Farrer Memorial Trust

The Farrer Memorial Trust was established in 1911 in Australia in memory of William Farrer. Initially established to provide study scholarships to Agricultural Scientists, the Trust became responsible in 1941 for the annual presentation of the Farrer Memorial Oration and awarding the Farrer Medal.

William Farrer and the Farrer Memorial Trust

William Farrer was a surveyor who turned his hand to farming in 1886 near where Canberra now stands. Initially he planted grape vines but the conditions were not suitable, so he then decided to plant wheat. Due to weather conditions his first two harvests where damaged by rust, which spurred Farrer to develop strains that were resistant to rust. In 1900, he was successful with a variety he named Federation after the imminent Federation of Australia. When Farrer died suddenly in 1906 a committee was created to raise funds needed to establish a Memorial Trust. On 16 October 1911, the Trust received the funds with a set of instructions, enabling it to provide research grants and scholarships to further agricultural science in Australia.

Farrer Medal In 1935, Frank Gallagher formed a committee to create the Farrer Memorial Oration, to be given by a person with an agricultural background. The first oration was by Tasmanian farmer and Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons at the Star Theatre, Queanbeyan on 3 April 1936, the birthday of William Farrer. At the end of the oration children from the Queanbeyan Intermediate High School presented Lyons with a silver medallion, which is now on display at Adolph Basser Library, Canberra. In 1941, Gallagher handed over the organisation of the Farrer Memorial Oration to the Farrer Memorial Trust.

Recipients

Source: NSW Department of Primary Industries

1936 – J.A. Lyons 1937 – G.L. Sutton 1938 – W.L. Waterhouse 1939 – not awarded 1940 – not awarded 1941 – not awarded 1942 – not awarded 1943 – S.L. Macindoe 1944 – John Theodore Pridham 1945 – not awarded 1946 – H. Wenholz 1947 – Samuel MacMahon Wadham 1948 – J.A. Prescott 1949 – W.L. Waterhouse 1950 – Robert Dickie Watt 1951 – Laurence J.H. Teakle 1952 – Bertram Thomas Dickson 1953 – A.T. Pugsley 1954 – Allan Robert Callaghan 1955 – E.A. Southee 1956 – A.F. Bell 1957 – J.G. Crawford 1958 – I.A. Watson 1959 – R.J. Noble 1960 – H.J. Geddes 1961 – Howard Carlyle Forster 1962 – O.H. Frankel 1963 – R. N. Robertson 1964 – Prof C.M. Donald 1965 – J.R.A. McMillan 1966 – G. Edgar 1967 – E.J. Underwood 1968 – E.M. Hutton 1969 – C.S. Christian 1970 – J. Melville 1971 – E.E. Bond 1972 – J.M. Vincent 1973 – D.F. Waterhouse 1974 – Helen Newton Turner 1975 – John S. Gladstones 1976 – R.A. McIntosh 1977 – D.J. McDonald 1978 – Walter Ives 1979 – L.T. Evans 1980 – R.H. Martin 1981 – N.F. Derera 1982 – J.P. Quirk 1983 – J.R. Syme 1984 – W.V. Single 1985 – C.M. Francis 1986 – D.E. Byth 1987 – J.L. Dillon 1988 – A.N. Smith 1989 – M.H. Campbell 1990 – D.H.B. Sparrow 1991 – John W. Longworth 1992 – E.F. Henzell 1993 – D.E. Smiles 1994 – B.S. Fisher 1995 – E.N. Fitzpatrick 1996 – C.D. Blake 1997 – T.J. Flugge 1998 – M.N. Kinsella 1999 – W.J. Peacock 2000 – W.A. Vertigan 2001 – R.A. Hare 2002 – Gil Hollamby 2003 – L. Lewin 2004 – R.J. Clements 2005 – John Williams 2006 – John A.G. Irwin 2007 – T. Fischer AM 2008 – Philip Cocks 2009 – R.J. Mailer 2010 – M.L. Poole 2011 – C.R. Wellings 2012 – Graeme Hammer 2013 – Andrew Inglis AM 2014 – Elizabeth Dennis 2015 – Joe Panozzo 2016 – Ted Knights 2017 – John Kirkegaard 2019 – Tim Reeves 2020 – Lindsay O’Brien 2021 – Rudi Appels 2022 – Richard Trethowan 2023 – Kevin Moore 2024 – Andrew Barr 2025 – Robert Park

Farrer Memorial Trust

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