography

Russel Tullie Madigan, 1973.

Photographer Shmith Cato Barr, Rio Tinto Collection University of Melbourne Archives, 1984.0105.

Sir Russel Tullie Madigan (1920–1999), engineer and mining executive, was born on 22 November 1920 at Unley Park, Adelaide, third of five children of Cecil Thomas Madigan, geologist and later academic, and his wife Wynnis Knight, née Wollaston, both South Australian born. Russel attended Blackwood Public School, Pulteney Grammar School (1930–34), and Adelaide High School (1935–36). He was awarded an Angas engineering scholarship to study at the University of Adelaide (interim BSc (Eng.), 1942), where he was middleweight boxing champion, winning the Lempriere Abbot Cup.

Madigan joined the Citizen Military Forces in February 1939. His studies were interrupted when he began full-time duty on 3 January 1942 for service in World War II. In April he was appointed an acting lieutenant (confirmed 1943), Royal Australian Engineers. Transferring to the Australian Imperial Force in July 1942, he served in Australia, except for the period August 1943 to May 1944 when he was attached to the 1st Army Tank Battalion in action in New Guinea. On 31 December 1943 he married Margaret Elsie Symons, an army nurse, at St Winifred’s Anglican Church, Torrens Park.

After he was transferred to the Reserve of Officers in January 1946, Madigan resumed his studies at the University of Adelaide (BE, 1947). Concurrently, he started his career with Zinc Corporation Ltd at Broken Hill, New South Wales, in August 1946. The following year he was awarded a Gowrie research travelling scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, which presented an opportunity to follow his father by pursuing an academic career. Instead, he chose to study at the Montana School of Mines and investigated ventilation systems in underground mines across North America. At Broken Hill during the 1940s, he was one of a cadre of talented engineers at Consolidated Zinc Pty Ltd, which included men such as Asdruebal Keast, Frank Struan Anderson, (Sir) Frank Espie, and the legendary mining figure (Sir) Maurice Mawby, all of whom had a significant influence on the postwar Australian mining scene.

Madigan worked as underground manager at the company’s adjoining Zinc Corporation and North Broken Hill Consolidated mines, and undertook further study through the University of Adelaide (ME, 1957; LLB, 1960). In 1959 he and his family moved to Melbourne where he became general manager of Consolidated Zinc’s General Mining Division. His responsibilities included the Rum Jungle uranium operation in the Northern Territory, and mineral sands mining on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. After Consolidated Zinc merged with the British mining group Rio Tinto Company Limited, London, in 1962 to form the Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation Ltd (RTZ), and Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd, he was involved in marketing iron ore from CRA’s Mount Tom Price deposit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Following his wife Margaret’s death from cancer in April 1964, he contemplated leaving CRA to bring up their five young children. Instead, he employed live-in housekeepers, including Satsuko Tamura, a Japanese woman whom he married on 22 February 1981 in Melbourne.

As commercial director at Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd (formed in 1962 as part of the CRA group), Madigan played the central role in negotiating the Iron Ore (Hamersley Ranges) Agreement with the government of Western Australia, signed in July 1963. He was also responsible for finalising arrangements with the central buying representative of the Japanese Steel Mills, with a contract to supply 65.5 million tons (59.4 million tonnes) of lump iron ore signed in January 1965, at that time Australia’s largest iron ore export contract. These outcomes enabled Hamersley Iron to secure finance of $US120 million to develop the Mount Tom Price deposit and associated infrastructure, the cornerstone of Australia’s emerging export iron ore industry. Shipments commenced in August 1965. He was promoted to replace Anderson as managing director that year. Hamersley Holdings Ltd became a publicly listed company in May 1967, initially 54 per cent owned by CRA, and a principal contributor to CRA and RTZ group earnings.

In the late 1960s Madigan sought to renegotiate what he considered an overly generous 1959 royalty agreement signed by Rio Tinto with Lang Hancock. His alternative arrangement with Hancock would have been the end of the in-perpetuity royalty, but it was turned down by the London chairman of CRA’s parent company, RTZ, a decision Madigan considered incredibly short-sighted. Having secured contracts and access to tenements for the Paraburdoo iron ore deposit, also in the Pilbara, in January 1970, he faced opposition from London, which was concerned about depressed market conditions. He kept the project alive and was vindicated when markets recovered. Appointed chairman of Hamersley Holdings in 1972, because of his role in developing the company’s iron ore deposits he became known as ‘Mr Hamersley’ (Porter 2023, 165).

As well as managing contractual arrangements in Japan and Europe, Madigan initiated CRA’s engagement with the People’s Republic of China for the supply of high-grade iron ore. He led a delegation in September 1980, which formed the basis for the joint venture development of the Channar mine in the Pilbara with the China Metallurgical Import and Export Corporation. It started production in 1987. He retired as chairman of Hammersley Holdings in 1981.

Madigan’s term at Hamersley Holdings was associated with his service as a CRA director (1968–87), including as deputy chairman from 1978, mainly during the tenure of (Sir) Roderick Carnegie (1972–86). He was also on the London board of RTZ (1971–85). His executive responsibilities included coal, exploration, and research and development activities. He played the principal role in establishing the Argyle diamond mining operation in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, negotiating a marketing agreement with the South African business executive Harry Oppenheimer of the De Beers Group in 1983.

A major priority for CRA was to attempt to integrate Hamersley’s mining operations with downstream iron ore processing, including steelmaking. Initiatives in which Madigan was involved included work on metallised agglomerates, suitable as a feedstock for steel furnaces, which led to Hamersley becoming involved in experimental work on new steelmaking technologies in Germany. CRA contemplated an ambitious joint ownership arrangement with two German steelmaking companies from early 1984. The plan, a mission of both Carnegie and Madigan, was thwarted by RTZ in London. Madigan expressed his disappointment with this decision at a CRA board meeting, conveying that one of his aims as an executive was to preserve the value of CRA’s main asset, Hamersley.

As deputy chairman of CRA, Madigan expected to become chairman following Carnegie’s departure in 1986. This did not eventuate. The parent company’s suspicions of Carnegie’s strategic motives adversely affected Madigan’s standing and prospects, which were not helped by his occasional outspoken rebuttal of views emanating from London. At a CRA board meeting in December 1986, John Uhrig, a recent addition to the board, was appointed chairman. After the meeting, Madigan donned a hard hat and marched around the CRA office, exclaiming that mining companies were no longer run by mining engineers, but by accountants and lawyers. His career of over forty years with Consolidated Zinc and CRA ended in June 1987.

Madigan held several directorships, including with National Commercial Union Ltd. In 1987 he was appointed chairman of Muswellbrook Energy and Minerals Ltd, a mining and exploration venture owned by Kerry Packer. From 1992 Madigan was a founder and chairman of Australian United Steel Industry Pty Ltd, a company which aimed to develop downstream direct reduction of iron ore technologies using gas from the North-West Shelf. This venture did not proceed. His involvement with academies and associations was extensive: he was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 1978, was awarded the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy medal in 1982, and served as national president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (1983–88). He was appointed OBE in 1970, and KBE in 1980.

A fine engineer, Madigan combined his technical knowledge with commercial skills and an aptitude for negotiation, as well as a formidable resolve. He was respected by overseas steel mills as a tough but fair negotiator. Though he could appear intimidating with his six feet three inches (191 cm) height and stern facade, he also possessed an engaging demeanour and comfortable congeniality. He believed passionately in mineral exploration and development, and that Australia’s raw materials should be used to produce value-added products in the country; he was a ‘deeply committed Australian’ (Court 1999, 12), an optimist, and great enthusiast. Being proud of his father’s achievements, he visited Antarctica on two occasions, donated his father’s sledge and skis to a museum in Tasmania, and became chairman of the Antarctic Names and Polar Medal Committee. Sharing his father’s intrepid sense of adventure, he took flying lessons in his fifties, and flew his single-engine plane on work trips, landing on remote bush strips, sometimes with toilet rolls flapping from trees as markers. In 1979 he flew solo in a single-engine unpressurised plane from Melbourne to London in twenty-four days.

Madigan died of prostate cancer on 19 July 1999, at East Melbourne, and was buried in Centennial Park cemetery, Pasadena, South Australia. Satsuko had died in a car accident on 8 January 1995. He was survived by his four sons and one daughter from his first marriage.