Albany 2026: The day the Advertiser heralded the arrival of Greenwarri 1, Australia’s first Charolais calf

The sea may have been instrumental in the settling and development of Albany over the city’s 200 years but the land has also played a vital role.

One of the farming community’s greatest achievements — which was heralded on the Albany Advertiser’s front page at the time — was producing the first Charolais calf to be born in Australia.

Greenwarri Famechon 1, thereafter known as Johnny, became quite a celebrity after he was born on January 7, 1970, and was named after featherweight boxing champion Johnny Famechon.

Weighing in at 58lbs, he was recorded as being 25 inches high and 29 inches from poll to tail base — the poll being at the top of the head, slightly behind the ears.

Mother and calf, the Advertiser reported, were doing well.

The event was notable because cattle farmers had been wanting to diversity their herds, but quarantine rules meant they had been unable to import living beasts.

Johnny was the result of an insemination process in which Cooana Milbrook, a three-year-old purebred poll shorthorn, was impregnated with semen from Sucre, a Charolais bull from Britain.

The vital stuff was frozen in liquid nitrogen for the long journey and then had to sit in quarantine, according to Ken Hyde, who bred Johnny and worked with his father on their farm in Willyung Road, King River.

Johnny was the first calf born, beating 30 other WA breeders who had used British Charolais semen, after arriving 21 days earlier than expected.

The plan was to cross Australian cattle — which had primarily been British breeds like Aberdeen Angus, Herefords and shorthorns — with imported Charolais semen for eight generations.

That would give them purebred status with the Hydes among those at the forefront of a process which was started by Martin Lenthall, who farmed on land near what is now the airport.

Mr Hyde said Mr Lenthall had noticed local cattle were falling behind genetically and needed diversity because of inbreeding.

Previously the owner of a Charolais stud in Dorset, in the UK, Mr Lenthall recommended the breed and the journey began.

The French breed was favoured because of its high-quality meat and calm temperament with the Hydes inseminating 25 cows on April 15, the year before Johnny was born.

Mr Hyde said Charolais calves also grew quickly.

“You could get a 400kg steer in eight months, about six weeks quicker than other breeds,” he said.

“They are also a good-quality beef although as a farmer, I would say there are two sorts of beef — steak and mince.”

Mr Hyde, who was 17 when Johnny was born, is now retired but still keeps in touch with the Charolais Society of Australia.

Sucre, meanwhile, went on to sire more than 9300 registered calves in Australia and his nose ring hangs on the society’s office in Armidale, NSW.

The breed went from strength to strength in Australia with British Semen Exports reporting in October 1970 that an order of 200,000 doses, 150,000 were Charolais.