(Still, not everything he did turned to gold. In his mid-20's he bought a fourteenth share in BHP for 10 bullocks, but later sold it for 100.
Today a fourteenth stake in BHP would be worth close to A$8 billion ($8.8 billion), even with today's depressed commodity prices.)
The cattle company Kidman left behind, S Kidman and Co, is still Australia's largest private landholder, and is at the centre of a stoush over the Chinese purchase of Australian farmland that raises issues about the tricky balance governments need to strike between protecting national interests and welcoming foreign investment.
Last week Malcolm Turnbull's government blocked the sale of the Kidman cattle company to foreign buyers on security and national interest grounds.
Turnbull insists the move wasn't specifically aimed at Chinese buyers, but it's hard to interpret the decision any other way.
True, there were other foreign buyers in the mix, but we knew enough about how the sale was progressing to know that a Chinese company would have ended up with the assets.
Shanghai Pengxin was the top bidder with an offer of about A$350 million, while Hong Kong-based Genius Link Asset Management, was expected to stump up with a rival bid of as much as A$370 million.
Shanghai Pengxin is a name that will be familiar to New Zealanders.
There is no clear explanation of how this would be against Australia's national interest.
Some might interpret the decision as the Government saying that it's too big to let the Chinese have it.
The privately-held conglomerate is the owner of the Crafar Farms and last month the Government blocked its bid to purchase Lochinver Station, near Taupo.
The Australian Government's reasons for rejecting the foreign sale of S Kidman and Co look a little perplexing.
They say that half of the company's Anna Creek cattle station is in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia, a weapons testing range that "makes a unique and sensitive contribution to Australia's national defence".
That sounds fair enough, but only as far as it applies to a small portion of the property portfolio.
The other reason the Government cites is "the size and significance" of the Kidman properties. Certainly they are large.
Kidman's 10 cattle stations in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland cover 101,411sq km (by way of scale, that's almost as much land as the North Island) and hold a long-term average herd of 185,000 cattle.
There is no clear explanation of how this would be against Australia's national interest.
Some might interpret the decision as the Government saying that it's too big to let the Chinese have it.
In his statement blocking the bid, Treasurer Scott Morrison made all the right noises about foreign investment, saying the Government welcomes and supports it.
But the Chinese Government and business interests will look at the Government's actions, not its words.
Australia has done very well out of the mining boom as China bought up iron ore and coal to build railways, bridges, roads and skyscrapers.
But the mining boom has wound down and China's economy is moving to the next stage of its development, where growth is led by domestic consumption.
But the mining boom has wound down and China's economy is moving to the next stage of its development, where growth is led by domestic consumption.
This is where Australia sees the next big opportunity - exporting quality food to meet the tastes of the rapidly growing middle class.
At the same time the Kidman sale was rejected, the Government is seeking funds to transform vast tracts of Northern Australia into productive farm land. It's an initiative that would create thousands of jobs and bring in billions of dollars in export earnings, but we won't be able to do it without Chinese investment because Australian investors are reluctant to put their money into agriculture.
Australia needs investors like Genius Link Asset Management founder Joel Chang, who says he has A$1 billion to fund his Australian agribusiness ambitions - but he's going to want something in return for that cash.
The risk for Australia is that the Chinese look at setbacks like the Kidman sale and feel that they and their money aren't welcome in this country, regardless of what the politicians say.
At that point they'll turn their attention elsewhere, probably to South America, which will then benefit from Chinese capital and potentially from favourable trading terms.
Australians will still own all our farmland, but we won't have any money to develop it.
