Economics.org.au is the first to republish the writings of Lang Hancock in decades. We call him a member of our staff because we employ his work.

Another staff member of ours, John Singleton, said of Hancock: “the only business man with 100 percent courage. He will not back down, bow down or compromise to any Government no matter what it costs him.”

Lang Hancock interviews
  1. 1971 Lang Hancock-Robert Moore interview for Monday Conference.

  1. 1974 Lang Hancock-Dennis Minogue interview for The Age.
  2. 1975 Lang Hancock-Dave Allen interview for YouTube.
  3. 1978 Lang Hancock-George Negus interview for The Australian.

  1. 1979 Lang Hancock-Robert Duffield interview for Rogue Bull:

(a.) on Hancock’s Australia — “Hancock’s own view is to equate W.A. and New Zealand whose capitals of Perth and Wellington are both separated from Canberra by about the same distance of nothingness — sand in one case, sea in the other. He sees no more reason why W.A. should be associated with the Canberra-Sydney-Melbourne axis than should New Zealanders.”

(b.) and on government help.

  1. 1980 Lang Hancock-Australian Penthouse interview.
  2. 1982 Lang Hancock-John Harper Nelson interview.

Lang Hancock writings
  1. Wake Up Australia (Sydney: Dwyer, 1979) — Excerpts: Part 1 and Part 2. Part 2 is on whether the mining industry should be taking a softly-softly or an attacking approach toward government.
  2. Why WA must go it alone,” The Herald (Melbourne), October 18, 1973, p. 4; republished as “Pressure groups call the tune …,” The Courier-Mail, October 23, 1973, p. 4; and under the former title in The Sydney Morning Herald, November 29, 1973, p. 7.
  3. Crystal Balls Need Polishing — “OUR MINERAL POLICY IS ON POOR GROUND,” Sunday Independent, November 4, 1973, p. 16.
  4. Pilbara can be the Ruhr for South-East Asia,” The Sydney Morning Herald Annual Finance and Business Review, October 14, 1969, pp. 1-2. Very interesting article, including: “To encourage prospecting, Governments need to withdraw from the field of royalty in favour of the prospector. Royalty is a vicious sectional inflationary tax imposed upon the mining industry exclusively. It is without economic or moral justification.”
  5. Minerals — politicians’ playthings?,” Investors Chronicle and Stock Exchange Gazette (London), October 1973, p. 44. With a seamless natural suggestion of secession.
  6. Hancock’s threat to secede and faith in Whitlam — as “Is Western Australia ripe for UDI?,” The Times (London), March 1, 1973, p. 23.
  7. Does Canberra leave us any alternative to secession?,” The Australian GP, March, 1974, pp. 9-12.
  8. Lang Hancock on saving Australia from socialism — “Saving Australia from socialism,” The West Australian, April 10, 1974, p. 6, as a letter to the editor; and “DEVELOPMENT — A BENEFIT FOR ALL,” The West Australian, April 18, 1974, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  9. A Condensed Case for Secession,” August, 1974.
  10. The Great Claim Robbery, from about 1972 I think.
  11. “SPRUCE UP THE LIBERALS OR LET THE WEST SECEDE,” National Miner, March 31, 1975, p. 9. On the Workers Party, the Liberal Party, secession and States Rights.
  12. An Open Letter to Sir Charles Court,” Sunday Independent, May 11, 1975, p. 24.
  13. Governments Consume Wealth — They Don’t Create It,” notes from Hancock’s address at the Workers Party Gala Dinner, October 23, 1975.
  14. Small and Big Business Should Oppose Government, says Lang Hancock —  “Viewpoint: Time for Truth!” Sunday Independent (Perth), unsure of date and page number.
  15. Lang Hancock on Australia Today [1976?]
  16. Secede or sink,” National Miner, March 29, 1976, p. 2.
  17. Resource Management in Australia: Is it possible?,” Management Forum, vol. 2, no. 3, September 1976, pp. 141-50.
  18. Lang Hancock in 1976 on Public Picnics and Human Blights
  19. Australian can learn from Thatcher,” National Miner, September 13, 1976, p. 2.
  20. Lang Hancock suggests that newspapers don’t give space to politicians unconditionally — “Boost mining confidence, Mr Lynch,” The Australian, September 15, 1976, p. 10, as a letter to the editor.
  21. Lang Hancock on nuclear energy — “Nuclear fact and fallacy,” The Australian, December 13, 1976, p. 6, as a letter to the editor; and “Being practical over oil alternatives,” The Australian, December 27, 1976, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  22. “The best way to help the poor is not to become one of them.” – Lang Hancock — The Bulletin, February 19, 1977, p. 13.
  23. Lang Hancock’s “Foreword” to Singo and Howard’s Rip Van Australia, (Stanmore: Cassell Australia, 1977), p. xiii.
  24. Singo, Howard and Hancock Want to Secede —John Singleton with Bob Howard, Rip Van Australia (Stanmore: Cassell Australia, 1977), pp. 228-31, under the heading “Secession”. After the third paragraph, this is a reprint of Lang Hancock, “Go West Young Man,” The Australian GP, February, 1977, pp. 10-11.
  25. Lang Hancock asks what happened to Australia’s rugged individualism? — Lang Hancock, “A CLEAN SWEEP IS NEEDED,” National Miner, September 19, 1977, p. 10.
  26. Lang Hancock Canberoo poem, 1977.
  27. Lang Hancock complains to Margaret Thatcher about Malcolm Fraser — in two private letters in 1977-78.
  28. Lang Hancock on Environmentalists,” Environment W.A., Spring, 1977, pp. 7, 30.
  29. Sad demise of Bert,” The Australian Financial Review, November 30, 1977, p. 3, as a letter to the editor. Living obituary for Bert Kelly; livid at the Liberal Party.
  30. Over Whitlam’s head — “It all comes from the earth,” The Australian, December 1, 1977, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  31. Democracy is dead in Australia and Lang Hancock’s education — “Democracy is dead in Australia,” The Australian, January 5, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor; and “The A.L.P.,” The Australian, January 17, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  32. The Treasury needs a hatchet man,” The Courier-Mail, January 12, 1978, p. 4.
  33. Speech delivered by Lang Hancock, March 7, 1978, to the International Press Institute General Assembly in Canberra. A review is here, which quotes something not found in the speech. That either means his speech was different to this document or Hancock delivered more than one speech at the event. Here’s another review quoting even more that wasn’t in the version of the speech linked above.
  34. Lang Hancock asks us to think how easily environmentalists are manipulated for political purposes — “Life blood,” The Australian, March 9, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  35. Get the ‘econuts’ off our backs …,” The Australian, April 10, 1978, p. 9.
  36. Aborigines, Bjelke and freedom of the press,” The Sydney Morning Herald, April 16, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  37. Invest in free enterprise,” The Australian, April 27, 1978, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  38. Australia’s slide to socialism,” Purchasing and Supply, June 1978, pp. 12-13.
  39. Why not starve the taxation monster?,” The Australian, August 3, 1978, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  40. Lang Hancock Incites Civil Disobedience — “Withhold 15 per cent of tax,” The Australian, August 22, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor; and “Pressure groups a ruthless dictatorship,” The Australian, September 8, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  41. MINING POLICY A THREAT,” The Australian, November 1, 1978, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  42. What would we do without our government?,” speech presented at Sydney’s Sebel Town House, December 11, 1978.
  43. Bizarre rights,” The Australian, February 1, 1979, p. 6, as a letter to the editor. Hancock beats the left at their own game on civil liberties.
  44. The Logic of the Pilbara-Queensland Railway,” Free Market, vol 1, no 2, June 1979, pp. 21-25. Excerpt: “By adopting this scheme, what has the government got to lose? The tax on nothing is nothing. By not adopting it we could lose Australia.”
  45. ‘Phony crisis’ seen as ‘child of politics’,” The Canberra Times, in the supplement titled “Review of the Nation 1979: Energy and Resources,” July 23, 1979, p. 9.
  46. Lang Hancock’s Five Point Plan to Cripple Australia — as “Stopping energy chaos,” Mining Review (February, 1980), pp. 7-8.
  47. The spread of Canberra-ism,” The Sydney Morning Herald, September 30, 1980, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  48. Govt should sell the ABC,” The Sydney Morning Herald, July 17, 1981, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  49. We Mine to Live,” Quadrant, September, 1981, pp. 51-53.
  50. Lang Hancock: victim of retrospective legislation — “A victim of retrospectivity,” The Australian, October 22, 1982, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  51. ‘Hark to madmen’ call by Lang,” The Australian, January 10, 1983, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.
  52. Australian elections are one of the greatest con games in history — “Why the Hawke corroboree can do nothing,” The Australian, March 25, 1983, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  53. How Lang Hancock would fix the economy,” The Bulletin, May 17, 1983, pp. 106-10; and “Breadth of vision,” The Bulletin, June 14, 1983, p. 10, as a letter to the editor.
  54. The powerhouse West is going to waste,” The Australian, June 16, 1983, p. 8, as a letter to the editor; “Hancock’s step by step to an energy crisis,” The Australian, July 4, 1983, p. 8, as a letter to the editor; “It’s the Constipated Country,” The Weekend Australian, October 29-30, p. 10, as a letter to the editor; and “Too many laws incur Hancock’s wrath,” The Australian, December 16, 1983, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  55. The conditions for a revival,” The Australian, July 10, 1984, p. 8, as a letter to the editor.
  56. Our leaders are powerless,” The Australian, September 6, 1985, p. 10, as a letter to the editor.
  57. The autobiographical Lang Hancock chapter in Neil Lawrence & Steve Bunk’s collection, The Stump Jumpers (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1985), pp. 41-51. Reprinted as “Lang Hancock’s mighty dreams,” The Weekend Australian Magazine, November 23-24, 1985, p. 3.
  58. Boston Tea Party 1986 style,” The Weekend Australian, May 31-June 1, 1986, p. 16, as a letter to the editor.
  59. Jump on the Joh bandwagon,” The Weekend Australian, February 21-22, 1987, p. 18, as a letter to the editor.
  60. Lang: Why Joh should be PM,” Sunday Times, April 19, 1987, p. 9.
  61. Precis of Ludwig Plan for North-West,” North of the 26th: A collection of writings, paintings, drawings and photographs from the Kimberley, Pilbara and Gascoyne regions, edited by Helen Weller with assistance from Roy Hamilton and John Harper-Nelson (Northbridge, Western Australia: Access Press, 1994), vol. 2, pp. 213-16. Excerpt from the outro: “[Lang Hancock] was frequently represented as being rude and bloody minded but when I [John Harper-Nelson] conducted a long interview on video tape with him for the Christensen Fund archival collection, I found him to be inclined to be shy and most courteous.”
Lang Hancock mentions
  1. Colin Chapman, “Hancock: King of the Pilbara,” Sunday Australian, June 27, 1971, pp. 13-14, filled with Lang Hancock’s own words.
  2. Hugh Schmitt, “MILLIONAIRE PUTS MONEY BEHIND SECESSIONISTS,” The Sun-Herald, May 5, 1974, p. 7, filled with Lang Hancock’s own words.
  3. Party Promises to Abolish Tax,” Daily Telegraph, January 27, 1975, p. 4, Hancock says he gives “full moral support” to the Workers Party.
  4. Gina Rinehart, Secessionist — Excerpts from: Joanna Parson, “Gina Hancock: Australia’s iron-ore heiress … cool, quiet girl with the power to move mountains,” Woman’s Day, June 16, 1975, pp. 4, 7, 19.
  5. Patricia Johnson, “Singleton: the White Kight of Ockerdom,” Cleo, June, 1975, pp. 57-59.
  6. Dennis Minogue, “Lang Hancock: giant of the western iron age,” The Age, September 20, 1975, pp. 11-12, filled with Lang Hancock’s own words.
  7. Philip Cornford, “Hancock’s playing very hard to get,” The Australian, December 2, 1975, p. 4. Excerpt: “The chunky 66-year-old Mr Hancock has spent a lot in the past getting things done his way. Today, his political disenchantment is a wonder to behold. ‘I wouldn’t give either of ‘em a cent,’ growls Mr Hancock, whose personal fortune of $80 million-plus makes him one of Australia’s richest men.”
  8. Lang Hancock: “a catherine wheel of novel suggestions” — Tim Dare, “The Hancock solutions cause stir,” The Sydney Morning Herald, March 8, 1978, p. 13.
  9. J.F. Moyes, Hancock and Wright (self-published, 1973). Here is a 6MB PDF scan of the entire book. Here are the chapters in a more accessible format: “Bury Hancock Week,” (chapter 1); “Hancock and Wright,” (chapter 2), which includes a chunk of a speech Hancock gave in 1958; “Enter Rio Tinto,” (chapter 3); “Hamersley and Tom Price,” (chapter 4); “News in the West,” (chapter 5); and more coming soon.
  10. Remembering Lang Hancock,” from Ron Manners, Heroic Misadventures: Four Decades – Full Circle (West Perth, Australia: Mannwest Group, 2009), pp. 215-229. Lots of good stuff there. Also much more on Lang Hancock in the Workers Party chapter of Heroic Misadventures.
  11. Ron Manners’ Heroic Misadventures, reviewed by Benjamin Marks.
  12. Up the Workers! Bob Howard’s 1979 Workers Party Reflection in Playboy
  13. Singo says Lang Hancock violated Australia’s 11th commandment: Thou Shalt Not Succeed — John Singleton, “KEEP ON FIGHTING,” Daily Mirror, January 7, 1981, p. 11.
  14. Jacky Archer, “Hancock seeks miners’ tax haven in the north,” The Australian, October 2, 1981, p. 2.
  15. Why Lang Hancock invested in Australia’s film industry — Craig McCarthy, “The money men behind the film boom,” Australian Business, March 4, 1982, pp. 38-45. He was the biggest single investor in Australian cinema.
  16. Jenny Archer, “Friends of free enterprise treated to financial tete-a-tete: Lang does the talking but Gina pulls the strings,” The Australian, June 21, 1982, p. 9.
  17. Pamela G. Hollie, “The ‘Richest Man’ in Australia,” The New York Times, December 12, 1982, p. 8, sec. 3 (reporting from Perth).
  18. Lang Hancock’s March 1983 attempt to enlist “former presidents of nations and heads of giant companies” to save Australia — Harry Dillon, “Lang’s flying caucus out to save a nation,” Daily Telegraph, March 25, 1983, p. 3; and “Hancock says he can save country,” The Australian, March 29, 1983, p. 14.
  19. Lang Hancock’s Favourite Books — Colin Mann, “Bookworms seek solace after being marooned by pirates,” The Canberra Times, January 15, 1984, p. 7.
  20. Governments — like a red rag to a Rogue Bull,” The Sydney Morning Herald, June 6, 1991, p. 2. This article is by Deborah Light, but includes many Hancock quotes. It says that Hancock read from a five-page document titled “Answer to Question: Why Did You Support the Labor Party.” I have been unable to find that document. PLEASE HELP! While I’m asking for help, the other major Hancock item I know about that I have been unable to find is the ABN 2, January 21, 1973, 7:30pm interview on a show called “With Gerald Stone” between the host and Lang Hancock and Gary Walton, a minimum wage worker. This was the first show of Stone’s ABC series of interviews.
  21. Hancock gets tough over uranium mining,” The Sydney Morning Herald, April 14, 1977, p. 2.
  22. Right-wing plot,” The Bulletin, July 2, 1977, p. 14, in Robert Drewe’s So It Goes column.
  23. PM’s sky high promise to Lang,” The Bulletin, November 5, 1977, p. 108.
  24. Positive review of Hancock speech — David McNicoll, “Where others failed, Lang laid them in the aisles,” The Bulletin, March 21, 1978, p. 39, short excerpt. Talks about the reception of a Lang Hancock speech at the International Press Institute Assembly held in Canberra the week before. I think this is the speech, but it does not include the Bermuda triangle comment, so ?????
  25. Tactics change by Hancock,” Daily News (Perth), July 7, 1978, p. 6. It begins: “Iron ore millionaire Lang Hancock has decided that ‘yelling his head off’ in Australia is not doing enough to sway Canberra. So today he brought his campaign against government meddling in private enterprise to Britain.”
  26. Robert Duffield, “WA’s NCP commits suicide,” The Bulletin, September 12, 1978, pp. 24-26.
  27. Victor Caruso, “Hancock sounds call to battle Canberra,” The Australian, September 26, 1978, p. 3.
  28. Hancock proposes a free-trade zone,” The Canberra Times, December 12, 1978, p. 8. Same event as is discussed in the next item I think.
  29. Leslie Walford, “The code of Lang Hancock,” The Sydney Morning Herald, December 17, 1978, p. 102. Mentions an event Michael Darby organised. Here is the transcript/notes of speech.
  30. Peter Rosendorff, “‘You can’t live off a sacred site’,” New Internationalist, July, 1979, p. 20, filled with Hancock’s own words.
  31. Corrections to typical commentaries on Lang Hancock and the Workers Party — “Hancock and the Workers,” The Australian, April 1, 1992, p. 10, as two letters to the editor; the first by Bill Stacey, the second by Roger Wickham. Excerpt: “Finally, ‘… the misnamed Workers Party’. Misnamed? How? Why? In whose opinion beside yours? Does that mean that the Labor, Liberal and Democrat parties are correctly named — or would you just care to explain what you do mean?”