Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductees

Professor Alan Robson (1945- ) is recognised internationally for his research on the mineral nutrition of plants and soil fertility. All of this work was done in the agricultural regions of Western Australia.
His broad scientific interests and expertise ranged from farmer’s fields to glasshouses, to laboratories, illuminating both practical and theoretical problems. He enthusiastically investigated the nutrition of agricultural plants in the highly weathered soils of the south-west and developed plant diagnostic tests for nutrient disorders, both deficiencies and toxicities, in cereals, and grain and pasture legumes. In 1992 he became the first director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA). He was a popular teacher and collaborator, and a lucid speaker to farmer groups and advisors with an encyclopaedic understanding of the broad picture in agriculture. These qualities led to his heading or being an influential member of almost all of the prominent plant- and soil-based committees in the State and Nation at one stage or another. These included being the chair of the federal Grain Legumes Research Council.
Later life drew him into education when he moved from being Dean of Agriculture at University of Western Australia in 1992 to deputy Vice Chancellor 1993-2004 and Vice Chancellor 2004-2012. Despite the rigours of this, he maintained his interest in and dedication to agriculture and remains on many committees associated with the industry he has served so successfully.

Eric Ripp (1927-2009) single-handedly revolutionised controlled atmosphere storage and the fumigation system in grain storage which remains successful today in protecting harvested grain from insects, saving farmers millions of dollars in chemicals. This system has also been introduced to all eastern states grain handling silos.
Eric Ripp worked for Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd for over 30 years. His contribution to the grain industry has been enormous and is still ongoing. He was the first person to come up with the concept of the need for an Australian Grain Institute.

Behind the unique monastic town of New Norcia is a history that illustrates the enthusiastic and innovative skills in agriculture of its founder and head, Rosendo Salvado. Salvado’s objective was to mentor and provide education and material support to the native population to encourage them eventually to establish their own independent farming enterprises. This had limited success but, in trying to achieve it, he made the New Norcia Mission one of the State’s biggest landholders in the second half of the 19th century and demonstrated resourceful techniques that helped shape farming during that era and acted as a model for other landowners. At its peak, the Mission managed over 160,000 hectares stretching from the Irwin district in the north to the Avon and Swan districts in the south, ran 22,000 sheep and large herds of cattle and cleared and cultivated extensive areas for cropping.
He introduced the largest threshing machine in Western Australia in the 1870s and built a flour mill for the farm’s production of wheat. He also experimented with and acted as a source of information on new enterprises such as an olive grove which persists today and remained the State’s largest for a century after its establishment. It is still the source of the unique and popular variety, “Mission”. He also tried tobacco, silkworms, honeybees and coffee beans which provided valuable information to farmers in the region

After a period as a pioneer pastoralist in the Pilbara, Charles Harper (1842-1912) became noted between 1880 and 1912 as a most versatile and successful experimental agriculturalist. He was the first in Western Australia to use sub-artesian water for irrigation and pioneered new varieties of wheat. As joint owner of The West Australian and the Western Mail with Winthrop Hackett, he was always publicising new techniques in primary production.
As Chairman of the Board of Agriculture established in 1894 he appointed Western Australia’s first Conservator of Forests and chaired a Royal Commission into the better management of the State’s hardwood forests. In his later years he was a strong advocate of co-operation and founded the Producers Co-operative Union.

Inheriting the family farm at Bruce Rock when young, Harry Perkins (1939-2002) gained experience which qualified him for a Nuffield Farming Scholarship and so to a long involvement in efforts to improve the scientific basis of Western Australian rural industries. He was a leader in maximising grain yields by linking them to rainfall and in promoting co-operative research in legumes.
As director from 1975 and chairman from 1986 of Wesfarmers Ltd, until shortly before his death, he presided over the rapid and successful development of a company serving many rural-based investors. He was Chancellor of Curtin University of Technology from 1996-2002.

Walter Harper (1880-1956) developed the co-operative movement initiated by his father into the major force in Western Australian farming during the first half of the 20th century. Under his leadership the Western Australian farmers co-operative movement was established in 1912. Among its achievements were the introduction of a marketing pool for wheat in 1922, the encouragement of the use of super phosphate and the establishment of co-operative bulk handling during the 1930’s.
Harper also moved the first resolution towards the founding of an Australia wide Co-operative Federation in 1918 and in 1924-25 chaired a royal commission which made the first critical analysis of the group settlement scheme in the south west. A hard worker who shunned publicity, he was also a most successful, practical farmer.

The animal industries in Western Australia owe much of their high level of freedom from disease to the bio-security programs put in place by Claude Toop (1901-1969). As a veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture for 40 years, 30 of them as assistant chief or chief veterinary officer, he oversaw the development of eradication or quarantine measures for most of the important exotic animal diseases. Our relative freedom from dangerous threats such as tuberculosis, buffalo fly, pleuro-pneumonia and brucellosis in cattle, footrot in sheep, swine fever in pigs and pullorum in poultry is largely attributable to his skilled direction.
Toop also provided the expertise for introducing myxomatosis into Western Australia in 1951 when the first rabbits were infected with the virus. For much of his working life until he retired in 1966, only a small band of veterinary colleagues were available to assist him. This encouraged Toop to instigate a cadet scheme in which young men were trained as veterinarians in eastern states universities. It not only provided trainees for the State Government veterinary services but also underpinned the foundation of private practice in the State. This scheme was the sole avenue to veterinary training for Western Australians until the veterinary school opened at Murdoch University in 1975, several years after his death.

Clive Malcolm (1933-2006) spent a lifetime convincing people, both scientifically and practically that salt-affected farm land could be made productive. His reputation as the “father of saline agriculture in Australia” grew as the problem of salinity relentlessly increased with time. His main focus was in Western Australia where he worked for 36 years as an officer in the Department of Agriculture and a further 16 years as a very active retiree.
But, he and his work also became well known overseas and he worked and lectured in Africa, North America, South Asia and the Middle East. He offered hope to desperate farmers facing the spread of salinity into their land by demonstrating that salt tolerant plants can thrive and be productive on salt-affected land. As part of his research program, he headed the group that set up the world’s first major collection of salt tolerant plants. These plants were tested and the best of them subsequently released for farmers. Then, to enhance their cultivation, he became involved in the development and release of the Mallen niche seeder, the first specialized seeder for salt-land, and he developed soil treatments that improved germination. He then experimented successfully with the best ways of using the plants for feeding sheep to provide an income from this otherwise economically useless land.
He communicated well with fellow scientists and farmers alike and was involved at a high level in virtually every forum on the productive use of salt affected land including the Australian National Program on Productive use of Saline Land and the Saltland Pastures Association of WA. He was elected inaugural vice-president of the Saltland Pastures Association in 1997 and such was the esteem in which he was held by the members he remained in that office until his death in 2006.

In the modern era, Dawson Bradford (1944- ) stands out among the most progressive, successful and exemplary farmers and agricultural administrators in Western Australia. He has multiple farming enterprises on his 4000+ ha property at Cuballing and plays a pioneering role in each of them through leadership and innovation that enrich both the knowledge base and credibility of each enterprise.
His cropping systems are innovative; his piggery has been a testing ground and demonstration site for new feeding, housing and farrowing technologies. But it is in his prime lamb enterprises that he is a true pioneer in a rapidly evolving industry. Not only are his sheep among the highest performing and best quality in the country but he is one of only a few agriculturalists Australia-wide who have contributed positively along the whole supply chain for this industry.
Since 2000 he has been chairman of the board of the WA Meat Marketing Cooperative and has overseen the transformation of a 30-year old statutory marketing organization, often struggling and beset with controversy , into a highly successful free-market cooperative. He actively participates in committees in government, local government, breed societies and scientific groups all of which benefit from his agricultural expertise and wisdom.

Di Cullen (1923-2003) was a pioneer of the wine industry in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. With her husband Kevin she convened a public meeting at Busselton in 1966 which created local interest in Dr John Gladstone’s research on the suitability of the region for winegrowing. The Cullens were among the first to plant vineyards and the first to import the cabernet franc and merlot grapes into Western Australia.
Di Cullen was the first woman winemaker to win a trophy at the Perth Royal Show and in her later years she was widely respected as a mentor to the industry. She was also a keen and effective lobbyist for conservation and with her husband established the Busselton Population Study, a pioneering and ongoing research project on the health of local residents, which has won international recognition.

Rica Erickson (1908-2009) trained as a teacher and became a farmer’s wife in the Bolgart district. She made a rare and diversified contribution to the understanding of Western Australian rural life. A keen naturalist, she was an authority on the orchids of Western Australia and a botanical artist.
She published extensively on the history of rural Western Australia and was founder of the Biographical Index and Dictionary of Western Australians, the first project of its kind in the English-speaking world.

Dr Sutton (1872-1964) was the Director of Agriculture in Western Australia from 1921 to 1937 during crucial years of agricultural development in this state. He began his working life as assistant to William Farrer in New South Wales and succeeded him as Chief Wheat Breeder in 1906. He moved to the Western Australian Department in 1911 at a time when much of the State’s wheat belt was being cleared and developed.
He injected a new and lasting culture into the struggle to make this land productive by establishing, for the first time, a scientific basis for successful farming. As Director of Agriculture he fostered the use of the wheat varieties, Nabawa and Bencubbin, promoted bulk handling of wheat, and spoke and published extensively in the cause of agricultural education. Sutton introduced the concept of controlled experiments and insisted that his staff also adopt modern scientific methods. This ensured that issues such as the introduction of clover based rotations, new wheat varieties suited to the region, diversification into sheep and communication of new findings all attained a high profile within the Department and that the personnel involved were of the highest calibre.
Many successful and creative Western Australian agricultural scientists started their training because of Sutton’s visionary cadetship scheme for university students in agricultural science and he encouraged a number of them to study overseas. He was also a major supporter of the establishment of Muresk College for the training of young farmers.

Harold Bennetts (1898-1970) worked at the Department of Agriculture from 1925 to 1959. He was its first veterinary pathologist, and was one of Australia’s most eminent veterinary scientists.
His particular strengths included the identification of diseases due to bacterial toxins, the role of a particular strain of subterranean clover in the development of infertility in ewes, and the identification of diseases due to deficiency of trace elements. His discoveries were of far-reaching benefit to Western Australian agriculture.

Henry Schapper (1913-2010) introduced the field of Agricultural Economics to Western Australia at the level of both agricultural policy and farm management business accounting. He interpreted new world thinking in economics that emerged after the depression and the 1939-45 war to a Western Australian context and made farmers aware of the importance of managing their financial affairs and not just their farming practices. He did this by writing many articles and speaking to farmer groups in a direct, controversial and often confrontational way that at times incensed some of the agricultural community but also made him a household name and ensured that people discussed, thought about and frequently acted upon what he was saying.
To reinforce his message Schapper played a major part in setting up in Western Australia some of the first farm management groups in Australia and then, through The Farm Management Foundation which he also established, servicing them with the information and expertise to make them effective. Western Australia has always had a higher level of participation in farm-management groups than any other state. As the head of Agricultural Economics at The University of Western Australia from 1959 until retirement in 1984 he was mentor to many students who later rose to important positions in the State’s agriculture.

John Radunovich (1932-2014) spent more than four decades of dedicated medical service in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia during which he pioneered changes in rural medical practice in this State and influenced the way in which it is delivered. He was born in Yugoslavia in 1932 and moved with his family to Manjimup in 1938.
After studying medicine at Melbourne University he set up permanently as a general practitioner at Kununoppin. The remoteness of the practice meant that he had no ready access to specialists and had to be surgeon, obstetrician, paediatrician and general practitioner, dealing with accident and emergency services. In extreme cases he referred patients to specialists in Perth but soon used his networks and personality to develop a new concept of encouraging many specialists to come the bush. He set new standards of care for aboriginal patients and the elderly and was active in advancing the ambulance service in much of the eastern wheatbelt.
During his long career, medical services in rural Western Australia changed constantly as populations of country towns diminished and medicine itself become more specialised. He relentlessly fought to ensure that country people were not disadvantaged by these changes and the quality of service in the bush now and into the future has been greatly influenced by the example that he has set

John Gladstones (1932-) graduated from The University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture, took his doctorate in 1959 and after 11 years as a lecturer in agronomy at the University became Principal Plant Breeder with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture from 1971 to 1991.
Gladstones became one of the world’s leading authorities on the lupin as a crop plant, and is generally recognised as the father of the Australian lupin industry. He was active and successful in the collection, breeding and selection of varieties of subterranean clover.
In 1965 Gladstones identified the Margaret River region as a suitable locality for wine growing after it had been earlier overlooked. This led to the establishment of a major industry, with valuable spin offs in the form of tourism and other developments.

Laurie Snook (1909-1998) was a leading authority on animal nutrition, from 1946 to 1962 with the Department of Agriculture and then as an adviser to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, mostly working overseas.
After early work on pregnancy in ewes his main areas of research were on the phosphorus needs of dairy cows and especially on the improvement of pastures. He was the pioneer scientific advocate of the value of tagasaste (tree lucerne) as an effective and environmentally beneficial fodder for livestock in Western Australia.

Noel Fitzpatrick (1929-2019) came from a farm background at Narembeen to become Director of the State Department of Agriculture in 1971, Deputy Secretary of the federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy 1984 and inaugural President of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission in 1988. He graduated from The University of Western Australia in 1951 and set up the foundation for this illustrious administrative career with important research into pastures and soil nutrition of the newly cleared land in the south of the State in the 1950s and 1960s.
His 13 years as Director from 1971 to 1984 was a period of great change in agriculture, particularly in cropping, and he positioned the State well to transform from a relatively minor producer of wheat to a major contributor through his strong foresight and capacity to be ahead of the issues of the day. He believed passionately in attracting the best research talents to the Department and supported them with persuasive leadership and foresight.
After a period in Canberra where he established his mark as a national leader in primary industry he returned to Western Australia where he continued to contribute strongly to its agricultural growth as Chairman of the Western Australian Meat Marketing Corporation and the Western Australian Meat Commission.

Eric Farleigh (1898-1988) was a pioneer farmer at Boyup Brook where he started with a virgin block in 1924 and turned it into the iconic showcase farm, Rylington Park. He was innovative and used the most modern methods of the day. Importantly, he contributed to the success of many farmers in his district and beyond by freely sharing the results of the trials that he himself found successful. Prominent among these was the use of lime to improve acid soils and the sowing of subterranean clover pastures to increase the stocking rate and fertility of the soil. He was a large-scale producer of subterranean clover seed and devised innovative techniques for harvesting it. Subterranean clover became a major component in the large-scale development of the wheat belt of Western Australia before and after the second world war and much of Farleigh’s seed would have contributed to that development.
Eric Farleigh was keen on education and, in 1985, handed Rylington Park to the Shire of Boyup Brook to be developed as an agricultural college. This did not eventuate, but Rylington Park became a centre for training and research, being well known for its shearing schools, workshops in many aspects of agriculture and its flock of genetically worm-resistant sheep.

A daughter of James Drummond Senior, Euphemia (1826-1921) married a shepherd, Ewan Mackintosh in 1849. Her strong sense of purpose and great skill in the breeding of dairy cattle contributed much to her husband’s success. While he concentrated on sheep and the breeding of good farm horses she developed their Avon Valley property ’Glendearg’ into the colony’s leading producer of fine quality dairy produce. The quality of the property’s bloodstock and the planning of its facilities set standards well beyond the average of the time and provided an example for many.
After the death of her husband in 1881 Euphemia continued to manage ‘Glendearg’ unaided for nearly 40 years. Her skill at breeding stock and farm management became legendary.

Wilhelm Liebe (1862-1950) was already a highly skilled builder and contactor when he arrived in Western Australia in the early 1890s. His works in Perth include His Majesty’s Theatre, The Peninsula Hotel and The Western Australian Art Gallery. In 1907 he turned his attention to wheat farming, taking up land in Wubin and Waddi Forest.
Clearing and developing on an unprecedentedly large scale, Liebe was a pioneer in the use of advanced machinery and his innovations were later copied by many smaller wheat farmers. By the late 1920s he had more than 8,000 hectares under crop and grew a crop of 106,000 bags, then thought to be a world record.
During the 1930s depression he diversified into sheep and until his death at the age of 88 continued to provide a model of broad-acre farming.

George Burvill (1908-1992) served with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture for 44 years from 1927 to 1971. During most of that time he was the State’s leading authority on soil conservation. His work resulted in the development of millions of hectares of light land in Western Australia and provided a basis for planning the Ord River irrigation project. He was one of the first to recognise and seek answers to the problem of salinisation in wheatlands.
In retirement he edited and wrote a large portion of what is still the leading work of reference on the history of Western Australian agriculture. He was an internationally respected agricultural scientist.

Farming the fragile soils of Western Australia is a constant challenge. After opening up huge tracts of land between the second war and the 1970s, farmers and others realized that their use of the land was not sustainable. From the early 1980s, the Landcare movement gave farmers the opportunity to redress the rampant problems of salinity, erosion and degradation of soil and Rex Edmondson was the face and a major driving force behind the development of Land Care.
He began his working life on his parents’ War Service Land Settlement farm in the newly emerging farming region of Jerramungup and realized that farming practices had to change if agriculture was to be viable the long term. He set up and chaired the Jerramungup Land Conservation District Committee, one of the first in the State. Soon, he was serving on, and often chairing, a range of advisory committees and councils to both state and federal ministers about all aspects of Land Care and its administration. For example, he chaired the National Feral Animal Program based in Canberra and the Ord Bonapart Program, a joint Federal and Western Australian Government plan to assess the sustainable capacity of the region from Darwin to Fitzroy Crossing. At the same time he retained his dedication to his local community as a proactive councillor and shire president in the Gnowangerup, Jerramungup and, later, Albany shires.

Graham Crosbie is a Pioneer of the Western Australian noodle wheat industry. His skills as a chemist defined the ideal wheat for high quality noodles which underpinned the development of distinctive varieties of udon noodle wheat in this State. Western Australia is the major world supplier of specialised wheats for the Japanese and South Korean noodle wheat markets and Graham Crosbie is recognised as the driving force behind it.
He worked closely with the Japanese flour milling industry to understand the exacting characteristics of udon noodles. Then, as a first-class cereal chemist, he defined these characteristics and developed techniques to measure them to support the Western Australian wheat breeding effort. As a member of several high-level advisory groups, he convinced the industry to segregate these new wheats to allow them to be marketed successfully and to create separate pooling, so the proceeds from sale of the noodle wheat went directly to the growers who produced it.
His vision and skills in defining essential traits for breeders to develop new, specialised udon wheat varieties and his proficiency in working closely with both the Japanese flour milling industry and Australian wheat industry to create a unique and highly profitable wheat class identify him an agricultural pioneer in this State.

Farmers from all over Australia, many of whom may not know the town of Kondinin, are well aware of and appreciate the contribution the Kondinin Group has made to the agricultural welfare of this country. Bill Henderson (1929- ) was the driving force behind not only the founding but the promotion and development of this highly influential organisation. He oversaw its transition from a local pasture improvement group in 1968 to a broad based institution with branches in every state, shrewdly combining science and practical know-how to evaluate and improve farming practices, machinery, tools and ideas independently for the benefit of farmers. He was chairman of the group for five years, its promotion officer for 20 years and has been a life member since 1982.
The evolution of the Kondinin group reflects Bill Henderson’s own extraordinary farming career which started with 550 hectares at Doodlakine and grew to 16,000 hectares 30 years later. He was an “early adopter”, a successful innovator and a respected mentor who saw in his own success the opportunity to help other farmers develop their own expertise and knowledge of crops, animals, machinery and management.

A feature of the history of Western Australian has been the capacity of its agricultural pioneers to grow crops and livestock successfully in spite of limited supplies of water. Ernie Bridge (1936-2013) , as the new Minister for Water Resources in 1986, recognised that lack of water also affects the personal and social lives and wellbeing of rural Western Australians. As a result, he developed a plan that engaged farmers, business people and the government in a series of proposals that extended scheme water to over 2,800 farms in the following decade.
His unusual approach as a minister was inclusive, non bureaucratic, almost apolitical, and, as a result, highly effective. It was also widespread: farmers in areas as diverse as Moora-Bindi Bindi, Katanning- Nyabing- Pingrup, and Mount Magnet-Sandstone benefitted from the Rural Water Strategy that he put in place and directed as minister.
Ernie Bridge was the first Aboriginal Member of the Parliament of Western Australia and the first Aboriginal Cabinet Minister in any Australian Parliament. He proudly and successfully supported both his rural and Aboriginal heritage in many forums throughout his career but his vision and leadership are especially remembered by a large section of the wheatbelt of Western Australia because they resulted in his drought-proofing their social and economic life.

Harry Gayfer (1925-2021) has contributed to many aspects of public life, most notably to the advancement and improvement of techniques for transporting, storing and marketing of grain.
He was a Director and Chairman of Co-operative Bulk Handling , and Chairman of the Federal Body . Gayfer negotiated the construction of the Kwinana Grain Export Terminal, and was a keen promoter of research and development, stimulating the adoption of many important technological advances.
A Member of State Parliament (1962–1989) he was a highly effective spokesman for the grain industry combining practical experience and breadth of vision.

Jack Mann’s (1906-1989) father, George Mann, who had been a brandy maker at Chateau Tanunda in South Australia, was appointed as winemaker to Houghton Wines in the Swan Valley in 1910. Jack became his apprentice in 1922 when he participated in the first of 51 consecutive vintages for the company.
He succeeded his father as winemaker in 1930 and, soon after, achieved the first recognition within Australia of the potential of Western Australian wines by winning the Australian Champion award for his fortified wines. This award was won for 13 successive years. He strengthened this recognition in 1937 by producing the first vintage of the famous and highly successful Houghton’s White Burgundy which went on to win many Australian awards and is still a Western Australian icon.
One of his many lasting legacies was the innovative introduction of the Portuguese variety, Verdelho, which is particularly suitable for the warmer wine-growing areas of the State. Mann is considered by many to be the father of the Western Australian wine industry because of his innovations in both the wine room and in the vineyard, his mentoring of younger wine makers and his encouragement of the development of new areas for wine making in the State.

James Drummond (1784-1863) was nominated for his early scientific work in agriculture, vineyard culture and botany, all of which assisted our first colonial settlers towards a better understanding of soils and native flora.
James Drummond arrived with his family at the Swan River settlement in 1829 as Captain Stirling’s honorary government naturalist. A botanist with practical experience of managing public gardens, he played an indispensable role during the first 30 years of settlement in identifying and classifying Western Australian plants, including hundreds of new species. By identifying the Gastrolobium species which caused York Road poison in livestock, he rescued the pastoral industry from crisis.
He was a foundation member and Director of the Agricultural Society of Western Australia and conducted experiments which led to the establishment of the Western Australia’s vineyard industry.

Jim Shepherd (1927-2014) was a visionary breeder of Merino sheep who, in the 1960s challenged long held traditions in the industry by integrating measurement of fleeces and revolutionary methods of breeding into the industry. He was one of the first farmers in Australia to use these new scientific concepts of breeding and the most successful at the time in doing so on a large scale. In the 1970s, he fired the enthusiasm of over a thousand Western Australian and interstate farmers to join him and form a loose co-operative breeding organization, the Australian Merino Society or AMS. Members of the AMS began measuring the fleeces of their sheep for the first time and contributed animals to the overall breeding program which was by far the biggest in Australia. At the time, the concept flew in the face of tradition but his motivation was based on a belief in what he was doing and not on monetary gain. Neither he nor the members profited financially and prices set for breeding rams were low relative to those for traditionally bred stud animals.
By the 1990s, the concepts of measurement and scientific breeding that he pioneered were taken up widely by many sheep breeders outside the AMS. This, in turn, encouraged geneticists and other scientists to provide more extensive services to the breeding industry. The widespread genetic improvement of Australian Merino sheep owes much to his vision and tenacity.

Toodyay-born Jane Glass (1851-1934) married Charles Adams in 1868. They settled at Mangowine about 100 kilometres east of Goomalling on one of the then outermost pastoral leases. Here they supported themselves and 11 children on home-grown produce while accumulating wool and sandalwood for an annual journey to Guildford.
The 1888 Yilgarn goldrush brought prospectors needing provisions and for several years Mangowine served as a wayside inn. After Charles’ death in 1895 Jane, already experienced through her husband’s frequent absences, assumed sole control until the district was broken up for homestead blocks for wheat growing early in the 20th century.
Until her death Jane Adams was respected as the experienced matriarch of the district. She was an outstanding example of the first generation of locally bred pioneer women.

The 20th century saw vast changes in the management of the fragile pastoral areas of Western Australia from relatively unrestricted exploitation to careful and sustainable land-use to preserve its cultural, scenic and pastoral potential. Jano Foulkes-Taylor is recognized for her active role at the forefront of this continuing technological and social development.
She was born in the Eastern Goldfields and spent most of her life on stations in the Murchison. She is noted for her passion for the conservation of the region’s resources. She has coupled this with a commitment to diversifying enterprises in the rangelands and to educational, communicational and social changes that have allowed young people to acquire the skills to live and work successfully in the region.
She has been an articulate advocate in State and Federal forums and committees on distance education, remote-area communication, and the use of new expertise to improve productivity. At the same time, she actively contributes to the running of the family’s properties, using, for example, her skills as a pilot during mustering and her intimate knowledge of the rangelands to experiment with growing and marketing of wildflowers and opening a farm-stay resource.

Western Australia’s largest rural company, Wesfarmers, began in 1914 as a co-operative supplying essential goods to farmers and acting as a marketing agent for farm produce. Its capital base improved and, in the early 1970s, the co-operative was a substantial source of off-farm income for many of its members.
John Bennison (1912-2017) became its Chief Executive in 1975 and quietly but effectively expanded its character to reflect that change. He was instrumental in spreading Wesfarmers’ commercial horizons successfully into meat processing, production of fertilizer, distribution of gas and general retailing which increased the profits for its co-operative shareholders.
In particular, he saw the advantages of converting the co-operative to a publically listed company. He faced much opposition to this idea from fervent believers in the co-operative ethos. However, after seven years of negotiation and at the point of his retirement, he succeeded. Members then reaped the rewards of their loyalty to the company in the form of income from the new off-farm shares that was sometimes greater than the income from their farming. This introduced a new form of stability into many agricultural enterprises in the State.

Western Australia began to have a significant influence on the apple industry of Australia in the latter part of the 20th century and is now recognized as an important supplier of quality apples to world markets. John Cripps (1927-2022) was a major contributor to all facets of its success. He joined the Department of Agriculture in 1955 and became a specialist horticulturalist in 1959.
From the 1960s, he developed rootstocks that were compatible with Western Australian soils, worked out strategies for irrigation and fertilizer that best suited the local environment and identified approaches for controlling cropping to ensure consistent annual production.
His exceptional and most obvious accomplishment was the breeding of new varieties of apples that have become household favourites. Pink Lady and Sundowner are not only eagerly sought by buyers worldwide who appreciate their unique combination of flavour, sweetness and long-term storage ability but they are among the most popular varieties planted in orchards around the world.

John Thomson (1887-1960) was a visionary figure in the development of Western Australian agribusiness through his work for Westralian Farmers, especially as general manager from 1925 to 1957. Among his achievements were the organisation of the Western Australian Wheat Pool for orderly marketing; the establishment of the State’s first radio station, 6WF; and the foundation of the State’s first pasteurisation plant for milk processing.
During the Depression years of the 1930s he was largely responsible for persuading wheat farmers to adopt co-operative bulk handling and successfully fought to negotiate better terms for the overseas shipping of Western Australian grain. He continued to diversify the activities of the co-operative throughout his career and made a lasting contribution to the rural community.

In 1924, Joe Zekulich (1907-2014) arrived in Australia as a penniless 16 year-old post world-war migrant from his native Croatia. After working as a market gardener and timber cutter in the Goldfields and later as a sleeper cutter in the south west he moved to the Swan Valley where he established himself and his family in the grape growing industry. He recognised in 1932 that the vigour of vines in the whole region was deteriorating and perceived that this was being caused by a root knot nematode.
With single minded determination, and with neither scientific nor financial support at that time, he set out to revitalise the Swan Valley as a major viticultural region. First, he sought out and tested rootstocks for resistance to the nematodes and then he pioneered the introduction of the Dalmation green graft to the Valley so that scion material could be successfully grafted onto the resistant stock. This stock was made freely available to other grape growers and to the Department of Agriculture with whom he developed a close working relationship.
The enterprise of Zekulich made him a household and highly respected name in his adopted country in which he served for over 30 years on many industry-related associations including the Viticulturists Union and the Export Grape Committee.

Kevin Hogan personifies the image of Western Australian farmers whose dedication to agriculture goes well beyond their own farm gate. As a successful and well respected farmer in the Bencubbin district, Kevin was well aware of the deep social and personal issues that beset many families and individuals in the wheatbelt.
He involved himself in community projects and was a founding member of important forums to improve the mental, physical and economic health of rural Western Australians. In particular, he initiated and was the founding chairman of the Mt Marshall Community Support Group which gave confidence and support to many farmers struggling to remain solvent in the face of crippling interest bills in the 1980s. The group became so successful in restoring the dignity of desperate families that it was used as a template for similar groups all over the State offering rural counselling. He was also a foundation trustee of the Country Medical Foundation set up to improve health services in rural communities.
At a corporate level also, he made strong contributions as a director and, for 16 years, deputy chairman of Wesfarmers, councillor of the grain Pool of Western Australia, Chairman of Bencubbin Farm Advisory Services and as a contributor to many rurally-orientated associations.

Les Hitchcock spent a lifetime promoting two of Western Australia’s important meat industries, pork and lamb. He played a key part in helping them progress from minor industries producing indifferent products for consumers and supplementary returns for farmers, to dynamic industries in their own right generating meat products of world-class quality. He took over the family farm at the Grass Valley in 1939 and began a Corriedale stud soon after for the production of lamb.
Later he began successful Berkshire and Landrace pig studs to produce pork. At that time, showing was the principle means of assessing and comparing excellence and Les’ stock excelled, enabling him to win the Governor’s Cup at the Perth Royal Show three times between 1970 and 1973. However, as objective measurement and new technologies became available, he embraced them and campaigned for their inclusion in payment and incentive schemes for producers. These schemes were the forerunners of the systems that are now in place and encourage the production of high quality lamb and pork. He was active in and became president of the State Prime Lamb Committee, later the Lamb Board, and was the producer representative on the Pig Meat Promotion Board.
His widespread, long-term activities included lengthy periods on the Northam Shire, the Royal and other Agricultural Societies, Breed societies, the Agriculture Protection Board and Junior Farmers, all of which benefitted from his wisdom and integrity.

The Dairy Industry in Western Australia benefited in the period 1970 to 2000 from the imposing influence of Lou Giglia (1940-2018). As the son of Italian parents producing fresh milk in suburban Perth, he recognised that Western Australian dairy cattle could be as successful and productive as any in the country with skilful control of their breeding and husbandry. He illustrated this when he founded the Ponderosa herd of Holstein Friesian cattle in 1962.
Over the next 40 years his animals dominated in production figures and in show rings in Western Australia, where he won the Governor’s cup at the RAS three times, and the prestigious Queen’s Cup recognised Australia wide. He enthusiastically developed and used the latest technology for recording and breeding and the best farming and land-care practices on his property. More importantly, he shared this knowledge and success freely with others. His influence was far reaching through off farm commitments such as a directorship with Wesfarmers and roles in organisations as diverse as Junior Farmers, the Holstein Association of Australia, the Murray Shire and the Royal Agricultural Society. While president of the RAS, he conceived and established the Agricultural Hall of Fame and it is very appropriate that he is now a member.

After completing a diploma in dairy farming and acquiring knowledge of sheep farming and wool classing at the University of Reading, Marjorie Lewis (1906-1992) , with her husband, farmed at Muradup, west of Kojonup. In addition to a fine record of local service with the Country Women’s Association and being the first woman to serve on the Kojonup Shire Council, Marjory served as a member of the General Executive of the Primary Producers Association during the 1939-1945 war years and in 1946, took part in negotiations to form the Farmers Union of Western Australia. Without the backing of an academic institution Lewis conducted, over many years, extensive research into the fertility of ewes and the selection of improved Merino sheep. She also served as Secretary of the Southern Districts Sheep Research Council. Mrs Lewis took an active interest in the farm up until her death in 1992.

Maude Dempster was married at the age of 17 and widowed at 30. Left with six children and with no previous experience of farming, she successfully managed a property at Buckland in the Avon Valley, later moving to Grass Valley in the same district. Dempster gained such respect that in 1906 she was made a life member of the Northam Agricultural Society. A versatile and successful stockbreeder, she developed one of the first Merino stud flocks in Western Australia and was credited with introducing muscovy ducks and bronze wing turkeys to the State.
Remembered most for the quality of her Ayrshire cattle, she was also a noted breeder of horses both for the turf and as draught animals. Her awards included a Department of Agriculture medal for butter production and the Governor’s Cup in 1902, the first woman to win the cup.

Michael Lloyd's (1942- ) property was one of thousands of Western Australian farms affected by salinity, probably the most important physical threat to the state’s agriculture in the 20th century. He set about understanding the problem and testing solutions through revegetation on a large scale on his own property.
With initiative and leadership, he realised the importance of sharing information as it became available and he established or led key organisations for that purpose such as the Saltland Pastures Association, the Animal Production from Saline Land Systems Initiative and several others. In these, he played an exemplary role as the active link between scientists working on the problem and practical landholders affected by it. This he achieved by organising innumerable field days and meetings throughout affected areas including on his own farm.
Farmers found first that they could repair scarred, salt-affected landscapes by using saltbush to lower the water table and, later, that the saltbush together with other species could re-establish productivity through managed grazing. These farmers in particular appreciate Michael Lloyd for contributing to both their psychological and economic welfare in the face of the potentially ruinous threat of salinity. And Western Australia owes him its gratitude for his contribution to sustainable agriculture in this State.

Western Australia’s climate is ideal for the production of irrigated vegetables but its transition from an industry of small market gardens to an efficient and important export industry was not realized until the late 1900s. Nicolas Trandos (1934- )was at the forefront of this transition. He joined his father from Macedonia on a few hectares at Wanneroo after WWII and directed the family enterprise to grow into a major producer, processor and exporter of corn, beans, broccoli, carrots and other vegetables.
Importantly, he became a leader in the industry and took other progressive growers with him through his presidency of the Western Australian Market Gardeners Association for 25 years and of the Australian Vegetable Growers Federation. This enabled him to influence the introduction of advances to ensure the progress and viability of the vegetable industry such as a levy for research and the development of plant variety rights. Simultaneously, his breadth of vision saw the small farming community of Wanneroo-Joondalup, in which he grew up and worked, evolve into a large metropolis under his guidance during a record period as councillor, shire president and mayor

Percival Forrest was especially notable for pioneering the production of subterranean clover in the south west of Western Australia and developing improved harvesting machines. During the Depression he worked on the reform of the Group Settlement Scheme. He was responsible for developing many of the amenities of Boyup Brook, and for the establishment there during WWII of Western Australia's first commercial flax industry.

Peter Lefroy inherited and improved a notable Merino stud, Cranmore, and gave a lifelong commitment of generous and imaginative leadership to the Western Australian wool industry. His contributions included the invention of a lamb cradle for mulesing, the establishment of Rural Traders Company, the marketing of unblended wool to overseas processors and the improvement of animal breeding facilities. The sagacity of his judgment was respected throughout the industry

Peter Trefort’s (1945- ) background as a farmer and then as a local butcher influenced his vision that a successful lamb industry depended on creating a chain of collaborating components stretching from farmers’ paddocks to consumers’ plates. He recognised that each component had to understand the needs of the other and adjust its operations to benefit the whole industry. This approach transformed the largely seasonal, wool-based, Western Australian sheep meat industry with variable and unpredictable products into a year-round enterprise trading in high quality, sought-after meat.
He formed the Q-lamb alliance in which participating farmers were encouraged to produce a high-end quality lamb, his own butchery processed it into desirable cuts and retailers were encouraged to promote it as a superior product.
He expanded his abattoir upgrading it to export status and began selling the Western Australian product Australia-wide and internationally. It was a model that many other groups now emulate or are attempting to emulate.
He was honoured as National lamb processor of the year in 2000 and with an honorary DSc from Murdoch University in 2006. He was an influential board member on many State and National meat bodies. His influence extended also to agricultural education in secondary schools in Western Australia where he encouraged practically based programs and lobbied successfully for facilities to support them. He was also an active member of many sporting groups in the Narrogin area.

Peter Falconer’s (1932- ) arrival in Western Australia from New Zealand in 1961 coincided with the initiation of the first farm-management groups in this State. From a modest but successful start as consultant to the Wongan Hills group he witnessed and played a major part in the professional development of farm-management consulting which, today is used by 40% of Western Australian farmers who produce more than 60% of the State’s agricultural produce. He was intimately involved in the formation of the Western Australian Consultants Association in 1962 and of the Australian Association of Farm Management Consultants in 1963. He was a leader of the profession while holding a range of official positions, including chairman, in these organizations. In addition, he edited the journal ‘Landline’ for 25 years providing useful and objective views to farmers on improving profitability.
He later continued his energetic leadership by mentoring new consultants. The fledgling profession gradually progressed from individuals servicing farmer-based and owned groups to private, often multi-skilled, consulting businesses. Here, too, Peter led the way and, with two colleagues, formed the first of these consultancies in Western Australia as early as 1965. This evolved in 1975 into Planfarm, the State’s first private consulting firm from which he retired as managing director in 2004. At a practical level, he farmed at Toodyay and at Mingenew and was involved in several Simmental cattle studs and in the first farming of fat-tail sheep in Western Australia. He was vice-chairman of the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation for over 20 years where his vast network of friends and clients in the country helped him raise money for research of continuing benefit for both country and city children.

In the era of expanding research intensity in the second half of the twentieth century, David Lindsay (1937- ) excelled as a teacher and scientist in the sheep industry in Western Australia. He and his research team illustrated how fundamental research of world significance could be used to understand and combat practical problems associated with poor fertility and survival in the State’s flock. His research group became the focus for scores of overseas researchers and students in the field of reproductive physiology. In particular, he stressed to his colleagues and students the importance of clear and accurate communication and did much to bridge the gap between science and practical sheep farming in the State and in Australia.
These skills led to his chairing many important agriculturally-related forums including the Lindsay Review of the Australian Quarantine System, a review of the Western Australian Meat Marketing Corporation and reviews of Australian and overseas projects projects.
Many of his masters and doctorate students hold influential roles in agricultural teaching and research in Australia and overseas and they continue his philosophy that solving practical problems in agriculture needs sound basic science and communication coupled with a passion for the industry.

The development of agriculture on millions of hectares of relatively poor soils in Western Australia in the second half of last century centred around “sub-, sheep and superphosphate”. ‘Sub-‘ or subterranean clover was the source of nitrogen for cereals in rotations before artificial nitrogen fertilisers and it provided protein for sheep in the pasture phase of those rotations. Clive Francis (1938-2012) was pre-eminent in all phases of the development of subterranean clover.
He was a brilliant, unconventional scientist with an outstanding rapport with farmers and his laboratory was never far from the paddock. He used laboratory and field trials to uncover the elusive isoflavonoid compound that caused some strains of clover to make sheep infertile and set up a unique laboratory to screen potential new varieties to ensure their suitability.
He expanded his activities to many crop and pasture legumes and collected, mostly from overseas, tested and released scores of new cultivars of clovers, medics, serradellas and vetches; an achievement that made him probably the most successful pasture legume breeder in Australia. His extensive, productive and long lasting international connections attracted many prominent overseas scientists to work with him and to contribute to the advancement of Western Australian broad-scale agriculture.

Eric Underwood (1905-1980) graduated with honours in agricultural science at The University of Western Australia and with a doctorate from Cambridge University and was appointed animal nutrition officer with the Department of Agriculture in 1931. In this capacity, with limited resources, he undertook brilliant research into the role of trace elements in the nutrition of sheep. This resulted in pasture improvements, which substantially improved the carrying capacity of large areas of the south west of the State.
From 1946 to 1971 Underwood was Professor and Director of the Institute of Agriculture at The University of Western Australia. An excellent lecturer, he was responsible for major improvements in the facilities for agricultural education in Western Australia, and under his leadership many outstanding graduates were produced by the Institute.

Hartley Teakle (1901-1979) was one of a small band of early graduates in Agricultural Science at The University of Western Australia who studied overseas at the highest academic level before returning to make outstanding contributions to the development of Western Australian agriculture. In Teakle’s case, he obtained a PhD at the University of California in 1927 and then, back in Western Australia as a scientist with the Department of Agriculture, he pioneered work in trace element nutrition of crops that led to the release of complex fertilizers with micro- and macro-elements to increase crop yields throughout the State.
He was one of the first to warn of the impending danger of salt in the soils of the eastern wheatbelt and his extensive soil mapping of the area acted as a basis for rational release of land and the development of viable farm units in the Salmon Gums and adjacent regions. The work acted as a model for the more extensive soil mapping of the State, which was done in conjunction with other scientists. From this was prepared a system of soil classification that assisted in assessing the potential of new farming land, including that in the Ord River scheme.
In 1947, he became the first Professor of Agriculture at the University of Queensland and built on his Western Australian background as a soil scientist and plant nutritionist to complete a brilliant and productive academic career.

Reg Moir (1918-2004) studied agricultural science at The University of Western Australia in the early years of Professor Eric Underwood’s leadership.
After graduating with first class honours he was appointed to an academic position there, rising to the status of Professor. On retirement in 1983 he received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his research on animal nutrition. His public service included Membership of the Australian Meat Research Committee and the Australian Academy of Sciences National Committee on nutrition.
As a member of the planning board for Murdoch University between 1970 and 1973 he contributed much to the establishment of the School Of Veterinary Sciences at the new university.

Over five decades, Ray Harrington (1947- ) has demonstrated extraordinary skills to combat real problems in Western Australia’s two major agricultural segments, sheep and cropping, and his solutions were quickly taken up nationally and internationally.
In the sheep industry, his name appears on the Harrington Crutching Cradle, the Harrington Sheep Jetting Race and the Harrington Vee Sheep Handling Machine, all familiar devices for improving efficiency and reducing physical work in the husbandry of animals.
Similarly, in cropping, Agmaster Harrington No-Till points have been a major factor in ecologically-sustainable cultivation of soil and the Harrington Seed Destructor is now a viable component of integrated pest management options world-wide for reducing reliance on chemical herbicides.
The breadth of his contributions and the practicality of these machines is unparalleled in state and Australian agriculture.
As a practicing farmer he has been generous in sharing his innovations. He has lectured on his many areas of specialism across the world and interacted strongly in grower organisations and local groups which ensured rapid uptake and effective use of his inventions which have made a big impact on Western Australian agriculture.
Yet for all his achievements, Ray remains a humble and grounded man who gains satisfaction from the success that others have had by using his inventions and in sharing his achievements with others.
“It’s all a bit surreal, really”, he explains.
“Everything I’ve done has been a team effort. My brothers, David and Douglas – professors, engineers, manufacturers, scientists, researchers and my family – each with their own knowledge and experience that made each piece of machinery possible. Without them, I certainly wouldn’t be getting any of this. They deserve just as much credit as I do.
“If there’s anything that I can claim credit for, it’s being single, bloody minded! A lot of the inspiration has come from elsewhere; but the perspiration is just as important.”
Ray says that all the ingredients for his success are evident in his wider family. He describes his father as possessing a ‘have a go’ attitude to life and that his mother possessed an innovative spirit. Between them, they inspired a young Ray to be imaginative and driven.
He insists that he is an ‘innovator’, rather than an inventor and points to the famous Harrington Seed Destructor as proof that his successes have been down to a combination of hard work, the people his has encountered in his work and a small amount of luck.

Ray Owen (1905-2003) had a transformational influence on the Western Australian fruit industry. As both a scientific adviser and a practitioner he commanded respect from producers who quickly and confidently adopted his recommendations for new strategies for culture, biosecurity and marketing.
As an agricultural scientist he was prominent in the Department of Agriculture’s horticultural team in the 1930s that kept the State’s apple industry viable by successfully dealing with serious outbreaks of apple scab and codlin moth. He participated in most of the State’s fruit industry councils over forty years and, at various stages, chaired most of them. He was an eminent member of the community including President of the Kalamunda Shire Council and was also the region’s member of State parliament on two occasions totalling 15 years. In particular he was instrumental in developing horticulture as an important industry in the Perth hills, developing his own orchard at Kalamunda where he demonstrated new techniques and introduced new crops.

Robert Hayes-Thompson (1921-2018) is an outstanding representative of that small band of dedicated people whose contribution to the agricultural community in their region has significantly enhanced the community’s way of life. He was involved in a wide range of organizations and projects working to improve the medical, social, physical and sporting facilities in the eastern wheatbelt.
He was a councillor on the Merredin Shire for 11 years and president for six of them, president of the Kellerberrin RSL for 25 years, member of the Kellerberrin Hospital Board for 28 years, member of the Merredin Hospital board and its inaugural President. In these roles he played a key part in such diverse undertakings as developing live theatre in Merredin, initiating major projects for limiting urban salinisation, improving water supplies to remote areas and provision of aged-care facilities at Merredin.
Robert Hayes-Thompson has been a councillor of The Royal Agricultural Society for over 20 years and has contributed to the growth and professionalism of the organisation during this time.

After a most distinguished career with the Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 War and post-war service as Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command, Basil Embry (1902-1977) and his wife emigrated to Western Australia in 1956. Here they established themselves as sheep farmers on largely undeveloped country, first at Chowerup and later at Cape Riche.
Elected president of the Farmers Union in 1971 Embry gave dynamic leadership, lifting morale and making the Union more professional. He was a founder and first chairman of Rural Traders Co-operative, developing direct marketing opportunities for rural products in South East Asia. He widened the rural sector’s sense of the possible.

After service with the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II, Don Eckersley (1922-2009) commenced dairy farming in the Harvey District in 1946, and gave a lifetime of service to primary producers’ associations in and beyond Western Australia. His offices included: the Presidency of the Farmers Union of Western Australia (1972-75); the Presidency of the Australian Farmers’ Federation (1975-79) and the inaugural Presidency of the National Farmers’ Federation (1979-81).
Eckersley also served for 10 years as President of the Harvey Shire Council, was Chairman of the South West Development Authority, Chairman for three years of the Artificial Breeding Board, a member of the Western Australian Waterways Commission and a member of the Senate of The University Of Western Australia.
His experience and excellent foresight and judgement were recognised by the award of an OBE in 1977, a knighthood in 1981 and selection as Australian Man of The Year in Agriculture in 1979.

In his stewardship of his own and his family’s properties Sir Edward Lefroy (1887-1966) was a model of the practical grazier applying the findings of agricultural science. As a successful breeder of Peppin Merino sheep of genetic purity he established the largest sheep stud in Western Australia. He was the first to grow substantial quantities of subterranean clover north of Perth and in 1939 introduced the practice of mulesing to the sheep industry. He was a constant advocate of using genetic research to lift the quality of flocks and contributed unstintingly to community service.

Eric Smart (1911-1973) came to Western Australia in 1934 from South Australia with his life savings of 200 pounds to take up a share farming venture at Watheroo. After marriage he moved to Wongan Hills in 1940.
In 1949 Smart acquired Erregulla Springs Mingenew, a 10,000 hectare property of which slightly more than half was light sandplain country. He experimented with superphosphate and lupins to build up the fertility of the soil on the light land for cropping. Grain production increased by two-thirds, and by 1967 the crop exceeded 500,000 bushels (13,400 tons). The property also pastured over 100,000 sheep.
His success reflected the use of such innovations as aerial spraying of pests and the use of nitrogen fertiliser in the form of urea. He showed his appreciation of science by endowing research on light lands and the use of lupins. He remains a pre-eminent example of the application of scientific methods to large-scale wheat farming.

A member of a family distinguished in primary production, Loton (1895-1973) gained his practical experience as a farmer and grazier at his property ‘Belvoir’ in the Upper Swan, taking a special interest in the systematic promotion of sheep-breeding. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia for 38 years and President of the Society twice, exercising a role of leadership during the 1930s depression and the Second World War.
As a Director of Westralian Farmers Co-operative Ltd from 1936 to 1965 (and Chairman from 1953) he oversaw the emergence of the Company as a major merchandiser, and also the development of special service companies and marketing arrangements to meet the needs of specific sectors of the agricultural industry in Western Australia. His interest in education was attested by service on the Board of Governors of Hale School from 1934 to 1957, including 10 years as Chairman, and by Membership of the Faculty of Agriculture at The University of Western Australia.

John Teasdale (1881-1962) was one of a family of builders who migrated to Belka in the Western Australian Wheatbelt in 1911. He became an early supporter of the Co-operative Movement and the Primary Producers Association. In 1921 he became one of the original trustees of the Voluntary Wheat Pool, and within a few years was a recognised authority on marketing who helped in the shaping of policy during the 1930s depression.
In 1939 he was appointed an original member of the Australian Wheat Board, becoming Chairman in 1950. He was also President of the Primary Producers Association for eight years, and Chairman of the 1946 Royal Commission on Wheat Marketing.
It has been said of him that “throughout his career he was probably trusted more by wheat growers than any other man in public life and his advice and speeches on wheat matters were heard out intently”.

Tom Wilding (1867-1954) established himself at Mokine in the Northam area in 1890 and in 60 years built up a reputation as an accomplished breeder of livestock, winning five Governors’ Cups at the Perth Royal Show. He was the foundation breeder of fat lambs in Western Australia as well as achieving consistently high standards in the breeding of Clydesdale horses, Merino sheep and Jersey cattle.
He was three times President of the Royal Agricultural Society and the founding president of the Farmers and Settlers Association at its establishment in 1912. He was among the founders of the Muresk College, now the Muresk Institute of Agriculture and, until his death in 1954, was a generous patron and encourager of agricultural innovation.

From a humble beginning this remarkable man Walter Padbury (1817-1907) became one of the most influential contributors to the first 80 years of Western Australia’s agricultural history. He arrived in the new colony as a 13 year old boy in 1831 with his father who died within months. He survived by working as a shepherd, then by dealing in livestock and then by acquiring agricultural land where he was a leading figure in opening up the new State and creating opportunities for others.
He owned land in St Georges Terrace, farmed livestock in Floreat, owned land at Guildford and established a large orchard in Thornlie. Eventually, he had holdings stretching from the Dardanup and Balingup areas in the south to the De Grey station and beyond in the north and including large holdings in Dandaragan, Geraldton, Toodyay, Gingin among others. Complementing this were his extensive trading activities, first as Perth’s leading butcher but later came a tannery, the Peerless flour mill, a tallow factory, even a sugar mill and an emporium with several branches supplying rural and urban needs.
Moreover, he established a shipping fleet operating coastal and international routes to connect rural Western Australia to Perth and to the world. He was a visionary, philanthropic and compassionate man and one of Western Australia’s greatest agricultural pioneers.

Warren Marwick (1869-1955) was an outstanding member of an outstanding pioneering family. He was one of the sons of William Marwick, a successful Avon Valley pioneer farmer who retired to England in 1897, leaving Warren and his brothers to work the family properties as a joint business, Marwick Brothers Estate.
They grew crops productively in the York district, and Warren, in particular, gained a reputation as one of the country’s most respected breeders of high quality sheep and horses. With the opening of the Goldfields in the 1890s the Marwicks expanded their enterprise eastwards and Warren was the first farmer to take up the challenge of growing crops in the Southern Cross district. The success of his trials eventually led to the opening of the whole of the eastern wheat belt which now contributes substantially to the agricultural wealth of this State. About the same time, Warren Marwick and his brothers developed an extensive coaching and carrying business in conjunction with the railway at Northam and in the Goldfields, and at one time were proprietors of Cobb and Co in Western Australia.
He was not simply a successful farmer and businessman but a prominent community man, leader and mentor. He was a committeeman and president of the York Agricultural Society, the York Municipal Council and the York Road Board for many years and, in a wider sphere, a member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia. He was a founding director of Wesfarmers and served for 37 years during the crucial foundation years of that company. In the words of Governor Sir Gerald Strickland, “Warren Marwick set the sort of good example to his community which every large landowner ought to set.”

William Pearse (1911-2001) came from a prominent family of pastoralists and merchants, but made his own reputation with one of the best shorthorn herds in Western Australia. Half a century of unusually extensive commitment to the promotion of agriculture in Western Australia included the leadership of several overseas trade delegations and a sustained interest in the promotion and improvement of the beef industry.
He also contributed to the improvement of rural education, animal welfare and the environment, and was president of the Federal Council of Agricultural Societies in 1992.

William Padbury’s (1867-1951) contribution to Western Australia’s agriculture is the product of a long and astute liaison between business and farming that saw him achieve success in both. He began in business in the grocery trade in Oxfordshire, in his native England. Then, when he migrated to Western Australia at the age of 25 in 1892, he continued in his uncle’s Colonial Stores at Guildford. He took over the business soon after and developed it into one of the largest stores dealing in merchandise and agricultural produce in the State. This led to his becoming a major importer-exporter and his taking control of the famous Peerless Flour Mills to process wheat from his farmer clientele and his own holdings.
He developed his farming interests on a number of properties stretching from Three Springs to Dumbleyung and set up highly acclaimed studs of cattle, sheep, pigs, horses and poultry with astute breeding and importations from England and the Eastern States. He was a strong supporter of agricultural societies and The Royal Agricultural Society in particular of which he was president in 1913 and a member of its council for 51 years. The quality of his livestock was such that he won the Governor’s Cup eight times between 1912 and 1922.