Langley Frederick George Hancock (10 June 1909 – 27 March 1992) was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952 and becoming one of the richest men in Australia, he is now perhaps best remembered for his marriage to the much-younger Rose Porteous, a Filipino woman and his former maid. Hancock's daughter, Gina Rinehart, was bitterly opposed to Hancock's relationship with Porteous. The conflicts between Rinehart and Porteous overshadowed his final years and continued until more than a decade after his death.
Langley ("Lang") Hancock was born on 10 June 1909 in Leederville, Perth, Western Australia. He was the eldest of four children born to Lilian (née Prior) and George Hancock. His mother had been born in South Australia and his father in Western Australia. His father's great-aunt was Emma Withnell, while a cousin was Sir Valston Hancock.
Lang spent his early childhood on the family station, Ashburton Downs, run by the three Hancock brothers. His interest in mining was sparked by his uncle John, who lived at Ashburton Downs and was a keen prospector. Hancock later moved to Mulga Downs Station in the north-west after his father, George Hancock, bought a farming property there. Initially educated at home, at the age of eight he began boarding at the St Aloysius Convent of Mercy in Toodyay. From 1924 to 1927, he attended Hale School in Perth, where he played for the school cricket and football teams. Upon completing his secondary education, he returned to Mulga Downs Station to help his father manage the property.
In 1935, he married Susette Maley. The couple lived at Mulga Downs, but Maley left Hancock to return to Perth, and their separation was formalised in 1944. Also in 1935, Hancock took over the management of Mulga Downs station from his father. He partnered with his schoolmate, E. A. "Peter" Wright, in running the property, later boasting that no deals between the two men were ever sealed with anything stronger than a handshake.
During the Second World War, Hancock served in a militia unit, the 11th (North-West) Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps, and attained the rank of sergeant. On 4 August 1947, he married his second wife, Hope Margaret Nicholas, the mother of his only acknowledged child, Gina Rinehart. He and Hope remained married for 35 years, until her death in 1983 at the age of 66. In 2012, Hilda Kickett, who in 1992 had claimed to be Lang Hancock's illegitimate daughter, claimed that the late mining magnate had had an illicit affair with an Aboriginal cook on his property at Mulga Downs, resulting in her conception. Those claims have not been corroborated.
As a child, Hancock showed a keen interest in mining and prospecting from his uncle John Hancock Jr, and discovered asbestos at Wittenoom Gorge at the age of ten. He staked a claim at Wittenoom in 1934 and began mining blue asbestos there in 1938 with the company Australian Blue Asbestos.
The mine attracted the attention of CSR, who purchased the claim in 1943. Hancock retained a 49% share after the sale, but appears to have become quickly disillusioned about this arrangement, complaining that CSR viewed their 51% share as a licence to ignore his views. He sold the remainder of his claim in 1948. The mine would later become the source of much controversy, when hundreds of cases of asbestos-related diseases came to light. He was aware of the dangers of asbestos prior to selling his stake in Australian Blue Asbestos (as recently discovered papers have shown) but never accepted any liability, nor have his companies since his death. Neither the Australian federal government nor the Western Australian state government have pursued his companies for damages as of 2017.
On 16 November 1952, Hancock claimed he discovered the world's largest deposit of iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Hancock said he was flying from Nunyerry to Perth with his wife, Hope, when they were forced by bad weather to fly low, through the gorges of the Turner River. In Hancock's own words,
In November 1952, I was flying down south with my wife Hope, and we left a bit later than usual and by the time we got over the Hamersley Ranges, the clouds had formed and the ceiling got lower and lower. I got into the Turner River, knowing full well if I followed it through, I would come out into the Ashburton. On going through a gorge in the Turner River, I noticed that the walls looked to me to be solid iron and was particularly alerted by the rusty looking colour of it, it showed to me to be oxidised iron.
The story is widely accepted in modern descriptions of the discovery, but one biographer, Neill Phillipson, disputes Hancock's account. In Man of Iron he argues that there was no rain in the area of the Turner River on 16 November 1952 or indeed on any day in November 1952, a fact the Australian Bureau of Meteorology confirms. Hancock returned to the area many times and, accompanied by prospector Ken McCamey, followed the iron ore over a distance of 112 km (70 miles). He soon came to realise that he had stumbled across reserves of iron ore so vast that they could supply the entire world, thus confirming the discovery of the geologist Harry Page Woodward, who after his survey asserted:
"[t]his is essentially an iron ore country. There is enough iron ore to supply the whole world, should the present sources be worked out". – Annual General Report of the Government Geologist, 1890 But overseas demand at that time was negligible and development of the formations was uneconomic.
After 1920 development of the Yampi Sound deposits started but exports to Japan were curtailed by the Commonwealth Government in 1938. Prospecting and exploration of other ore deposits continued until 1952 where an agreement between the Government of Western Australia and BHP to build a steel mill and smelter in Kwinana was established. All other iron ore, known or unknown, was reserved to the Crown for 9 years. Representations were made to the Commonwealth Government to have the embargo lifted and in 1960 limited approval was granted for the export of iron ore from non-BHP deposits. This sparked a wave of intensive prospecting and exploration concentrated in the North West, the Hamersley Ranges in particular, where formation had been known but ore bodies not yet delineated. At this time Hancock revealed his discovery. Hancock had lobbied furiously for a decade to get the ban lifted and in 1961 was finally able to reveal his discovery and stake his claim.
In the mid-1960s Hancock turned once more to Peter Wright and the pair entered into a deal with mining giant Rio Tinto Group to develop the iron ore find. Hancock named it "Hope Downs" after his wife. Under the terms of the deal Rio Tinto set up and still administer a mine in the area. Wright and Hancock walked away with annual royalties of A$25 million, split evenly between the two men. In 1990, Hancock was estimated by Business Review Weekly to be worth a minimum of A$125 million.
Although Lang Hancock never aspired to political office, he held strong conservative political views and often entered the political arena. In addition to his activities in the 1950s, lobbying against government restrictions on the mining of iron ore, Hancock donated considerable sums of money to politicians of many political stripes. His political views aligned most closely with the Liberal and National Parties of Australia. He was a good friend and strong supporter of Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen and donated A$632,000 to the Queensland National Party while Bjelke-Petersen was in charge. He gave A$314,000 to their counterparts in Western Australia, but also gave the Western Australian Labor Party A$985,000; because "at least they can't do any harm". Hancock had had a falling-out with Sir Charles Court and the Western Australian Liberals and was adamant that the Liberals should be kept out of power as long as possible.