The late Harry M. Miller was best known as a legendary music promoter and agent to the stars, but in rural Australia it was his work in the cattle arena that gained him a reputation.

Miller died in Sydney on July 4, aged 84.

He was instrumental in introducing the Simmental breed of cattle to Australia in the 1970s.

Miller purchased Dunmore Stud near Manilla in northern New South Wales in 1971, the same year he met veterinarian Wendy Paul, whom he married the following year.

Together they established one of the largest and most reputable Simmental studs in the country until its dispersal sale in 1989, a two-day event which attracted buyers from across the country and set a record at the time for any dispersal sale in Australia.

Richard 'Dick' Vincent, the inaugural president of the Australian Simmental Breeders Association, now runs Droughtmaster cattle on his property at Capel in Western Australia. ( Supplied: Simmental Australia )

Richard 'Dick' Vincent OA, the inaugural president of the Australian Simmental Breeders Association (ASBA), remembers Miller as a high achiever.

Mr Vincent, 94, was also an early breeder of Simmental helping to establish the breed with his stud Hamelin Park at Williams in Western Australia.

"If you said the word street sense you would think of Harry Miller because he was a great achiever," Mr Vincent said.

"He was a very resilient character, he had a pretty good dry wit but he was a survivor and he had a great deal of street sense.

"Initially Harry did a hell of a lot for the Simmental Association

"His connections with Germany were invaluable and … all our success at Hamelin Park Stud is due to two Dunmore bulls I bought from him, and they were real game changers.

"Harry, I wouldn't say he was a great stockman, but he could see opportunity and he could seize on it, and he could see the Simmental breed had something to offer and with his connections he achieved a lot for the breed."

Harry M. Miller (centre) with fellow Simmental cattle breeders Paul Trenoweth and Graham Kennedy, TV presenter, in the late 1970s. ( Supplied: Simmental Australia )

Renowned cattle breeder Peter Howarth OAM from Wombramurra Black Simmentals at Nundle, around 100 kilometres from Dunmore Stud, said he knew Miller quite well in the early days.

"He was the real founder of bringing the Simmental breed into Australia," he said.

"It's interesting how they came to Australia because you couldn't bring embryos or cattle into Australia at the time.

"For Harry to get the cattle here he had to actually buy the cattle in Germany and then transport them to New Zealand where he collected the heifers in embryo transplant.

"He actually brought those heifers into Australia. Eventually from those 13 in embryo transplant he bred over 300 calves."

Mr Howarth said that Harry M. Miller, with a great team supporting him at Dunmore, was responsible for putting the Simmental breed on the map.

"He had a chap from New Zealand called Peter McWilliam who was the stud master, and his [Miller's] wife Wendy who was a vet and Harry on promotions did a great job of not only promoting Dunmore Manilla but also promoting the Simmental breed," he said.

This 16-month-old heifer 2J's Mariel was sired by Dunmore London Times, the 1988 Rockhampton Beef Week Supreme Bull. ( Supplied: Jesse Bezwarchny )

Mr Howarth said Dunmore had the biggest sale of the Simmental breed every year.

"In the 1970s they were showing cattle in three states of Australia, and in 1988 they bred a bull called Dunmore London Times and this bull was the Supreme Champion at Rockhampton Beef Week in 1988.

"Interestingly enough only two months ago Wendy and her daughter, Harry's daughter, were invited back to Rockhampton Beef Week to celebrate 30 years of the foundation of that event."

Harry M. Miller was so passionate about the Simmental breed that he even encouraged TV presenter Graham Kennedy and celebrity chef Peter Russell Clarke to start their own studs.

"That was Harry. He could talk people into most things," Mr Howarth said.

"But overall he had a great desire to improve the genetics for the beef breed industry in Australia, and he certainly achieved that.

"He really did love the land, he loved cattle and most people don't know that because of his success in other areas.

"He was also very good at managing people and having the right people working for him, and he didn't mind spending the dollars to get the best.

"He was a very tough competitor but, being a Kiwi when you went into the show ring it was like playing the All Blacks. He was very fair but he was tough. I had an occasional win."

Harry M. Miller (second from right) with the top priced bull, Tasman Uranus, at the 1976 Simmental Royale. Mr Miller is pictured here with Archie Campbell (Scotland), Lionel Busquets (Sydney), Gerhard Fischer (Germany) and Des Mundy (Sydney). ( Supplied: Simmental Australia )

Kathy Robinson met Harry M. Miller on the show circuit and was pleased to have a win over him one year at the Brisbane Royal Show.

"He had a heifer there of the new breed which I didn't like, the American breed which is long and lanky-legged and they weren't the type for this area where we like early maturing cattle," Ms Robinson said.

"She came fourth and I came first in that class.

"I was very honoured to beat Harry."

85-year-old Ms Robinson, from Alstonville on the far north coast of NSW, bred Simmentals for more than 30 years, up until a few years ago.

"When I met him he invited me out to one of his property sales to see how they were conducted because he was interested in bringing cattle over to this area to sell on the coast," she said.

"As Harry was going through introducing the cattle, as the bulls walked around, he would talk about people at the sale saying nice things about them and welcoming him there.

"It was an honour to be spoken about over the microphone and introduced to the rest of the public, which made it easier when you were there and made you feel important."

Ms Robinson didn't buy cattle at that Dunmore sale but she did purchase semen.

"There were only two that would have been suitable for north coast because of the eye pigment, it seems over the range they don't worry about it but over here we are very very conscious of it because of eye cancer," she said.

The semen from Dunmore resulted in a bull calf, was steered and won a prestigious carcase competition.

"It was a very big bull calf, lucky the cow was big that I'd put the semen into, and then because it had pale eyes and I wouldn't sell it as a bull, it was steered, and it won the Casino Beef Week Carcase Competition in the 1980s, which to me was quite an honour," she said.