Agricultural Education - Minerva Access

AgriculturalEducation

inVictoria&theFacultyofAgriculture,UniversityofMelbourne

Lindsay Falvey

and

Snow Barlow, Janet Beard, Malcolm Hickey, Frank Larkins, Kwong Lee Dow, Jeff Topp, Robert White & Nigel Wood

2017OAFS

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia ii

©Copyrightretainedbytheauthor.Thetextwordsmaybecopiedinanyformincontextforeducationalandrelatedpurposes.Forotherpurposes,permissionshouldberequestedfromtheauthor.

Publishedby:TheSocietyofOldAgricultureFellows,UniversityHouse,UniversityofMelbourne,3010Victoria,Australia

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Falvey, J. Lindsay, author. Title: Agricultural education : in Victoria & the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Melbourne / Lindsay Falvey, others. ISBN: 9780975100059 (hardback) Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: University of Melbourne. Faculty of Agriculture. Agricultural education--Victoria. Agriculture--Study and teaching--Victoria. Other Creators/Contributors: Society of Old Agriculture Fellows (OAFS) issuing body

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia iii

TableofContentsPage

Foreword vUnderstandingthisBook viiChapter1Introduction 1

Chapter2TheLineageofAgriculturalEducationto1886 11

Chapter3PreludetoaFacultyofAgriculture–1886-1905 23

Chapter4TheFaculty’sFirstDeans–1905-26:Osborne,Cherry,Ewart,Laby,Richardson 35

Chapter5TheGreatDean–1926-56:Wadham 47

Chapter6TheForsterDecade–1957-68 63

Chapter7RotatingDeans–1969-89:Tribe,Stubbs,Tulloh,Chinner,Parbery,Beilharz&Ferguson 75

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia iv

Chapter8TransitionTimes–1990-95:Egan&White 97

Chapter9MergerandAcculturation–1995-2000:Falvey&LeeDow 113

Chapter10Rationalizing–2000-06:Richardson,Larkins&Slocombe 131

Chapter11 ADiverseFaculty–2007-14:Roush 151

Chapter12Overview;FacultyNamesandFaces 175

Chapter13WhitherAgriculturalScience? 181

Index 191References 213

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia v

Foreword

This history describes a proud lineage replete with itsvicissitudesoffortune.ItlooksbackacrossthepastofwhatisnowtheFacultyofVeterinaryandAgriculturalSciences.ThisisagreatFacultyandIamproudtobethecurrentDean.IcametothisrolefromoutsidetheUniversityofMelbourne,and indeed from outside Australia, attracted by theachievementsofthepastandtheopportunitiesofthefuture.The opportunities are manifold and the new Faculty ispoisedtoexpanditsteaching,researchandengagementinagriculture,foodandanimalhealth.Ourfocusisfirmlyonatechnologically sophisticated futurewith significant socialandeconomicimplicationsforAustraliaandtheworld.Theglobal challenges brought by an expanding worldpopulation, environmental change, globalisation of trade,diseases and pests and the struggle to maintain healthywater, air, soil, plants and animals and the imperative ofsecuring sufficient food, have once again increased theprominenceandvalueofstudiesandresearchinagricultureandfoodsciences.The future we are constructing in the Faculty certainlysprings forth from sound foundations but as this historynotesinitsclosingchapter,‘thepastwillinformthefuture’.Understanding the past has the potential to inspire,emboldenandcautionourdecisions.Howthefoundationsin agricultural science on which we are building wereestablished across a period of more than 100 years, thedecisionsthatweretaken,themilestonesalongthewayand

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia vi

thepeoplewho ledandcontributedare thesubjectof thisfascinatingbook.IwelcomethispublicationandIamdelightedtosupportit.IcongratulateProfessorLindsayFalveyandhisco-authorsontheirworkandcommendtheSocietyofOldAgriculturalFellowsforitsinitiativeinundertakingthisproject.ProfJohnFazakerleyDean,FacultyofVeterinaryandAgriculturalSciences

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia vii

UnderstandingthisBook

TerminologyThroughout the book, ‘Faculty’ denotes the Faculty ofAgriculture in its various guises and appellations in theUniversityofMelbournesince1905.‘University’referstotheUniversityofMelbourne,andabbreviationsofdegreetitlesfollow the University’s standards in the main,1 afterencountering similar challenges about nomenclature tothose that apparently faced the authors of Faculty andUniversitydocumentsreferredtoherein.Names,acronymsand abbreviations are included in the Index; commonacronyms repetitively employed include CTEC, VET andTAFE.CTECreferstotheCommonwealthTertiaryEducationCommission,thenationalgovernmentlevelfundingvehicleforhigher education inuniversitiesuntil about1987.VETrefers to the Vocational Education and Training sector,which is servicedbyTAFE institutions that are accreditedthroughtheAustralianQualificationsFramework(AQF)andfunded through State government. TAFE institutions mayalso offer some limited higher education programs. Someshort courses in the VET sector may not be funded bygovernmentoraccreditedbytheAQF.ContributionsTheworkresultsfromtheSocietyofOldAgricultureFellows(OAFS), an informal gathering of retired members of theFaculty with a concern for the Faculty, the future ofagriculturalscienceandthereputationoftheUniversity.The

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia viii

OAFs include; Snow Barlow, Janet Beard, Lindsay Falvey,MalcolmHickey,FrankLarkins,KwongLeeDow,JeffTopp,Robert White and Nigel Wood – each of whom hascontributed to this work. In addition, significantcontributions in various formshavebeenmadebyAdrianEgan, anonymous, John Freebairn, Ken Hinchcliff, JimPratley, Rick Roush, Margaret Sheil, Hamish Russell, RonSlocombe,TeresaTjia,theUniversityArchivesandtheStateLibraryofVictoria–aswellasbymanyotherpersonsandorganizations concernedwith the Faculty and agriculturaleducation in Australia. Of particular value have beeninterviews and documents kindly provided byKwong LeeDow,BillMalcolm,MargaretSheilandNickUren.Iamalsoindebtedtotheinformedspecialistswhohavecritiquedthemanuscript – the eminent historian StuartMacintyrewhovastlyimprovedthetext,correctingmanyerrorsandstyle,andCarolynRasmussen–bothofwhomhavewrittenmorelearnedhistoriesoftheUniversity.Andit iswithgratitudethat I also acknowledge John Fazakerley, the Dean of theFaculty fromthepointatwhichthishistoryconcludes, forsupportingthispublicationandcontributingitsForeword.PrefatoryNoteInstitutionalhistoriescanbeuninterestingtoallbuta fewwho have passed through the institution concerned. Yetinstitutions constitute the fabric of a civilization and theirhistories provide important memetic markers in acivilization’sevolution.Wheretheinstitutionconcernedisauniversity faculty – as in this case – historiesmay revealsociety’schangingvalues.Thishistoryreliesontheviewsofinformed participants raised in the integrated field ofagriculturalscience,andwhobynatureandtrainingattempttoreducepersonalbiasandtoplacetheirobservationsinto

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia ix

alivingcontext.TotheextentthatthisispossibleitaccordswithSöderqvist’sobservationthat‘thepassionsofscientistsare not social products but integral elements in therealization of existentialist projects.’2 The tone of thisvolumeisindeedexistentialintwosenses;thelifeandneardeathsofagriculturalscienceeducation,andtheabsolutelycriticalneedforasocietytocontinuouslysustainitsabilityto feed itself. Thosementioned in this history share bothworldviews.As stated in other works, I believe it is responsible forauthorstoacknowledgetheirrelationshiptotheirsubjectsothat a reader may detect bias. My colleagues and I whoconstitutetheSocietyofOldAgricultureFellowshavebeenassociatedwiththeFacultyforvariousperiodsthroughthepastfivedecades.WeknowtheFacultyandtoasignificantextent the wider University and its management. Extantleaders have each written of their own eras and theircolleagueshavetheneditedeachpiecebeforeitservedasasource document for the present work; these essays arelisted in the References section. The approach aimed topresent, so far as is possible, an unbiased history.Nevertheless,participanthistoryhasalonglineagethatgoesback as far as Thucydides;3 as it is notwithout hazards areader will immediately observe that ‘the subject’sdistortion of history may arise from a selective revisionmore favourable to the subject’s participation, oralternativelyamodestsubjectmaybeloathtodescribefullytheirroleinparticularachievements.’4Withthosepossiblebiases, the history reviews more than 130 years ofagricultural education in Australia’s most intensivelyagriculturalStateofVictoria,ofwhich110yearsmightbereferredtoasagriculturalscienceeducation.

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InconsideringtheevolutionoftheFacultyasareflectionofour society’s values, it becomes clear that agriculture andfood production has become marginalized from thedominant urban-centric culture. This has led to societysometimes failing to act in its own interests. Examplesabound; in conflicts between environmental idealism andfoodproduction, inmisunderstanding the reliance of foodproductiononcontinuouscomplexscientific research,andinneglectingtoprotecttheintegratedbasisofagriculturalscience education across much of the natural and socialsciences. Just as the foundationmyths of our society relyheavilyonagriculturalmetaphorinsuchwordsas‘growth’and‘culture’,soourneglectofagriculturalsciencemaybeametaphor–orevenareflectionof–ourfalteringEuropeanunderstandingofourcontinent’s fragility.Weare learninghowtoliveinthisenvironment,andwell-educatedpersonsinagriculturalsciencehaveassistedthisadaptation–itistobe hoped that as a society we continue to recognize thisessentialnexus.

LF

Agricultural Education – Falvey et alia 1

Chapter1

IntroductionThehistoryofagricultureandrelatededucationassociatedwiththeUniversityhasfollowedawindingpathcateringforregional,nationalandinternationalfoodandenvironmentaleducationandresearchinapoliticizedeconomicsector.Thishistoryspans150years,beginningbefore theUniversity’sFacultyofAgricultureexisted.Itisbasedondocumentsusedin a previous Faculty history, a wide range of additionalsourcematerialsand,fortherecentfourdecades,hasbeensupplemented by extantmemories. In relating its history,the Faculty through its diverse iterations is placed in itscontext within the University and other providers ofagriculturaleducation.The story of agricultural education in south-easternAustralia begins in the 1870s and proceeds through earlyagriculturalschools-cum-collegesofthe1880stothe1905creationoftheFacultyattheUniversityofMelbourne,whichitself had been established in 1853. The story continuesthroughthecomplicationsofthe1968openingofanewandneighbouringuniversity thatprovidedagricultural scienceeducation, and the successors of the agricultural collegeswith their more practical courses; it then chronicles themergingofthecollegesintotheFacultyin1997,asdescribedinanearlierhistoryentitled ‘LandandFood’.5Throughoutitschequeredhistory,theFacultyhasvariouslybeenknownas;theSchoolofAgriculture,theFacultyofAgriculture,theFaculty of Agriculture and Forestry, the Faculty ofAgriculture,ForestryandHorticulture,theInstituteofLand


and Food Resources, the Faculty of Land and FoodResources,theMelbourneSchoolofLandandEnvironment,and currently, the Faculty of Veterinary and AgriculturalSciences. Ineach iteration theappellation ‘agriculture’hasappeared in either the name of the Faculty or one of itsdepartments. While modern institutional histories seekthemes toengage theiraudiences,eschewingchronologiesbased on leaders’ incumbencies, this one follows decanalperiods. And in tracing history chronologically, otherproviders of agricultural education in Victoria areintroducedintherelevanteras.Themajoremphasisofthiswork reflects thedominantpresenceof theFaculty as themajor agricultural science provider in the State andoftentimesthenation.Thesouth-eastcorneroftheAustraliancontinenthasbeenblessedwithacombinationofsoilsandclimatesuitableformodifiedversionsofthetemperateagriculturewithwhichitsimmigrantswerefamiliar.OnceproclaimedasaseparateColonyin1851,VictoriawasamajoragriculturalproducerinthesmallAustralianeconomy,andtheongoingprocessofadapting to the non-European environment began inearnest.GoldquicklyenrichedtheColonyenablingVictoriato become the wealthiest in Australia – a position itmaintainedasgoldincomedeclinedandagriculturalwealthand urban activity grew. With closer land settlementthroughtheSelectionActsandthepolicyofpromotingandassistingagriculturefromthe1860s,agriculturalproductiongrew until the Colony, while representing some threepercentofAustralia’sarea,producedthelargestruralexportincome.ItwasthereforelogicalthatVictoriawouldquicklymovetoestablishagriculturalcollegesandthatitwouldgoon to create a larger agricultural education network thanotherColonies/States;thisisindicatedinthedecadallisting


ofthemainagriculturaleducationinstitutionsbyStateinthefollowing Table in which Victorian institutions arehighlighted in bold font. However, having the benefits ofland, climate, wealth and multiple agricultural educationinstitutions did not lead to rational cooperation orintegrationacrossinstitutionsorevenacrossthedecades.Agricultural education in Victoria has experiencedalternating fortunesand compromisedmergers,usually inattemptstocatchuptoperceivedpastorcurrentneeds,orto rationalize institutional overheads and offerings. Thevisionandenergyofthe1870swassometimeslessevidentin public service approaches to the management of theagricultural and related colleges over their century-longhistory.Andalthough theUniversityopened its FacultyofAgriculturein1905,itcannotbesaidtohaveapproacheditspotentialuntilthe1920s.DevelopmentsintheotherStateswith less agricultural education infrastructure followedmuchthesamepattern.Apart from primary and secondary schools, AustralianeducationmaybetracedthroughSchoolsofArts,Mechanics’Institutes and Technical Colleges that had spread acrossEuropean-occupied Australia by 1840, having begun inHobartin1827.6SupportedbyColonialgovernmentstheseinstitutes achieved significant local business and popularsupport, unlike theparallel agricultural colleges that soonfollowed. In such a young country, agricultural andmechanical education was more an imported copy thandesignedtosuitthenewenvironment.Combinedwithfarmsbeing family undertakings, it was perhaps inevitable thatpracticalskillsweretobe ‘learnedonthejob’ inwhatwasverysimilartoanapprenticeshipapproach.


Agricultural Education Institutions by Decade of Creation7

Decade Agricultural High Schools

Agricultural & Vocational Colleges

Universities

1850 Sydney Melbourne

1870 Adelaide 1880 Roseworthy SA

Dookie Vic Longerenong Vic

1890 Burnley Vic HAC NSW WAC NSW

Tasmania

1900 Hurlstone NSW 1910 Urrbrae SA Queensland

Western Australia

1920 Yanco NSW Muresk WA 1930 Farrer NSW Dairy Research Vic 1940 Denmark WA 1950 James Ruse NSW

Harvey WA Cunerdin WA

New England

1960 Glenormiston Vic Marcus Oldham Vic Yanco NSW Tocal NSW Longreach Qld Emerald Qld

QIT (à Central Queensland) La Trobe

1970 McMillan Vic James Cook Murdoch

1980 Curtin Charles Sturt Western Sydney

1990 Southern Cross 2010 Lighthouse

schools NSW


The attitude of learning by doing that became so deeplyentrenched that it continued to be promoted into the late20th century to the detriment of education levels in thesector; the Victorian dairy sector, for example,enthusiastically re-embraced the idea in the 1980s. Thistendency to hark back to old approaches in periods ofchangemightevenbetracedbackinagriculturaleducationtotheearlydecadesafterEuropeansettlementofAustraliawhenthevisionforeducationwasasameansofrisingfrompenal colony origins. After four decades of adjusting toAustralia’s different natural and social environment,imported class distinctions from 150 years earlier miredprogresswithbeliefs‘thatthechildofablacksmithdidnotneedanymoreeducationthanwhatwasnecessaryforhimtobecomeablacksmith,thechildofafarmeronlywhatwasnecessary forhim tobea successful farmer’.8With suchahistory,itislittlewonderthatinformedcommentatorssuchasJimPratleyandCameronArchersuggestthatagriculturaleducationhasconstantly‘missedtheboat’.9AsthishistoryoftheFacultyandagriculturaleducationinVictoria implies, the anomalous status that society hasaccorded agriculture has served neither society nor theeconomy aswell as itmight have. The story that unfoldsthroughtheFaculty’shighsandlowsmightalsobeseenasamirror of ebbs and flows of Australians coming to anaccommodationwiththeircontinent.Earlysettlers,suchastheHentys, learnedby trial and error, producing startlinginnovations as they adapted European agriculture to thenewlandwith its fires, floodsanddroughts.Overthenextcentury or more, adaptation to the environment and tosociety’sattitudestosuchimportantaspectsofagriculturalscienceasanimalwelfareandenvironmentalcare,definedthe modus operandi of agricultural science. But such


constantadaptationmaynotaccordwiththeworldviewoftheoverwhelminglyurbanAustralianpopulationtoday.Theobservations made here come easily to agriculturalscientists, but if such understanding is notwidespread asseemsthecasewithrisingurbanbiasinnationalattitudes,thenthetaskofagriculturalscienceeducationremainshuge–andofnationalimportance.

The First Permanent European Settlement in Victoria, the

Henty Farm at Portland10

Thisbookispresentedchronologically,beginninginChapter2withadiscussionoftheeventsthatprecededcreationofthe first agricultural education facility in the State. Thefollowing Chapter introduces the imported legacy ofagriculturalscienceeducationthatledtothecreationoftheFaculty. Subsequent chapters treat the Faculty’s historyaccording to periods of different Deans and includediscussion of the parallel activities of other agriculturalproviders.A final Chapter offers comments on thehistoryandfutureoftheFacultyandagriculturalscienceeducation.

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It is a colourful history, replete with persuaders, rogues,visionaries, politicians, academics, entrepreneurs andfarmers,as iswellrepresented inSamuelClements’(MarkTwain’s)commentthatAustralianhistory‘doesnotreadlikehistory,butlikethemostbeautifullies…buttheyarealltrue,they all happened.’11 Mark Twain was an early visitor toVictoria’s Longerenong Agricultural College where hepraisedthecitystudentsattractedtotherurallife‘withoutanyinheritedprejudicesinfavourofhoaryignorancesmadesacredbylongdescent’.12Thecity-ruraldividewastobeacontinuing featureofagriculturaleducationthroughout itsassociationwiththeUniversity–aswere‘hoaryignorances’.InitsearlyiterationwhentheUniversitywasdebatingentryto the sector Samuel Wallace, the Victorian Director ofAgriculture,intheSeptembereditionofthe1904JournalofAgricultureclaimedthat‘farmers'sonswouldneverattendin any great number and I am afraid that those who didwouldnotreturntotheplough.'Prior to that uninfluential viewpoint, a college as distinctfromauniversity approachwasdiscussedbyA.R.Wallis,Victoria's newly-appointed Secretary for Agriculture. Hewrote in 1874 that ‘it is by no means essential that anagricultural college should stand alone and have no othercourse of instruction connected with it; on the contrarytherearemanybranchesofusefultechnicallearningwhichmight be taught under the same roof’.13 This prescientcommentwas never able to be realizedwhile agriculturalcollegeswereundertheauspicesoftheStateDepartmentofAgriculture – not even when they were liberated as theautonomousentity,theVictorianCollegeofAgricultureandHorticulture(VCAH)in1983.Itmighthavebecomepossibleafterthe1997mergerintotheFacultyattheUniversityofMelbourne,butthisopportunitywasmissed.


Thatmergerwasthecompletionofanhistoricalprocessthatbegan with mostly good intentions. But when it finallyoccurred, it followed Cornford’s maxim that universitydecision-making only accepts changewhen the reason forchangehaslongpassed.14Whenmergerfinallyoccurred,itprovidedanopportunityfortheFacultytoreorientitselftothemajoragriculturalindustriesofthefutureinAustralia’smost productive and intensive agricultural region. Thisshould have happened decades earlier. While it led to arationalization ofmost agricultural education in the State,theUniversitywasalreadyintoitspost-agriculturaleraandin any case had sought themerger for other reasons thatemergeinthisbook.Atthetimeofwriting,afurthermerger– that of two faculties to form the current Faculty ofVeterinary and Agricultural Sciences – is being bedded-down.Thisdevelopmentindicatesagreaterappreciationofthe commonalities of science while carrying the risk thatagriculturalandveterinarysciencemightbemisunderstoodasbeinglimitedtothetechnologicalsciences.TheFacultyhasthusbeenfacedwithchangethroughmuchofitsexistence,andtheprocessofchangecontinues.Sofaras this conforms to the changes of overall universityeducation toabsorb theknowledge it createsandgarners,theFacultywillcontinuetobevalued.Fromanagriculturalperspective, universities are a creation of the currentmillennium compared to the 12,000 years of accumulatedagriculturalknowledge,whichallowed thestratificationofsocieties that ultimately produced the great traditions oflearning. Agricultural science draws from both histories –thatwhichproducedthefoodsurplusesthatallowedcitiesand universities to arise as well as the interdisciplinarycodification of knowledge that universities developed.Among its major social responsibilities, the University of


Melbournehasinheritedanoblelineageascustodianofthenation’s major agricultural science education base. Thissignificant responsibility is best understood through therealizationthatsustainablefoodproductionistheprimaryissue facing humankind, and relies on the constantproductionofgraduatesinagriculturalscience.



Chapter2

TheLineageofAgriculturalEducationto1886

TheUniversityofMelbournefollowedaproudtradition inagricultural education when it established its Faculty ofAgriculturein1905.Inayoungdevelopingnation,itwouldhave been easy to leave the role to the practical farmer-trainingcollegescommontomanynations,especiallyastheyhad already been created under government auspices inVictoria and some other States. In promulgating theunderstandingthatscienceunderpinspracticaltechnologiesand that management of biological and humanenvironments is a complex process involving myriadinteractions, theUniversitywas forging apath thatwouldplaceitattheinternationalforefrontofagriculturalscienceatdifferentperiodsacrossits111-yearhistorytodate.Thefoundations on which the University’s created its Facultyhad been laid down elsewhere by various insightfuluniversitiesandresearchsitesacrossEuropeandtheUSA.Universities have defined much of modern civilization atleast for 700 years15 as repositories of knowledge andscholarshipwhile allowingperipatetic scholars to interactuninhibitedbythelimitationsoflanguage,religion,politicsor culture up until the modern period. Agriculturaleducationwasformostofthatperiodanunspecifiedaspectofnaturalphilosophy,whichwasbothinterdisciplinaryandnon-technical inamodernsense.This critical approach toagricultural science continued in parallel with the


formalization of practical agricultural colleges in the1600s.16 An early English proposal 'for the erecting of aColledgeofHusbandryandinordertheretoforthetakinginofPupillsorApprenticesandalfoFriendsorFellowesofthesame Colledge or Society' apparently predated similarEuropeandevelopmentssuchastheAcademioDeiGeorgeinFlorenceat1753,whichofferedagriculturaltraining,17andtheestablishmentofaChairinAgricultureattheUniversityofPaduain1764.18OtherearlyformsagriculturaleducationincludedanAgriculturalHighSchool foundedin1818thatwastheforebearofGermany’sUniversityofHohenheim,aFrenchNationalSchoolofAgricultureatGignonfoundedin182719andanItalianschoolofagricultureestablishedbytheMarquisRidolfi in the 1830s to serve the sons of farmerswithout the requirement for fees. Similar developmentsoccurredelsewhere,suchasinHungaryandPrussia.20Atuniversities,theFoundationChairinAgricultureatPaduawas followedbyaChair at theUniversityofEdinburgh in1790 to which Andrew Coventry was appointed.21 TheScottish universities were more attentive to practicalknowledge than Oxford and Cambridge, a continuingexample being Adam Smith’sWealth of Nations publishedduring the Scottish Enlightenment and the ScottishAgriculturalRevolutionin1776.22CoventryishailedasthefounderoftheScottishsystemofagriculturaleducationthatinfluencedthedesignoftheLandGrantCollegesoftheUSA– and in part, the initial phase of Victoria’s agriculturalcolleges.The agricultural revolution that had inspired new animalandcropsciencesacrossEuropeandtheUKmusthavealsoinfluenceduniversitiesthroughknowledgeofsuchchemicalfertilizertrialsasBoussingault’sinAlsacefrom183023and


the establishment of formal experimental stations such asRothamsted in 1843.24 Cirencester, established in 1845 inEnglandandnowknownastheRoyalAgriculturalCollege,was the first dedicated agricultural college in theEnglish-speaking world. Linking teaching and extension to suchresearch institutes as the Rowett began in 191225 andcontinued intorecent times.26TheUSLandGrantCollegesdeveloped extension as an educational outreach for thoseunable toattendcollegesand linked themmoreclosely toresearch through their common State funding,27supplemented by earnings from the Federal land grants.Elsewhere,notablyinEuropeandEngland,suchintegrationwas ad hoc. Australia largely followed the model of theEnglishcollegesofagriculture,beginninginSouthAustralia(1885)andVictoria(1886).Theobjectivewastotrainyoungpeople for farming,28 and in the Victorian case was to befundedthroughamodificationoftheUSLandGrantsystem.Integrated scientific understanding was limited in such amilieu and linkages to embryonic universities werepragmatic;RoseworthyAgriculturalCollegediplomatswereabletogaincreditsintheUniversityofAdelaide’sBScdegreefrom1905,althoughfewtookthatpathuntilthefoundationoftheWaiteInstitutein1924.29TheUniversityofMelbourneshowed leadership in creating the first Faculty ofAgriculture,whichwasuncomfortablylinkedtothecollegesmainly to gain short-term access to practical farmexperience.TheVictorianagriculturalcollegeshadbeenallocatedlandgrantssomewhatsimilartotheUSLandGrantColleges,buta combination of looking to England and the economicdepression of the 1890s forestalled the model’s success.Soon after, the University’s creation of the Facultyintroduced status-linked competition that persisted


throughoutthelifetimeofthecolleges.Twooutcomesfromthe separation of agricultural science in universities frompractical teaching in colleges have been a long-termconfusionoverwhatconstitutesanemployablegraduate30and a low level of farmer education in Australia.31 In the1860s, less than two per cent of some 7,000 annuallyentering farming across Australia had formal post-secondary education – the lowest among developedcountries.32 The relativity had hardly changed a centurylater.InsomewaysthismaybeseenasaculturethatbecameentrenchedinAustralianfarmingalongwithatendencytoview farming as synonymous with agriculture to theexclusion of processing, marketing and environmentalmanagement.

The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester – 186033

The form of agricultural training in Australiamay also berelatedtothecountry’spathofdevelopment.By1850therewasa significantagricultural sectorand theeconomywasbased onwool, forwhich export priceswere sufficient tocover the difficult transportation conditions before the

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arrival of railways. Other agricultural products mostlyserved local urban demand in an economy enjoying astandard of living higher than any other country. Thediscoveryof gold in1851, initially took labour away fromfarminguntilwealthcreatedstrongdemandforprimefoodproducts.Pastoralleasesweresubdividedtoaccommodatefarming, particularly on the better soils with reasonablerainfallthatwerewellrepresentedinVictoria.Avisionofayeomandemocracyarosebasedonthe 'belief thatmanbythe process of civilising the wilderness as a small farmercouldthroughhisownefforts(andwithalittlehelpfromthestate)reachthatstateofblisswhichwouldenhancenotonlythefutureofhisfamily,butalsotheprosperityofthestate.'34Accomplished through the Land Acts of 1862 (Duffy Act),1865(GrantAct)and1869(SecondGrantAct), fencesandhomesteads sprang up to co-exist with the 'squattocracy'nowconnectedtoportsbyrailway.AgriculturaltraininginVictoria began at this time, largely to service the newfarmers and as a consequence was oriented to technicalskills.Global developments from about 1870, including risinginternationaltradeandaconsequentrecognitionoftheneedfor cost-efficient production, brought technical skills intoview as an element of national capital contributing toagriculturalexports.ThegoaloftechnicalimprovementhadstimulatedtheprogenitorsoftheRoyalAgriculturalSocietytosolicitsmallgovernmentgrantstoimprovefarmpracticeby staging agricultural shows from the 1840s,35 while aBoard of Agriculture operated an Experimental Farm atRoyalParkfrom1858to1869.Itsdirector,ThomasSkilling,suggested that it become a 'training Establishment [for]imparting agricultural [and] literary education to personsdesirous of following farming pursuits in this


colony.'�Nothing came of this although the land wasultimatelyreservedforagriculturalexperiments.36Experiment farms, schools, colleges and universities mayappeartohavebeenanidealcontinuum,andperhapscouldhave been if agricultural education had been approachedseriously and uniformly across Australia. But Coloniesdifferedintheirapproaches,andthefabricwovenoftrainingand education was never reinforced institutionally andfrayedwithtime.Ratherthanafullyfunctionalsystemfromappropriate school-level teachingabout agriculturewithinthe sciences as a continuum, the few agricultural highschoolsestablishedinthe19thcentury,particularlyinNewSouth Wales, South Australia and Western Australia,morphedtoelitegovernmentschoolsmorethantosourcesof agricultural students for universities and colleges. Thetradition continues in such schools as Urrbrae in SA andHurlstoneinNSW.Victoriawith its strongprivate sectororigins, goldwealthandpotentialformoreintensiveagricultureinitiallysoughttoincreaseruralpopulationswithoutpreparatoryeducationand as might be expected, failures resulted. Perfunctoryimplementation of agricultural schools in Victoria soonfaded to a subject of ‘agriculture’ in Year 10 in rural highschools, while serious students focused on other coursesaimed at university entrance. Victoria’s general failure tocreate agricultural high schools, notwithstanding a fewlonger-term successes such as Ballarat Agricultural HighSchool,wasprobably exacerbatedby the establishmentofagriculturalcollegesthatoverlappedwithhighschools.Butfailure has also been traced to resistance to education infavourofexperiencebyfarmerswhohavebeendescribedas‘aclassscepticalofmenwhoareclassedasexperts’.37Asa


considered review of agricultural education has recentlynoted, ‘thisview is reflectiveofa significantproportionoffarmers andpastoralists throughmuchof 20th century inAustralia’,38 although it must be noted, for example, thatsome wool growers made great strides in breeding andtechnological developments. The creation of agriculturalcollegesinNSW,Queensland,SAandVictoriadecadesbeforeagriculturalscienceeducationbeganinuniversitieswastoestablishalastingemphasisonpracticalskills.Thissituationwas to remain, even as it became more obviouslycounterproductive, for a century. The history in Victoriawhereagriculturaltrainingandeducationwerebothmorecritical to economic advancement provides Australia’sclearestexampleofsuccessamidstmissedopportunities.Agricultural training in Victoria may be traced to theeffective1870s lobbyingof India-bornAlexanderWallis, agraduateoftheRoyalAgriculturalCollegeatCirencesterandStuttgart Polytechnic who was to become the foundationSecretary of the Victorian Department of Agricultureestablished in 1872, a year after he migrated. Initially ajournalistforTheAustralasian,Wallishadalreadyreputedlydeclined the Foundation Chair of Agriculture at CornellUniversity.39 Lobbying was also used to advance theircareers by the two Dow brothers who were agriculturaljournalistsforTheAgeandTheArgusnewspapers.TheArguswas owned by pastoral interests while The Age was thedriving force for selection and closer settlement,40 whichwas joinedbypowerfulmercantile andpolitical groups tosuccessfullysupportfarmingabovegrazing.Wallis,writingas 'Ackermann', inTheAustralasian called for agriculturaltraininginthesameyearof1871thataRoyalCommissionon Foreign Industries and Forests recommendedagriculturalsubjectsinelementaryschools,butnotdidnot


recommend colleges. The 23 year-old Wallis rode thepolitics and encouraged amalgamation of the existingAgricultural and Pastoral Societies and restrictinggovernmentprizemoniesto'legitimateagriculturalexhibits'rather than 'sporting dogs, lap-dogs, rabbits, ferrets, cats,guineapigs,hunters, fancyneedle-work,Berlinwool-workand suchlike'.41 He then commandeered the abandonedBoard of Agriculture library, collected new data onmeteorology,entomology,soiltypes,fencing,vine-growing,farming practices, and acclimatization, and published hisannualreporttotheMinisterasabook. In1874, thebookexceeded300pagesrepletewithreportsontheforestsand20 scientific papers, many byWallis himself. Books werelodged with all Mechanics Institutes, Public Libraries,Pastoral Societies and with prominent farmers and landholdersacrossVictoriaandbeyond.Wallis also kept up a voluminous correspondence withoverseas colleagues, exchanged and distributed seeds,judged at shows, mounted exhibitions in his office,conductedlectures,andadvisedhisMinister.However,hisexpectationtorisewiththe importanceofagriculturewasthwartedwhenAgriculturewasmadesubordinatetoLandsand his comprehensive annual report was scrapped.Nevertheless, his writing was to have its effect when theMinister sought his advice about a 'central college ofagriculture'afterhavingreservedthesitesselectedbyWallisformodelfarms.Wallisadvisedthattheestablishedfarmerwas the firstneed for trainingbeforeanyconsiderationofthecreationofa'centralCollege,havingitsfullcomplementofprofessors,itsexperimentalgrounds,itslaboratories,itsveterinaryhospitalandotherindispensableappurtenances'.Crop rotations and fertilizer trials at Dookie, Trentham,Macedon and in the Wimmera and Gippsland were


suggested to meet the immediate needs of agriculturaleducation. But intent on creating a training facility, theMinisterchosethesiteofDookieincentralVictoria.42Establishedin1879,Dookiefarmselected15studentsfrom46 applicants for training in 'the practical branches ofagriculture'. However, its location on the fringe of pooragriculturalsettlementson'secondclassland'43anddistantfromMelbourne,wasafarcryfromwhattheself-importantagriculturalestablishmenthadinmindforitssons.Createdtoservicegovernmentandfarms,agriculturalcollegesweremore a product of politics than demand from thesquattocracy, which preferred to educate its children inprivateschools,aphenomenontolaterbecapitalizedoninthe 1960s, for those sonsnot dispatched to Cambridge orOxford, with the establishment of a private agriculturalcollegethatcontinuestoappeal–MarcusOldham.Wealthylandownersofthe1880spreferredTrenthamorMacedonassitesforcollegesandsobelittledtheDookiesite.Successiveministers sought popularity with the landed gentry andWalliswasmarginalizedandultimatelyforcedoutin1884.44Dookiedeterioratedacrossitsfiveyearsasatrainingfarmfor boys mixed with an orphanage and reformatory thattrainedwardsofthestateforfarmanddomesticservice.TheMinister entertained ideas of selling the farm to partiespurportedly interested in setting up a private agriculturalcollege.The re-emergence of agricultural education occurredwiththe Dow brothers’ enthusiasm about Land Grant CollegesaftertheirvisittotheUSA.Thisspurredan1884AgriculturalColleges Bill modelled on the USMorrill Act that grantedlands to be leased out as ameans of funding agriculturalcolleges.InintroducingtheBill,theMinisterforAgriculture,


the Hon. F.T. Derham, noted that agriculture was now'universallyadmittedtobeascience'inanerawhenthefarmproductvalueinVictoriawastwicethatofthewoolclip.The Victorian Agricultural Colleges Act 1884 reserved150,000acresasanendowmentforagriculturalcollegesandexperimental farms governed by a Council of AgriculturalEducationcomprisingelevenmembers.InitiallytheCouncilfavouredtheideaofonecentralcollegewithassociatedfarmschoolsinvariouspartsofVictoria,proposingtheoldModelFarmatRoyalParkforthecentralunit.PressurethencamefrominterestsallovertheColony,eachanxioustohavethecollege in its area. The Shepparton Agricultural SocietywantedDookiereopenedtofee-payingstudents,theStawellShireCouncilinvitedinspectionofasitenearthetownandthe Trentham Farmers' Union advocated Bullarto. Councilresponded by re-opening Dookie. The Council consideredadmittingyoungwomenforcertainskillstraining,butfailedtogainsupportbeyondintermittentshortcoursesatDookie.TheCouncilalsocreatedasecondcollegeatLongerenongatthetimetheeconomybegantosour.An 1889 Royal Commission into Technical Education,chairedbytheland-boomerTheodoreFink,lookedbeyondthe economic depression and toward Federation andacknowledged that sound education was a hallmark ofnational economic success. The Commission sawagricultural training as a primary need through specialistcolleges and agricultural subjects in schools. By this timeLongerenong had accrued debts as its endowment landsunderperformed,andtheCollegeclosed.HorticulturalandforestryeducationwastocomelaterwiththeformeremergingslowlyfromtheHorticulturalSociety’s


gardensinBurnleyplayingakeyroleintheacclimatizationapproachthatwasstillinvogueduringtheclosingdecadesofthe1800s.BytheturnofthecenturysometrainingwastakingplaceandtheDepartmentofAgricultureassumedthesite in 1891 as an experimental farm and a School ofHorticulture.ForestrywasalsowithinWallis’mandateandledtotheestablishmentofaCentralForestBoardtooperatefromtheDepartmentofAgricultureandregionalbodiesandbrought ‘a semblance of order to the disorganised forestsystemofVictoria’.45Legislationstrengthenedconservationin1876,butWallis’powerwaswaningandthesectorwastostruggle until 1919 when a separate Forests Commissionwasformedandforestrytrainingcouldbeconsidered.TheshakyoriginsofagriculturaleducationandtrainingmaybetracedtoWallis’visionbeingforestalledbytheeconomicdepressionofthe1890s.Assuch,AlexanderWallismaywellbeconsideredthefatherofVictorianagriculturaleducation;variousothersmightalsobeconsideredamongthefoundingfathers. Such persons arementioned in an earlier Facultyhistory46butfewhadWallis’visionandhisunderstandingof the difference between agricultural education andtraining. Nevertheless, evenWallis made little connectionbetween agriculture and the University, which had beenestablishedtwodecadesbeforehisarrivalintheColonyandhadyettocreateitsFacultyofAgriculture.



Chapter3

PreludetoaFacultyofAgriculture–1886-1905

Alexander Wallis’ farsighted views reflected his times.Moves to arrestdeclining ruralprosperity in theUKwerebeing reinforced by technological developments inagriculture,whichhad spawnednewagricultural colleges.TheUSAhadfollowedthislogicandfundedtheiragriculturalcollegesthroughalandgrantineachStatefromwhichtheycouldsupporttheircosts.VictoriaadopttheformoftheUSmodel, supposedly modified to suit local conditions, andestablished Dookie (1886) and Longerenong (1889).Burnley (1891), the third training site that commencedbeforetheUniversitycreateditsFacultyofAgriculture,wasnot allocated lands to finance its programs. Within thedecade,rentalincomefromrurallandsfellsubstantiallywiththe1890'sdepression;collegesweretoneverreturntothelandgrantfundingmodelandthereafterremainedreliantongovernment grants and political largesse. That theagricultural colleges were established later than theUniversity (1853) itselfmightbe takenasan indicationofthe wealth accumulating in Melbourne more than in thecountryside–a trendestablished in thisgoldrushperiod.Createdfromtheoutsetastheequivalentofadivisionwithina Victorian Government department, agricultural collegeswereconstrainedwithinpublicserviceregulationswhilethelegislationcreatingtheUniversitygrantedautonomy.


Development of the University47 “The preamble to the University Act, 16 Victoria, Act No. 34 declared "...it is expedient to promote sound learning in the Colony of Victoria and with that intent to establish incorporate and endow an University at Melbourne open to all classes and denominations of Her Majesty’s subjects...". The University was endowed with an annual grant from the Treasury. The administration of any religious test in connection with the obtaining of any "advantage or privilege" of the University was expressly debarred. The University's degree granting powers were subsequently extended to encompass all disciplines, except divinity. On 14 March 1859 Queen Victoria granted Letters Patent that the University's degrees in the fields of Arts, Medicine, Law and Music "shall be recognised as Academic distinctions and rewards of Merit and be entitled to rank precedence and consideration in Our United Kingdom and in Our Colonies and possessions and throughout the world as fully as if the said degrees had been granted by any University of Our said United Kingdom". In 1881 The University of Melbourne was the first university in Australia and one of the first in the world to admit women. The first woman to graduate from the University did so in December 1883. Subsequently the University and its colleges [such as Trinity, Ormond, Newman etc] were enriched by the gifts of civic-minded Victorians, and it forged enduring links with the city's growing cultural and professional institutions. The first anatomy lessons in the southern hemisphere were one of many significant contributions it made to education in the broader region. In the post Second World War period, it became a much larger institution drawing not only more broadly from across the Victorian population but from across Australia and with a significant proportion of international students. The University granted the first Australian Doctorates of Philosophy in 1948. And to put it in a modern-day context of university administration, the first full-time Vice-Chancellor of the University, Raymond Priestley, was appointed in 1935.


EstablishedbytheUniversityAct(Vic.)1853,theUniversityofMelbournewasdefinedbythenewColonyofVictoriathathad come into being in 1852. Its inauguralchancellor Redmond Barry exerted great influence overmany ofMelbourne’s institutions including the Universityacross three decades. Its first four chairs – Classics;Mathematics;Natural Science;Literature,History,PoliticalEconomyandLogic48–werefilledfromIrelandandEngland‘with the greatest influence from Queens University,Ireland’49 after their education at Trinity College andCambridge. Instruction commenced with 16 students in1855inthebuildingsubsequentlyoccupiedbytheMintinWilliamStreetuntil theQuadrangleopenedlaterthatyearand by 1857 housed lecture theatres, a laboratory, thenationalmuseumandthefourprofessorsandtheirservants.Comparedtoearliervisionaryperiods,the1880smightbeseenasasomewhatbackwardperiodineducationandthiswas reflected in the nature and governance of theagriculturalcollegescreatedthroughthisperiod.Thesamemight also be said of theUniversity although the nationalchangesthatweretooccuraroundtheturnofthecenturyinvolved key University figures and provided a potentialfilliptotheinstitution.Thatfillipwasneeded,asClementsnotes.‘Thenineteenthcenturyhadlefteachofthefourmostpopulousstateswithamixedcollectionofpublicandprivateelementaryschools,ahostofcorporateandprivateschoolsunregulated by any machinery other than a public andmatriculationexamination system, a scatteredandvariedbundleoftechnicalschoolsandcollegesstretcheduneasilyacross the boundary between post-primary and highereducation,ahandfulofprofessionaltraininginstitutes,andauniversitywhich,ifcomparisonsbeallowed,hadmoreoftheappearanceofacolonialcollegethanapublicuniversity,


and carried on a tenuous existence as a ward ofparliament.’50 In oneway a tribute to the entrepreneurialspirit that created Melbourne and Victoria and a staidinterpretationofcolonialgovernanceresponsibility,themixwas ripe for coordination – especially in agriculturaleducationsinceagriculturewasthecontinuingbackboneoftheColony.Acenturylater,aViceChancellorsummarizedthe‘originsoftheUniversity,similartotheUniversityofSydney,[aslying]in a colonial Act … modelled on the Scottish and Irishuniversities’withinfluencesfromthePrussianUniversityofGöttingen’s invention of academic freedom. Some aspectsare said to have been informed by Newman’s Idea of aUniversity,butthelateradditionofresearchwasaninfluencefromleadingUSuniversitiesthathadbeenfollowedinturnbyCambridgeandOxford.51By themid1870s, thismodelwasappreciatedbysomeinMelbourne,butwastostumblein the face of political ideals of economic expansionconfounded by deep economic depression. The Faculty ofAgriculturewasfoundedafterthisdisruptiveperiod.Agriculturehadbeenproposedasoneoftheinitialcoursesfor the new University before 1853,52 but was not to beformally established until 1905. Nevertheless, aspects ofagriculturalsciencewereevidentfromitsearliestdays,suchasinthecreationoftheSystemGardenwithitsconcentrictaxonomicplantingswhenitwasinitiatedin1856aroundacentral conservatory echoing that of Cambridge. It wouldtake 20 years to be completed. With most developmentsinfluencedbyBarry,theestablishmentoftheFacultyofLawin1857isasunsurprisingasisitspart-timelecturersbeingdrawn from local practising lawyers.53 A Faculty of


Engineeringfollowedin1861andMedicinein1862repletewithalecturerinmedicalbotany.TheUniversitycreatedchairsinpureandappliedsciencestorepresent‘amorepracticalandscientificapproach’.54Bythe1880s,aformofUniversitylifehaddevelopedandthefirststudentsocietywasformed,leadingtotheUniversityUnioninthestyleoftheOxfordUnion,andtheiconicWilsonHallwasopened–SirSamuelWilson,probablythelargestsheepowner in theworld and LegislativeAssemblyMember fortheWimmera,fundedthehall’sconstruction.55Inthesameyear–1886–thatthefirstoftheagriculturalcollegeswereestablished by government as extensions of schools, theUniversity created a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor ofScienceandestablishedaChairinNaturalPhilosophy.Withmorethan500studentsby1901,theUniversityenteredintoan agreement with the State Department of Education toofferadiplomafornewschoolteachers,andin1905wastoopen theSchoolsofAgricultureandDentistry.Thedecadewould endwithmore than1,000 students enrolled in theUniversity.

McCoy’s 1850s Sketch of his Botanical System Garden56,

and fructification by c.187057

20/11/2016 Caught and Coloured: Botanist

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Botanist

McCoys sketch of the layout of his University botanic gardens.


HintsofagricultureexistedwithintheUniversity,suchastheSystemGarden,alecturerinmedicalbotanyandtheChairinNatural Philosophy, but were uncoordinated. The risingawareness of applied science within universities hadinevitably ledtoconsiderationofagriculturalscience,as itdidelsewhereintheAnglophoneworld.Ithadparallelswithengineeringinitsappliednatureyetsufferedfromthefactthatitdidnottrainarecognizedprofession,whichledtoitbeing seen as associated with uneducated farmers. Ittherefore inspired a practical focus, which conservativeviews saw as being best catered for within colleges thatemphasized manual skills above scientific understanding.This 19th-century dichotomy was to plague agriculturaleducationintothe21stcentury.AgriculturewastakenseriouslybytheUniversityinthefirstdecadeofthe20thcenturywhenfundingwasmadeavailable.Theexistenceofagriculturalcollegesmayhavecontributedtothisrelativelyslowstart,butitmayalsoindicateasocialdistinctionbetweenthoseenteringcollegesandfarmingandthose entering the University. The University’s foray intoagriculture might be traced to the success of the twoinnovations that had inspired Wallis; the application ofscience to agriculture in theUK to stemadecline in ruralprosperity,andthesuccessofthelandgrantcollegesintheUSA. Enamoured of the US model that overlapped withuniversities,theagriculturalcollegescontributedtotheslowstart-up of University’s agricultural offerings.58 But theVictorianagricultural collegeswerenotas independentastheUSLandGrantCollegesfortheyremainedmendicantsofthe State in a context of renewed emphasis on closersettlement.


OnehistoryofeducationinVictoria59recordsthecreationofthe Council of Agricultural Education in 1885 followedbytheopeningofDookiein1886.Demandproducedastudentwaiting list of more than 50 by 1889, which spurred theopeningofLongerenonginthatyearonlytocloseadecadelaterinresponsetothesevendifficultdepressionandthendroughtyears.A1900RoyalCommissionobserved,perhapsunfairly,thatLongerenonghadbeenacostlyfailurethatwasdoomedfromthestartasaresultofitspoorlocationandthatentry requirements for both colleges were inadequate,reprimanding the Council for failing tomeet the needs ofagriculture, which then represented 25 percent of theworkforce.Parliamentwasintimatelyengagedintheissue,andin1903DrThomasCherry,whosince1900hadbeenthelecturerinbacteriologywithapersonalinterestinfarmingproblems,60 was despatched to the UK and Europe toinvestigatetechnicalandinparticularagriculturaleducation– his subsequent reportmade nomention of a universitycourse.Yet, ‘inAugust1904Dr J.W.Barrettmoved in thecouncil of theUniversity ofMelbourne that the universityshould confer with the Council of Agricultural Educationregarding the establishment of a degree or diploma ofagricultureattheuniversity.’61LargelyignoringtheCouncilof Agricultural Education and the damning reports aboutlow demand and uncontained costs, the Faculty ofAgriculturewasborn,primarilybecausethePremierofthetimesawpoliticalbenefitinitscreation.Suchdevelopmentshadbeenof increasinglyofconcern tothe colleges’ Council of Agricultural Education, especiallywhenCherryadvocatedanelitequalification:‘ThemanwhohasatpresentaUniversitydiplomaordegreeisinatotallydifferent position, as far as his standing with the outsidepublicisconcerned,fromthemanwhohasadiplomafrom


anyoutsidebody.Nomatterwhatbranchofscienceitmaybe,youwill always finda certainnumberwhowill aimatgettingaUniversitydegreeordiploma,simplybecausethatwouldcertainlybeselectedwhenapplicantsarecalledforaposition,asbeingthemostimportantevidenceinfavourofaman’s training and ability.’62 The aim was ‘to turn outphilosophersandgetthemtogointothereasonofthings’,63sotheycouldraisethequalityofgovernmentemployeesandagriculturalcollegestaff,andthusfarming.Lestsuchdetailbebrushedasideastriviainourcurrentageof marginalising agriculture, the reader is reminded thatagricultureat this timewascentral to thevisionofnationbuilding.Agriculturewastheengineoffulfillingthedreamsinspired by Mitchell’s early vision of Australian Felix.64Parliament sought agricultural development throughacceleratedclosersettlementthatinturnwouldrequireanincreased supply of better educated farmers who woulddemonstratetheprofitabilityandsuperiorityofagriculturalovercitylife.Fromsuchapoliticalimperative,State-linkedagriculturaleducationbeganitslongassociationwithlobby-basedfunding.AfterhisreportonagriculturaleducationinEurope,Cherryacceptedapost intheStateDepartmentofAgriculture and in 1904 assumed the Directorship afterSamuelWallace retired andwhen his personal friend, theMinisterofAgricultureGeorgeSwinburne,offeredhimthepost.CherrybecameDirectorofAgricultureatatimewhenhisdisciplineattheUniversitywasininternalconflict,whichencouragedhiminhisquesttoaddressproblemsoffarming,aninteresthehaddevelopedinhisGisbornechildhood.AsDirector, he ‘travelled and lectured extensively, andpublishedthirty-fourpapersonsuchdiversesubjectsassilo-construction,bee-keepingandpastureimprovementaswellas furtherworks on scientific dairy production andwater


purification’.Controversyin1910wouldleadtohimmovingback,with ‘thestrongrecommendationsofcabinet’, to theUniversity as the newly created Chair of Agriculture in1911.65Hislegacyinspanningagricultureandhealth,whichalso brought him to the University's Veterinary ResearchInstitute,mightbeseeninLaTrobeUniversity’shomeforitsSchool of Agriculture some fifty years later beingeponymouslynamed forhis son66–andas foreshadowingtheconstitutionoftheMelbourne’sFacultyofVeterinaryandAgriculturalSciencesofonecenturylater.Before and through his tenure as State Director ofAgriculture,CherrywastheleadingadvocateoftwocoursesattheUniversity–afour-yeardegreebasedonthreeyearsattheUniversityandafinalpracticalyearatDookieandtheFitzroy Veterinary College, and a diploma based on twoyearsat theUniversity followedby thepracticalyear.Themore practical Wallace, in his final year as Director ofAgriculture,hadbeenkindertotheagriculturalcollegesinhisstatementstotheCommissionandfavouredtwoyearsatthe University and two in practical training, creation of aFaculty of Agriculture and some flexibility in entryrequirements.67 The Commission did not recommend thatthe University create a course or faculty and cautioned itagainst any decision that would incur costs, noting thefailuresofLongerenong,theRutherglenViticulturalCollegeand the only ‘qualified success’ of Dookie. Yet, as notedabove,theUniversitywentaheadwithinayear.Barrett’sproposalintheUniversityCouncilwassupportedby fellowmember, the State Director of Education, FrankTate, who was to be influential in other aspects ofagricultural education, as a means of improving generaleducation in Victoria. He proposed something akin to an


agriculturalhighschooltoequipboystoenterDookieandtheUniversity,whichmayhavebeenanastuteploytogainpolitical support for a Continuation School that couldincidentallyenhanceteachertraining.Thepoliticscametoahead in a Conference between the Council of AgriculturalEducationand theUniversity in1904atwhich the formergrouprefusedtoagreewithagenerallywordedUniversityproposal.ClementsfeelsthatTate,knowingthatthePremierrequired finality, was well prepared and was one of theauthors of a report published by The Age shortlyafterwards68 that skilfully mentioned scholarships forstudentstocontinueinspecialschoolssotheycouldbecometeachersandagriculturalcollegeandUniversitystudents.69Tate’sinterestinagriculturaleducationledhimtosowtheseed for his teacher training in thepoliticallymore fertilefieldsofimprovedagriculturalandminingeducation.Italsoledhimtoproposeagriculturalhighschoolsthatwere‘notdesignedtoturnoutfarmers,buttoprovideaneducationaswill enable a boy ultimately to become an educated,intelligent practical farmer. A farmer can, through hisDistrictAgriculturalHighSchool,givehisboyanadvancededucation that does notwean him away from his father’sinterestsandpursuits.’70Relations between the University and the Council ofAgricultural Education became evermore strained during1904, ostensibly over whether theory should precedepractical training – but the documents suggest that classprejudicewasalsoatplay.WhentheCouncilcounteredthethree-plus-one degree by suggesting the three years bespent at Dookie and the final one at the University, threeUniversityrepresentativesincludingTateinspectedDookiefacilities andunsurprisingly declared them inadequate forUniversity education. Increasingly left out of play, the


CouncilfinallyagreedwiththeUniversityproposals,whichincludedinvitingaminorityofCouncilmemberstoserveonthe University Faculty committee. Students entering theagriculture degree were required to have passedmatriculationinEnglish,FrenchorGerman,arithmeticanddrawing, while those entering the diploma were notrequired to have matriculated – a major departure fromUniversity policy resulting from, at the time unknown,political pressure. That political pressure determined somuchintheseearlyyearswasduetomorethantheprimacyof the agricultural sector – the University was stillembarrassingly short of funds after the ‘Dickson frauds’discovered in 1901.71 Government support came withrequirements for advanced agricultural and miningeducation, which the Premier, Tommy Bent, linked towideningentrancetointelligentworking-classboys.FundsprovidedforfacilitiesincludinglaboratoriesforagricultureandminingweretiedtotheUniversitybeing‘preparedtoco-operatewiththeagriculturalcolleges’andtoacceptwithoutfees20studentsintoAgricultureandMiningand20teachersintoArts.Tate’sinfluencecontinuedafewyearslaterwiththe creation of Exhibition scholarships for the four-yeardegrees in agriculture and mining. Further detail on theUniversity motivations and machinations is contained inSelleck’scomprehensivehistory.72On 1 August 1904 the University Council formally soughtcooperation with the Council of Agricultural Education,whichonlybecameamenableafterthePremiercontrivedanincentive for theircooperation.By4May1905draftingofregulationsforaUniversitydegreeanddiplomacoursehadbeen initiated. The primary course, the Bachelor ofAgricultural Science, was to use the basic sciences as itsfoundationbeforeintroducingmoreappliedsciencesinthe


final,fourthyear.ItwastobegeneralinnatureandincludeapracticalcomponentthrougharesidentialperiodatDookieCollege. Inaddition, furtherpracticalexperiencewastobegained by students through farm work during vacationperiods and through a post-fourth year period of fourmonths of additional approved field work. The emphasisclearly was on land use and agricultural commodityproduction.


Chapter4

TheFaculty’sFirstDeans–1905-26:Osborne,Cherry,Ewart,Laby&Richardson

Forced to engage with the University by the StateGovernment,theStateDepartmentofAgriculture’sCouncilof Agricultural Education’s argument for a three-yearpracticalcourseatDookieagainsttheUniversity’soppositestance was doomed. Although the Fink Commission hadbeenreticent torecommendaUniversity facultyafter 'thecostlyfailuresofLongerenongandtheViticulturalschoolatRutherglen',73 Spring Street politics and deft argument ontheneedforsciencethatcouldnotbeofferedbythecollegesensured that the University won the day. The Universitymagnanimously agreed to invite the Dookie Principal andone Councillor to sit on the new Faculty Committee. Tounderstand this distant relationship, it is first useful toreview the fate of the agricultural colleges through theperiodleadinguptotheFaculty’sconstitutionin1905.The rural colleges had struggled with their allocations ofunselectedlandsreleasedundertheLandActsofthe1860sand variable funding resulting from politicalwhim. LandsseenasoverpricedbyselectorsformingtheirregulartractfromMountMajortotheBrokenRiver initiallybecameanexperimentalsiteknownasDookie.JohnThomsonthefirstfarmmanager, livedasdidmanypioneerfarmersinatentandbark-hutforhisfirstninemonthsin1886clearingtreesand scrub in preparation for a vineyard and olive grove.


Basic buildings soon appeared and then students; theCouncilofAgriculturalEducationhavingdecidedthatas'14wastheearliestageatwhichaladshouldbeputtolabour'setthatastheminimumentranceage.74Thefirst40studentssoonarrivedasdidthefirstPrincipal,RobertPudneywhowas to serve fora coupleofyearsbeforemoving toassistwith the creationof the second college at LongerenongofwhichhealsobecamethefirstPrincipal.Longerenong’ssiteofunselectedlandintheWimmerawasjudgedsuitableforacollegebecauseitwasremotefromalargetown.Opening in1889,PudneysoonhandedovertoWilliamBrownforayearbeforehemovedtoDookieandtheCouncilagreedtooneitsmembers,ThomasDow,assumingthe role of Principal from 1891. Though he was declaredinsolventin1892,hewasabletoconvinceCounciltolethimstay on through the drought until 1897. His tenure atLongerenong saw the testing of the McKay combineharvester prototype and Mark Twain’s visit. Twain(Clements)wrote:'Therewerefortypupilsthere–afewofthem farmers, relearning their trade, the rest youngmenmainlyfromthecities–novices. Itseemedastrangethingthatanagriculturalcollegeshouldhaveanattractionforcityyouths,butsuchisthefact.Theyaregoodstuff,too;theyareabovetheagriculturalaverageinintelligence,andtheycomewithout any inherited prejudices in favour of hoaryignorances made sacred by long descent.'75 Then MarcoGuerinbecameLongerenongPrincipal for less thanayearuntilthecollegewasclosedin1898andnarrowlyavoidedbeing subdivided. The Fink Commission deemedLongerenongafailureinits1900report.Meanwhile,DookieavoidedLongerenong’sfateasaresultofpoliticalfavourbutdidnotflourish.Pudney’spliablenature


wasthetypethatsuitedthepoliticalnegotiationsessentialfortheviabilityofthecollegesintheirgovernmentmilieu.His start-up at Dookie was succeeded by Thompson whooversaw the farm school’s development into DookieAgricultural Collegewith substantial buildings in a periodwhen agriculture was prestigious. Prominent citizens andparliamentariansspokeoftheirintentiontosendtheirsonsto the college, although the wealthier pastoralists lookedfurther afield. Then the 1890s crashdriedup enrolments,rents from endowment lands and government support.CouncilofAgriculturalEducationmemberswerefoundtobehavebeenfinanciallynegligent,andanewPrincipal,WilliamBrown,wastoldtomakethesmallerareaoffarmaroundthecollege underwrite education costs. In hindsight, theUniversity may have been prescient in not opening itsagriculturalFacultythroughthisdepressiveperiod.Depression was made worse by drought, which in 1894brought the dismissal of the Principals of Dookie andLongerenong,andtheappointmentofHughPyeasDookiePrincipal, a post he retained for the next 22 years. AcollaboratorwithFarrer,Pyecontinuedhispracticalcerealbreedingforanother21yearsdevelopingdrought-resistanthigh-glutenwheats thatweresoonplantedacrossmostofnorthernVictoriaandsouthernNewSouthWales.76Dookie’stribulation eased when it received students fromLongerenong’s1898closurebuteducationalstandardswerequestionedbythe1899FinkCommission,whichfoundthatof376studentsthathadpassedthroughDookie,only98hadgainedthediploma.Overthesameperiod,theDepartmentof Agriculture had also developed another agriculturalschoolintheMelbournesuburbofBurnley.


Dookie Agricultural College, after 188677

The School of Horticulture arose in 1890 when theDepartment of Agriculture took control of the bankruptHorticulturalSocietyofVictoria’sBurnleyGardenssitethathad been established in 1863. Gardens’ curator GeorgeNeilsoninitiallycateredfor97studentsuntil1897whenthefirst Principal was appointed, the charismatic CharlesLuffmann. His ‘uncommon gift of a speaking voice whichwouldcharmabirdoffabough’78madehimpopularandhisintegritywaswidelycelebrated,beingattestedtoinaprosepoempublishedinTheArgus.79Burnleywasmorethanjusta horticulture school and Lufmann more than a normalprincipal – he taught at theWorkingMen's College (laterRMIT), and oversaw Burnley’s livestock management,milking, diverse orchards and vegetable gardens and thedelightful Burnley Gardens. His ‘sagacious and consistentpolicy’tospread‘thebeamsofhorticulturalimprovingtotheremotestdistrictsofVictoria’80washardforhissuccessor,JohnCronin,tomaintainandthisnewPrincipalfocusedhistwo years on enhanced pruning and hybridizationtechniques. E.E. Pescott became Principal in 1909 andrevived Luffman’s planwhile extending the curriculum toagricultureinresponsetotheFinkCommission’sreview.

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Burnley was at this time an agricultural school in adeveloping city, but its primary association with theUniversitywasthroughBotany,andtheruralcollegeswerecloser to the minds of those formulating a Faculty ofAgriculture. After Federation and economic recovery,demandforagriculturaltrainingresumedandLongerenongwasreopenedafewmonthsaftertheUniversity’sFacultyofAgriculture was established in 1905. There was nosignificantFaculty interactionwith theremotecollegeanditsrun-downbuildings.Swinburne, theMinister,proposedsome scientific facilities at Dookie for the Universitystudentsandthefirstfourarrivedin1912.However,thisdidnotindicateanyincreasedcomfortbetweentheUniversityandtheCouncilofAgriculturalEducationresponsibleforthecolleges,whichmaybebetterindicatedbytheexpulsionofFink from the State Department’s Council ‘through non-attendance’whenhewassimultaneouslyamemberof theUniversity Council. The two rural colleges were moreagricultural training schools than colleges as they areunderstoodtoday,werepoorlyresourcedandoperatedinaworldremotefromtheUniversity.WiththeFacultyofAgriculturenowcreated,itsfirstmeetingon 15 December 1905 elected William Osborne, theProfessor of Histology and Physiology, as part-time Dean.Therebeingnostaff,lecturerscamefromotherfaculties,theState Department of Agriculture, and the Council ofAgriculturalEducation.Notwithstandingtheinvolvementofsome individuals from that last group, the agriculturalcollegesthemselveswerenotinvolvedintheFaculty.The Faculty’s second-year teaching began in 1907 and in1911,thefirststudent,MrN.J.F.Thompson,graduated,andThomasCherry,StateDirectorofAgriculturewasappointed


from a field of seven applicants as the first Professor.81 Aproduct of Gisborne, his agricultural interests had beencomplemented by his bacteriological learning at theUniversity as well as at London and Cambridge; thus hebecamethefirstAustraliantobeappointedaProfessorsince1886.82 He had been a member of the Faculty since itsformationasalecturerinpathologyandbacteriologyintheUniversity's medical school. His successor as Director ofAgriculture, S. S. Cameron, also became a member of theFacultyfrom1911to1933andwasinstrumentalinitsearlydevelopment.SomeUniversityhistorieserroneouslylistthebeginningoftheFacultyatMelbournefrom1911ratherthan1904-5,presumablydatingittotheappointmentofCherry.83Although the establishment of a Chair of Agriculture hadbeenproposedascontingentonthepriorcreationofamodelfarmandanagriculturalmuseum,neithereventuatedinanysignificantform.OtherChairscreatedintheperiod1904to1911 included compatible disciplines to the University'sgrowing intention to strengthen agriculture, including theChairsofAnatomy,BotanyandVeterinaryPathology.84But the Faculty was not yet clearly viable, not the leastbecauseofthepresenceoftheagriculturalcolleges.Despitethe Exhibition scholarships that resulted from Tate’s deftpolitics, student numberswere low in the initial years asindicatedinthefollowingTable.By1911,theStateDirectorofAgriculture claimed that ‘theuniversity council and theprofessorial board were completely out of touch withagricultural education’. He stated the course, in commonwith Dookie and Longerenong, was a failure. Theunfavourablepolitics,poorintegrationwiththecollegesandpoor initial performance led one educational historian tocomment that ‘there appears to be little doubt that theUniversityofMelbournemovedintoagriculturaleducation


ataninappropriatetime’.85Correctasthatstatementmaybeinisolation,theexistenceoftheFacultypost-WWIwastobeof significant benefit to the recovering nation – and thelikelihood of any of the colleges growing into modernresearchuniversitieswasalwaystoremainremote.

BAgrSc Student Numbers, 1906-191186 Year First Second Third Fourth Total Exhibitions1906 1 1 1907 4 4 11908 6 2 8 41909 14 4 2 20 131910 10 10 2 22 141911 11 8 9 28 22CherrywasDean from1912 to1916overseeing the four-yearcoursewithatotalof20students–anumberthatmayseemlowtodaybutwhichwashighforthetimes.Itwasalsohigher than would occur for decades in the University ofWesternAustralia,whichhadsixgraduatesinagriculturein1958. Cherry concentrated on research oriented to theproblems of Australian agriculture that he intended toconductona60haUniversityfarmonlandoftheYarraBendLunacyDepartment,buthefailedtosecuretheland.The practical fourth year of the BAgrSc course wasconductedatDookiebutwassoonseenasisolatingstudentsfrom the University’s educational environment in theircritical final year, and thus compromising the educationalintentoftheintegrateddegree.ItwasatthistimethattheMAgrScdegreewascreatedforhonoursgraduatesaftertwoyears of professional experience; it was not a researchdegree.


Cherry had followed the educational practices of his day,which advanced slowly and so the fourth year at Dookiecontinued–andtheconceptwasdeeplyentrenched.ItwastotakefourdecadesofobservationsacrossAustraliabeforeitwasconcludedthatnopracticalexperienceinagriculturalsciencedegreesmetallobjectivesbecause'ifstudentsgotoa college or farm early they are scarcely sufficientlyadvancedtoappreciatethescientificaspectsoffarming,andif they go at the end of the course they are liable to betroublesomeandsuperiorinattitudeatacollege'.87In the event, when University students complained of amanualworkloadof up to 58hours perweek, theDookiePrincipal presumably felt that his correction of theirexaggerationto46.5hoursdealtwiththematter.Aculturaldivide that began between the public service and theUniversityhadnowbecomepartofstudentcultures.HadtheUniversity students known that the name Dookie derivedfromtheSinhalesefor‘lament’theymighthavepressedthemattermoreeloquentlyasmightbefituniversitystudents.Buttheirpointwaswellmadeintermsofstatus,orperhapstrade union terms, when they argued against cartingfirewood, delivering foodstuffs and preparing poultry forDookie’s resident staff. Theymay have been brave, as theacademictoservetheFacultyforthelongestperiod,NormanTulloh, commented, to complain in an era of 'aggressiveadministration of the rules of the College', but they werevindicatedwhentheFacultyagreedthat'workwhichisnotofaneducationalvalue...shouldnotbeextractedfromthestudents'.88WhenCherryresignedin1916toserveasamedicoinWWI,the University considered postponing BAgrSc enrolments,butintheenddidnotandOsbornereturnedtotheDean’s


Chairfor1917and1918toensurethattherewasaProfessorin the Faculty. Osborne was succeeded by Alfred Ewart(Botany)in1919andThomasLaby(Physics)in1920.Someturmoil in1920 ledtoareorganizationof theFaculty thatculminatedintheappointmentofArnoldRichardson, thenStateSuperintendentofAgricultureandapart-timelecturerintheFaculty,asDean.

The First Deans: William Osborne, Thomas Cherry, Alfred Ewart, Thomas Laby and Arnold Richardson

PyewasstillDookiePrincipalthroughthisperiodbutwiththe Faculty’s creation a ‘struggle between the Council forAgriculturalEducationandtheUniversityofMelbourneforthe control of higher agricultural education emerged,continuing to 1916 when Pye resigned’ and [devotedhimself] to cereal-breeding.89 By a quirk of fate, Pye’sdaughterhadaplaymatefromSheppartonAgriculturalHigh

William A. Osborne Thomas Cherry William A. Osborne Alfred Ewart Thomas Laby

1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972

Arnold E. V. Richardson William A. Osborne Sir Samuel Wadham Carl Forster Derek Tribe

1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986

Lionel Stubbs Norman Tulloh John Chinner Douglas Parbery Rolf Beilharz

1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999

Ian Ferguson Adrian Egan Robert White Lindsay Falvey Kwong Lee Dow

2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014

Melbourne School of Land & Environment Deans 1905 - 2014

1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920

Robert Richardson Frank Larkins Ronald Slocombe Richard Roush


1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972


1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986


1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999


2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014


1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920



1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972


1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986


1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999


2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014


1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920



1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972


1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986


1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999


2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014


1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920



School,whoseson,KwongLeeDow,wastobecomeaDeanoftheFacultynearlyninedecadeslater,andthenUniversityViceChancellor.90In1917,WilliamGamblebecamethefirstDookiegraduateto be appointed as College Principal. Practical and withmilitaryexperience,hisappointmentcoincidedwiththefirsttroops returning from thewar forwhom short-courses infarmingweredesigned.Coursesforwomenbeganin1919fordomesticsubjects,andwereterminatedaftertenyears,resuming only in 1951 when they included child-caretraining. Dunolly-born Harry Lawson91 was now Ministerandwascajoledintosupportforthecollege,whichleftitwellequippedbythetimeGambleleftin1922.Itwasduringthisperiod that the Faculty Committee, which included theDookiePrincipalandamemberoftheCouncilofAgriculturalEducation, determined that University students wouldspendtheirsecondratherthantheirfourth-yearatDookie,andthattheCollegewouldassesstheyear’sperformance.Notwithstanding this common year, contact between theFacultyandDookieremainedminimal,andDeanRichardsonsoontransferredtheresidentialsecondyearfromDookietotheWerribeeStateResearchFarm.Inthatsameyear,1920,ParliamentdirectedsubstantialfundingtotheUniversityforagricultural education and guaranteed employment ofgraduatesinthepublicservice.In1923amendmentstotheAct provided for an annual endowment and for theconstruction of the building that became known as 'OldAgriculture'ontheUniversitycampus’RoyalParadeside.92StudenthostelaccommodationwasalsoconstructedattheState Research Farm at Werribee. Overall, buildingsconstructedacrossthedecadewereestimatedtohavecostnearlyaquarterofamillionpounds.93The locationof the


Faculty’s‘OldAgriculture’buildingononesideoftheSystemGarden and Botany’s on the other created a convenientgreenbarrierbetweensometimesantagonisticpersonalitiesacross integrally related disciplines94 – especially as bothOld Agriculture and Botany had their front doors on thedistantsidesoftheirbuildings.Whilepartofstock-standardgovernment design of education buildings of the era, thesolidearth-graspingpresenceoftheOldAgriculturebuildingitselfservedasafurthermetaphorofthefundamentalroleoftheFaculty, justas itsfacetoRoyalParadeindicateditscommonality with other applied life sciences along theParkvilleStripandinteractionwiththeoutsideworld.AcourseinanimalhusbandrywasagreedwiththeFacultyofVeterinarySciencein1921,butwasnotimplemented,andthe notions of the times are implied by the inclusion oflivestock judging as the basis for animal selection.95 TheMAgrSc was also redesigned to require a dissertation.RichardsonresignedasDeanin1924tobecomeDirectorofSouthAustralia’sWaiteAgriculturalResearchInstitute,andOsborneassumedtheDeanshipforathirdtimefrom1925to1926whileanotherfull-timeProfessorofAgriculturewassought.Longerenong, where George Sinclair was now Principalofferedatwo-yearCertificateofCompetencythatarticulatedintotheDookiecourse.Hewassucceededin1912byW.D.WilsonforsomeunsettledmonthsuntilreplacedbyAlbertDrevermannwhocame fromhispostassciencemasteratDookie. Remaining in function until 1927 Drevermannguidedthecollegethroughthewartimeneedtomeetfoodshortagesandintroduced‘farmingmethods,theknowledgebase, curriculum, and routines of farm life, [that] changedlittleuntilthelate1950s’.96Hisleadership,highcommodity


prices,fullstudentenrolmentsandtheCloserSettlementActmadethe1920sthegoldeneraofLongerenong.ButithadlittlecontactwiththeFaculty.When Gamble vacated the Dookie principalship in 1922,applicantsforthepostrangedfromaCornellPhDtoafarmerfrom Sydney. Walter Birks, a Roseworthy College andUniversity of Adelaide BSc(Agric) graduate, was selected.Birks proposed higher academic standards but wasthwartedbytheCouncil’simplicitpreferenceforamaximumintake. Dookie still did not have its full complement ofstudents,but the farmers' classeswereat capacity.By theendofBirks’tenure,Dookiewasmoresuccessfulasafarmthanasacollege;itout-producedlocalfarms,solditswheatfor seed, ran 3,000 sheep, produced 310lb of butterfatannually from 40 Ayrshires and had top-of-show pigs.Retaining college fees and self-sufficient inmost produce,theCollegewasatlastpayingitsway.AmajoradvancewouldoccurinboththeFacultyandDookiewiththearrivalofnewpersonalities;theinnovativeyoungWadhamfromCambridgearrivedattheFacultyin1926,andtherespectedDrevermann tookoveratDookie in1927. Ifintegration of University agricultural science and collegetrainingwaspossible,surelythispresentedtheopportunity.


Chapter5

TheGreatDean–1926-56:WadhamSamWadhamarrivedinMelbournein1926whileOsbornewasagainholdingthefortandtookoverasDeanin1927–hewastoservefor30years.Theenvironmentintowhichhesteppedhasbeendescribedasonewhere'thenewschoolsofagricultureandveterinarysciencewhichthegovernmenthad founded in its utilitarian enthusiasm before the FirstWorldWarwerelanguishingbytheearlynineteentwenties.The veterinary school suffered from competitionwith theveterinaryschoolinSydney…itcollapsedprimarilybecausethere was not enough paying employment for veterinaryscientistsinVictoria.Whenin1927ProfessorWoodruffwasleftwithonestudent,theundergraduatecoursewasclosed.WoodruffbecameDirectorofBacteriologyandlaterthefirstProfessor of Bacteriology (1935-44), and his School ofVeterinary Science became the Veterinary ResearchInstitute. While the Veterinary School was left with abuilding, a professor, and no students, the School ofAgriculturewasleftafter1916withafewstudentsbutnoprofessor and no building. However, the AgriculturalEducationActof1920supportedaSchoolofAgricultureandthe government continued to allow its Superintendent ofAgriculture,DrA.E.V.Richardson,toteachclassesontwodays a week. When Richardson resigned in 1924, theUniversitydecided to fill theChairofAgriculture thathadbecomevacantforeightyears'97byappointingWadham.Anearlierhistoryof theFacultysuggested thatWadham’stenurewarranteditsownbook,98anditwassoonwritten.99


That biography expanded earlier papers, one of whichintroduced Wadham as arriving fresh from the reformmovementatCambridgeUniversityandquicklylearningtowork inanenvironment inwhich itwascommontodrivehardbargains,100andasonewho‘wastobecomeoneofthemostinfluentialmeninAustralia'sruralhistory,andoneofthemostlovablepersonalitiesinAustralianacademiclife’.101The son of an elderly railway agent, Wadham won ascholarship toCambridgewherehecompleted theBAandMAwithfirst-classhonours,andafterthewartaughtbotanyandconductedmycologicalstudies.102So,byhisearly30s,hewasalreadysetforasuccessfulcareeratCambridgewhenhereceivedaletterofferinghimtheChairinAgricultureattheUniversityofMelbourne.Thiswasafter theUniversityhad considered 21 applicants from around the English-speakingworldandfoundnoneacceptable.TheUniversityCouncil members George Swinburne and Sir JohnMacFarland, who were visiting England, asked for likelyapplicants, which led them to interview the restlessWadham.Hewasreluctanttoapplyunlesshecouldassurehimselfthathecouldconductthetaskwell,andbeacceptedby the University. Part of the reluctancemay have arisenfrom the confusion that caused friction between theUniversity and the agricultural colleges about whatconstituted a practical man in agriculture; Wadham hadvolunteered that he ‘doubted whether he could work aplough’.103ThefullCouncilagreedthatheshouldbeofferedthe rolewithouthavingapplied; the letterwasdispatchedandWadhamaccepted.HearrivedinSeptember1926forafive-year appointment without his family, his wife being‘attachedtoCambridge,herschool,andheragedparents’.104Ignorance of the needs of agricultural education had led


some University Council members to argue for someonemorepracticalthanaCambridgeman.ThisalsoconcernedtheState’sCouncilforAgriculturalEducation,whichasthecolleges’governingbody,sawitselfasthecustodianofsuchpracticalagriculturaleducation.'Howwrongtheywere!’–itwas later observed.105 Wadham showed how practicalsciencecouldbeconducted,appliedandcommunicatedinamannerunforeseenbyeitherthepracticalorthetheoreticalschools.Hewasalsointouchacrossthesocialspectrumandwould belie such country newspaper observations as theheadline, 'Badexample fromMelbourneUniversity',underwhichitclaimed'hedoesnotlooklikeaprofessor,nordoeshebehavelikeone…Heisslangyandflippant,andsurelynoprofessorshouldbeeitherslangyorflippant'.106Hischarmwon out. He was down to earth while commanding therespectdueanalbeityounganddebonairProfessorof theUniversity,asindicatedfromthephotofromaround1930.107

Wadhamearneda respectabovehispeersandsuccessorsacrossAustralia.Butinhisearlyyearshewaslessrespectedby the University Council, which withheld some of theprivilegesextendedtootherprofessors,possiblybecauseof


his relatively tender age. Seeking tenure after his initialappointmentof five years, hemetCouncil’s refusal on theseeminglyspuriousgroundsthatfundswereuncertainsincethe Agricultural Education Act was due for renewal.Interpretingthisasarejection,WadhamwentdirectlytothepostofficeandtelephonedCambridge,receivedanofferofanattractivepositionandwroteatersenoteofresignationto take effect at the end of 1931. Spontaneous protestsinundated the University from agricultural organisations.Prevaricating for months, the Council failed to budgetsufficientfundsforatenuredChairuntilWadhamuppedtheantebypreparingforhisdepartureandbookingpassagetoEngland.Councilfinallysuccumbedandalettertohimfromthe Head of CSIR pleaded ‘now decide to stay in thisbenightedcountryandsurelygenerationsoffat lambswillriseandcallyoublessed’.108TheFacultymightneverhaveachieveditspotentialifWadhamhadnotsecuredareleasefromhiscommitmenttothenewappointmentatCambridge.With 31 undergraduates on his arrival on the eve of the1930s depression, Wadham strengthened the BAgrSc byintroducingeconomicsintothirdyear,eliminatingthefinalhonoursexaminationandmakingspecialisationthebasisofthe MAgrSc. Undergraduate specialisation was onlyavailable in minor fourth-year subjects. His integratedphilosophyofagriculturaleducationwasamajorinfluenceonotherundergraduatecoursesaroundAustralia.Wadhamsawclearlywhatotherssometimesforgot,thatagriculturalscience is by nature an intensive course that relies on astrong science foundation informed by the methods ofagriculturewithinaneconomicandsocialcontext.109Hesawthe agricultural science student as learning more than asciencestudent,andbeing‘abletothinkofeveryfreshitemof knowledge from a commercial viewpoint’.110 And he


communicatedthatunderstandingtoindustryaswellastheUniversity.Playing politics well, he invoked his predecessors whenmakingchanges,asevidencedinoneofhismanyABCradiotalks:Theonegeneraltrendwhichiscommontoalluniversitycoursesisatendencytoincreasedspecialisation....IntheAgriculturalFacultywehavefirmlysetourfacesagainstanything of this sort. Our students come to us for fouryears,andfor30yearstheyhavehadtotakepracticallythe same course which, I admit, covers a multitude ofsubjects. I believe it is right to run the courseon theselinesbecause I think thatoneof the chief cursesof themodernscientificworldisover-specialisation....Letmemake thisquiteclear:Thebroadoutlinesof thiscoursewere largely drawn up by two verywisemen, Dr S. S.Cameron,...andDrA.E.V.Richardsonin1923.AllIhavedoneistogettheFacultytoputinsomeeconomicsandtotouch up odd points here and there. I am far tooconservativebynature tohavedone anything thatwasreallynew.

A supporter of research more than a researcher himself,WadhamunderstoodtheneedforcooperationwiththeStateDepartment. ‘From [the 1920s] the State Departments ofAgriculturewere themain centres of applied research fortheAustraliangrazingandfarmingindustries.’CSIRenteredtheresearchfrontierin1926‘tocarryourresearchinlandresources,livestock,plantsandthehandlingandprocessingof products’ with an intention to also train researchersalthough that role was to remain the preserve of theuniversities,albeitatalowleveluntilafterthe1960s.111AndCSIR[O]’s role in Victoria was never to include much


productionagricultureduetotherelativelystrongerState’spresencecomparedtoelsewhereinthenation.Wadham appointed Janet Raff to teach Entomology andRobertBlackwood(laterSirRobertBlackwood,Chancellorof Monash University) to take charge of AgriculturalEngineering in 1931. Geoffrey Leeper became responsiblefor Agricultural Chemistry in 1934 when Gilbert VaseyreplacedBlackwood,andYvonneAitkenwasappointedforAgriculture in 1945; Leeper, Vasey and Aitken remainedwith the Faculty until 1968, 1971 and in an honorarycapacity,until2004.LeeperactedasDeanin1939,1944and1945 while Wadham, in common with other strategicUniversitystaff,112servedCommonwealthwardemands.HisinfluentialbookwitheconomistG.LWood,LandUtilisationinAustraliawaspublishedin1939,andin1942healsoactedasViceChancelloroftheUniversity.

Yvonne Aitken

The agricultural colleges also had to deal with the 1930sdepression, the exigencies of war and then economicrecovery.Farmershadenrolledinthewarinlargenumbersand supply of farming inputs were curtailed, which

19/01/2017 Dr Yvonne Aitken, agricultural scientist (1911-2004) | Australian Academy of Science

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Dr Yvonne Aitken, agricultural scientist (1911-2004)

Dr Yvonne Aitken received a doctorate in agricultural science from the University of Melbourne, and continued to work

there throughout her career. Her research centred on how plant species adapt to climate through the differing flowering

responses of early and late varieties and how this in turn affects the growing period (ie, days from sowing to flower

initiation, to first flower and to ripe seed).

She first studied the effect of daily temperature and photoperiod on a group

of nine well-known agricultural species (three legumes, six cereals and grasses) sown at Melbourne (latitude 38°S) at

intervals during the year. A further set of the same varieties was grown in diverse climates in other world agricultural

regions during 1963, 1970 and 1975, with the unique data collected personally by her.

She has contributed to the search for better crop and pasture species for Australia by increasing our understanding of

genetic factors within a species that control reproductive development in different seasons and climates.

Teachers' notes (/node/335306) to accompany this transcript.

You can order (/sites/default/files/user-content/iwas_orderform.pdf) the DVD from the Academy for $15 (including GST and postage)

Interviewed by Ms Nessy Allen in 2001.

Contents

Approaching science with keenness and delight

Getting around the drawbacks

An introduction to subterranean clover

When would the clover flowers grow?

How long then to maturity?

The problem of clover hard-seededness

Harnessing field peas to wheat production

Increasing yields: a teaching post and more pea research

Studying growing seasons in two hemispheres

Widening cooperative climate plot research

'Every single variety was reacting to temperature'

Plant sensitivity to the photoperiod

Maturity genotype versus climate reaction

Sharing the word

An excursion into wheat-growing history

Persuading maize to like cold weather

Enjoying and linking interests

Approaching science with keenness and delight

Yvonne, would you tell us about your early life?

I was born in Horsham, Victoria, in 1911. I can remember people coming to the door during the Depression, wanting to chop wood so they could

get something to eat. It was terrible.

I was the elder of my parents' two children, and whenever the family had to move for my father's job as a bank manager we were supposed to

help – consequently we often found some very interesting things under the furniture seats. My parents were both interested in education,

especially of their offspring. And my mother, as a schoolteacher, knew how keen the Convents of Mercy were for education.

Were you interested in science as a child, and at school?

At first I didn't think about 'science' by name; it was just there. I was naturally curious and science appealed to me when it came into my

schooling, such as when we tried to do experiments. I had some good teachers at the convent schools.


exacerbatedtheproblemof increasingproduction tomeettheneedsofUSservicemenandUKcivilians.Operating inparallel,andwell informedoftheFaculty’scoursethroughWadham’sgreatereffectivenessinruralextension,practicaltraining institutionssuchas thecolleges foundthemselvesbeholden to immediate government needs. Recalled withprideasaservicetothenation,collegeswereneverthelessdiverted away from a longer-term strategy. Meanwhile,Wadham’sappointmentofsoundscientiststohispracticalagricultural sciencecoursedistinguished itmarkedly fromthe diplomas of the agricultural colleges from whichpathwaystotheBAgrScweretooccasionallydevelop.UnderDrevermannfrom1927Dookiebrieflyprosperedasthe University recognized its science sufficiently to allowexemptionstoDookiegraduateswhoenrolledintheBAgrScWhen commodity prices halved in the 1930s, endowmentland income ceased and Dookie’s fledging research wasterminated, Drevermannmanaged declining capital assetswith some philanthropic assistance that leveraged Statefunds for a laboratory that came to fruition as timesimproved.In1938hewassucceededbyHaroldPittmanwholeftafter19monthshavingbrokenthecodeofnotcriticizingthe Council in his polemic ‘The Truth About DookieCollege’.113TheimpactofWWIIonthecollegesdifferedfromthatontheFacultywith foodproductiondemanded from the collegeswhile government funds dried up. On the other hand, theUniversity, including Wadham, was engaged in advisinggovernmentandplanningforthepostwarrecovery.Dookieclosed in 1942 when students and staff from MelbourneGrammar School were evacuated fromMelbourne and allagricultural college students were sent to Longerenong.


WhenthenewPrincipalGeorgeWoodgatereopeneditlaterin 1942 he had both Dookie’s returned students and theFaculty’s second-year students. Educated and capable,WoodgatealsoassistedthedemiseoftheoverlycosyCouncilofAgriculturalEducationbyenlistingfellowgraduatesintheUniversityandtheDepartmentofEducationandpersuadingpoliticians to adopt an informed approach to agriculturaleducation.TheAgriculturalCollegesActof1944spelledthedemiseofthe colleges’ governing Council, the last decision ofwhichwasto'notapprovetheacceptanceofIndianstudentsuntiladequate provision is made for local students'. The ActtransferredtrustfundsandendowmentlandstotheCrown,thuskillingthevestigialremnantsoftheLandGrantCollegedream.Woodgate,nowamemberoftheUniversityCounciland Faculty Committee as well as Superintendent ofAgriculturalColleges,selectedJamesProvantosucceedhimasDookiePrincipal.

“Old Agriculture” around 1930114


Proven oversaw short courses for around 1,000 returnedservicemenaswellasthediplomaprogramandstayedintherolefor23years.Caughtbetweencollegeintransigenceandrapidpost-waradvancesinAustralia,hemanagedincreasedenrolments of year 12matriculants and soil conservationfield days in conjunctionwith the InternationalHarvesterCompany,whichhadunderwrittenmuchoftheCollege's23milesofcontourfurrowsandgrassedwaterways.AfterWWII,restrictionsonanimalstudiesintheFacultyandonPublicServiceemploymentforgraduateswererelaxedatthe same time that facilities were stretched when 150students enrolled in the BAgrSc, half of whom were ex-servicemen supported by government. From1943Dookiehadagainbecomethesitefortheresidentialpracticalyear,whichaslargenumbersofreturnedservicemenenteredthecourse,alsostrainedtheCollege’scapacitysuchthatin194725of the45second-year studentswereaccommodatedatDookie and the balance at Longerenong. Two years later,Dookie could accommodate all students and the FacultyceasedusingLongerenong.ButaUniversitymemorandummadeitclearthat'Theschemerecommendedisintendedasa wartime measure. Neither the Council of AgriculturalEducation nor the University nor the Department ofAgriculture should view it in any other light.'115Nevertheless,bytheendofthewar,FacultyrecommendedthatDookie become the permanent home for second-yearstudentswhowere to live andworkon the samebasis asDookie students, pay the same fees and be subject to theauthorityofthePrincipal.Facilitieswereinadequateatthecolleges,justastheywereattheUniversitywheretheywerenot improved until 1956 when an extension to OldAgriculturewas facilitatedbyagift fromWadham's friendandflourmiller,V.Y.Kimpton–hencetheKimptonTheatre.


Through Wadham’s extensive activities, contact withLongerenong increased but was not significant for theFaculty’s course.Woodgate had becomePrincipal in 1928and government funding fell with the 1930s depressionfollowedbyWWII.Managingfrugally,theCollege’sJubileewascancelledandsomemodestworkswereovershadowedbyafirethatdestroyedthemainbuildings.IvanTullohwasappointed Principal in 1940 and in his collegial manneroversaw building, courses for Land Army women, therelocation of Dookie students through 1942 andintroduction of a three-year diploma, albeit hamstrung bycompromisedentryrequirements.Tulloh’ssonNormanwasto later become a Professor of the Faculty and its longestservingmember.Anewentrantintothefieldofagriculturaleducation was also foreshadowed although it would taketwodecadesforrealactionontheestateofMarcusOldhamtobegin.Fromabout1939Trusteesofthatestatebegantoconsider suitable sites in southern Australia and NewZealandforanagriculturalcollege.116At the Burnley School, Prescott’s 1911 Certificate ofCompetencyinHorticultureremainedthestandardintothe1950s.J.P.McLennanbecamePrincipalin1916ofwhatsoonbecametheSchoolofPrimaryAgricultureandHorticulture,whichdevelopednewrootstocks forapplesandpearsandraisedaJerseydairyherd.HewassucceededbyFrederickRae in 1921 who oversaw retraining of ex-servicemen,increasinglywithassistancefromaMaster’sgraduatefromthe Faculty, Alexander Jessep. Their student cohort wasbifurcatedbetweengirlswithgoodacademicrecordsfromprivateschoolswhoregardedBurnleyasafinishingschool,andboyswhochoseBurnleybecausetheiracademicresultswere inadequate for the University. Jessep became solePrincipal in 1926 and his tenure saw the Plant Research


LaboratorymovedtoBurnley,buttheSchoolremainedbestknown for its pruning demonstrations. The 1930sdepression brought courses for the unemployed andsecondary school students studying agriculture who soonoutnumberedhorticulturestudents.When Provan became Principal of Burnley in 1942improvementsininfrastructurebeganandwerecontinuedunderThomasKneenfrom1946.Despiteitscentralbuildingbeing the first major building project undertaken by thePublicWorksDepartmentsinceWWII,Burnley’stechnologywas antiquated in its reliance on draft horses and handmowers.Studentnumbers rose to100 through the1940s,but a decades-old curriculum and an increasingconcentration on short coursesmeant that the institutionhad little educational standing and its graduateswerenotpreferred by city councils. The Institute of ParkAdministration of Victoria duly lobbied for a three year‘Diploma in Horticulture equivalent in standing to theDiplomainAgricultureissuedbyDookieandLongerenongAgricultural Colleges'.117 Burnley’s rise in agriculturaleducationbeganwithoutanyintenttolinkwiththeFaculty.TheDepartmentofAgriculturefoundedtheSchoolofDairyTechnology and Dairy Research Laboratories in 1939; itlaterbecame theGilbertChandlerCollege (or Institute) toservice the ‘dairy produce manufacture and preservation(improvement) of quality' by 'skilled instruction to dairyfactory operatives’, and research.118 The two-year coursefollowed thatdevelopedatMasseyUniversityand led toaCertificate of Competency in Dairy Manufacture withelectives of butter-making and cheese-making until itstemporary closure in 1942. The school had minimalassociationwiththeFacultyatthisstage.


InparallelwiththeDepartmentofAgriculture’sschools,theStateForestsDepartmentestablishedtheVictorianSchoolofForestryatCreswickin1910,relyingonteachersfromtheBallarat School ofMines and aBoardof Examiners ledbyUniversity botanist and once Dean of the Faculty, AlfredEwart.Expandedinlandareain1912,itsPrincipalswereT.S.Hart, Charlie Carter, Karl Ferguson and Ted Semmens, abotany graduate from the University. Until the 1940s anannual intake of four to eight students undertook anAssociate Diploma of Forestry – 'The Gateway to aMan'sCareer'; women were not eligible. But that career waslimitedby theAustralianForestrySchoolatYarralumla inthe1920s such that the Institute of Foresters ofAustraliawas reluctant to equate the Creswick diploma to theCanberra-basedqualification;theAustralianForestrySchoolwaseventuallytobecomepartofANUin1965.119CreswickgraduateswerethusmostlyconfinedtoVictoriawheretheywere supported by the Forests Commission. The bestdiplomatescouldcontinuetotheUniversity,whichin1943created a BSc(For) degree and in 1945 appointed JohnChinner as Senior Lecturer in Forestry in the Faculty ofScience. The Forests Commission had by now increasedCreswick’sintaketoabout12andtheschoolwasoverseenbyteachingPrincipals,FrankMoulds,BillLitster,AlanEddy,Jim Edgar, Bob Orr and Ross Squire, five of whom weregraduatesoftheUniversity.OthercontactwiththeFacultywasmarginal, andwhileWadham’s personality facilitatedworking relations with Botany, the success of his Facultyengendered some jealousies. Beloved by all subsequently,hisportraitcommissioneduponhisretirementin1956,hasgracedthelobbyoftheDean’sofficeintheOldAgriculturebuildingforatleast17subsequentDeans


Portrait of Sir Samuel Wadham by Carington Smith

The Faculty focused on an agricultural education thatintegrated science compared to the diverse activity of theagricultural, horticultural, dairy processing and forestrycolleges. Demand for Faculty graduates increasedthroughoutthe1940sandtheAgriculturalEducationActof1949 supported research and teaching in animal sciencewithcapitalworksandseniorlectureshipsthatwerefilledin1950byT.J.Robinson–animalphysiology,andF.J.R.Hird–AgriculturalBiochemistry.Studentsalsogainedtheirvoiceandin1953theAgriculturalStudentsSocietypetitionedtheDean to modify the undergraduate course structure toimprovethephysicssubject,increasethestatisticscourses,reviseassessmentmethodsandimproveintegrationacrossthecourse.Thiswasconsideredtobe'headystuffinthosedays when students tended to be seen and not heard',120


though similar voices were to be raised in Sydney andWesternAustralia.TheFacultyrespondedtotheseconcerns,althoughittookanother21yearstointegratestudentvoicesinstitutionallybyinvitingundergraduateandpostgraduaterepresentativestositontheFacultyCommittee.Beyond the University, Wadham served on suchcommissions as: The Commonwealth Dairy Committee(1928-1930); theRoyal CommissiononWheat,Bread andFlour Industries (1934-36); the Commonwealth NutritionCommission (1937-40); the Rural ReconstructionCommission(1943-46),andthe ImmigrationandPlanningCouncil(1949-59).�Wadham’sSundaymorningradiochatsmadehimoneofthebestknownbroadcastersinAustralia,spicing humble advice with humour and wideningagriculture from the technical to the social sphere in anuncommonlyholisticworldview.PracticalcollegegraduatesknewtechnicalapplicationsandUniversitygraduatesknewthetheoryanditsapplication,butWadhamsawagriculturalscienceas integratingcomplex fields thatdemandedmorethantechnicalknowledge,andastranscendingsmallfamilyfarms.ThesewereallpartofhisphilosophythatmaintainedthatitisimportantforaUniversity'toprovidewhencalledon, an unbiased opinion on matters of public interest,especially in the technical field'. He lived this philosophythrough his commissions and the hundreds of speeches,broadcastsandarticlestoproducetheconsideredsummarythat, 'perhaps no other person in the history of theUniversity had so enlarged the influence of his Chair andformed such close associations with the particularcommunityherepresented'.121WadhamreceivedtheraredistinctionofanHonoraryLLDwhile still in the University's employ. He had certainly


helpedtheimageoftheUniversityandadvancedagriculturalsciencesignificantly.Similarly,itwasnotedthat'thegrowthof goodwill towards the University at the time of hisretirementamongthepublic,especiallythefarmingpublic,owed much to his influence and personal reputation.'122Knighted in 1956 for his services to agriculture,Wadhamretiredearlyin1957,continuingtoservehisvocationaspartoftheMartinCommitteeonTertiaryEducationinAustralia(1961-64)andasChairmanof theCouncilof InternationalHouseattheUniversity.HismemoryispreservedwithotherUniversityluminariesoutsidetheBaillieulibrarybyaplaquesetintothepathwayofProfessors’Walk.

Impartingalegacyofbroad-mindedscientificunderstandinginagriculture,WadhammaybeseenastheGreatDeanoftheFaculty. Some consider this an anomaly for onewhowasneither a specialist nor intimately involved in technicalresearch.OthersseeWadhamasthepersonificationof theintegration that defines sound agricultural scienceeducation, which requires a foundation of contextualunderstanding of science, sociology and economicsapplicabletoindustryandgovernment.Hewasthemanforhis time in agricultural education and his personalityallowedcommunicationacrosstheagriculturalcolleges. InhisviewtheUniversityandthecollegeswerequitedifferent,


andwithoutsayingsodirectly,heappearedtoseethefutureofagriculturaleducationbeingwiththeUniversity.Hesawthe:‘further development of agricultural systems in mostdistrictsofAustralia[as]aquestionofimprovedtechnicalefficiencybasedonascientificapproachtoproblemsofsoils, plants and animals. It is a matter of brains, notbrawn, consequently the future development of theagriculturalfacultiesshouldbeassuredalwaysprovidedthattheycontinuetorecognizethattheirchieffunctionisto train students for applied positions in the publicserviceandincommerce.Manyuniversityfacultieshavea tendency to regard research work as their mainobjective. While everyone who understands the innerspiritofuniversitylifewillreadilyadmitthatresearchisanimportantpartofeveryeffectivefaculty,someareaptto forget that the purpose of almost all the appliedfacultieswhichhavebeencreatedinAustraliaistotrainstudentsfortheirrespectiveprofessions.’123

In his final year, Wadham appointed another youngEnglishmanDerekTribeasReaderinAnimalPhysiologytoreplace Robinson who had been appointed inauguralProfessorofAnimalHusbandryattheUniversityofSydney.UnlikehispredecessorRobinsonwhohadremained inhisDepartmentofPhysiology,TribewasbasedintheFaculty–heraldingthedevelopmentswhichweretotakeplaceunderthenextDean,CarlForster.


Chapter6

TheForsterDecade–1957-68Carlisle Forster was appointed Dean from 1957 from hispostwithCSIRO.Firmyetkindlytosomeand ‘earnestbutuninspiring’124 to others, he was well organized and wellconnected. Combined with a US PhD and practical farmmanagementknowledgethisearnedhimwiderespect.HistenureincludedtheexpansionofPhDeducationinAustraliaand an increased focus on research. After the MurrayCommittee recommended increased Commonwealthfundingtouniversitiesatatimewhenwoolandwheatpriceswere high, doctoral researchwaswell supported by suchsourcesasCSIROscholarshipsandtheReserveBank'sRuralCreditsFund.Forster’sdecademightthereforebedefinedbythe Faculty’s expansion of research and postgraduatetraining.Atthistimeundergraduatefirstyearintakeswerelimitedto70.Newstaffdefinedanewapproachwithsuchappointmentsas: Norman Tulloh, Geoff Pearce, Rolf Beilharz and TonyDunkinwhojoinedDerekTribeinAnimalHusbandry(laterAnimal Production); Jack Wilson, Gerald Halloran, AlbertPugsley and David Smith joined Yvonne Aitken in PlantProduction; Alan Lloyd and Al Watson started anAgriculturalEconomicsUnit;DonWilliams,HartleyPresser,Jack Potter and later Stuart Hawkins introducedpostgraduatetraininginAgriculturalExtension.TheFacultythus rounded out a considered balance of the diversedisciplinesthatmadeupagriculturalscienceatthetime.


TheFacultygrewtobecomealeaderwithintheUniversityfor PhD training. Continuing the Wadham tradition, staffmaintainedcloselinkswithindustry,speakingatfielddays,dinnersandconferences.TheinteractionwasassistedbytheFaculty’slackofitsownfieldresearchfacilitiesforcingstafftoconductresearchonprivatefarms,governmentlandsandinsharedresearchfacilities.ResearchspannedallofVictoriaand parts of Southern NSW, and international activitiescommenced.Severalstaffadvisedinagriculturaleducation,research and development nationally and internationally,bringingexperiencebacktothelectureandseminarrooms,and attracting the first overseas students to the Faculty.Leeper surveyed soils on farms near Winchelsea andBerwick,while Tribe studied prime lambproductionwiththe Mornington Peninsula Prime Lamb ProducersAssociation and on the State Research Farm atWerribee,which in 1964 became the University's veterinary clinicalcentre. Tulloh's beef cattle work was conducted at theMetropolitanBoardofWorksWerribeeFarm.125Theperiodwas one of collegiality across staff and students, with asoundoutputofhigherdegrees,researchpapersandbooks.

Carl Forster


1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972


1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986


1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999


2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014


1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920



ButtheFacultyneededitsownfieldsite,andin1964MountDerrimut, ‘the pretentiously named small knoll’126 inindustrial peri-urban Deer Park was purchased at afavourable price from ICI Australia Ltd (now Orica) withassistancefromtheICIChairman,LeonardWeickhardt,wholater becameChancellor of theUniversity.127 The sitewasonly 22 kilometres from Melbourne and providedreasonable control over field research. It also allowed thepracticalresidentialyearoftheBAgrSccoursetobeshiftedfrom Dookie, thus finally settling arguments that hadpersisted since the 1930s. The educational quality of thepractical year at Dookie had been of concern, whichwas,from1958,addressedbytheappointmentofDavidSmithtooverseetheyear’steaching.ThemovetoMountDerrrimutfacilitated further strengthening of the year to includesubstantial field projects, excursions to significant farms,research centres and industries, specialist lectures, andimproved library resources. Smith became the MountDerrimut Farm Director, teaching as well as overseeingstudents in residence; males were housed in the MountDerrimut House training facility left by ICI and a self-contained unit was created for female students. Facilitieseventually catered for 60 students who enjoyed a newlecture theatre, laboratories including an agriculturalengineeringcentreandawell-equippedfarm.TheFaculty’svariablelevelofinteractionwithDookieandothercollegesnowdeclinedmarkedly.Dookie suffered from the loss of the Faculty students. Itsdifficultieswere compounded by the State Department ofAgriculture’s colleges, in commonwith other parts of thepublic service, having to direct income to consolidatedrevenue, so the colleges entered yet another phase ofindecision.ThiscausedthePremiertoinitiateoneofthefew


casesofcurriculumcollaborationbetweentheFacultyandthe colleges by bringing Forster to assist Beruldsen inplanninganewcollegecurriculumandassociatedfacilities.ParticularlyatDookie,entrancerequirementswereraised,aDiploma of Agricultural Science was designed and thecollege’s objective was updated. Rather than 'teach theprinciplesandpracticeofagriculturetothesonsoffarmersand thosewho intend toadopt farmingasavocation', thecollegewas now 'to train agricultural technologists in thebasic technical and scientific principles underlying allaspectsofagriculture'.Thereferencetoscientificprinciplesbeing introduced at a college posed no challenge to theFaculty.Provan implemented thereformsatDookie,whichsawaninitialdoublingofstudentsto234,butby1968enrolmentswereagainindecline.SimilarchangeswereimplementedatLongerenong where Pym Cook had become Principal in1955, but drought was to forestall progress after KneenbecamePrincipalin1967.Thesetimessawstocksold,waterrationed, student failure rates soar and staff numbersdecline.ThereformsledtoBurnleyCollegeofHorticulturebeing created from its namesake school and offering aDiplomainHorticulturalScienceafterabandoningitsdairyoperations, with Littlejohn becoming Principal in 1967.MeanwhileGilbertChandler,whichhadreopened in1948,began to benefit from the industry underwriting itspersonnel’s attendance at a three-year Diploma in DairyTechnology;in1959theresearchanddemonstrationfactoryfacilitieswereimproved.128ButapartfromForster’sroleinthenewcurriculumandthepersonalinterestsofafewstaff,theStateDepartmentofAgriculture’scollegesweredriftingfurtherawayfrominteractionwiththeFaculty. Thetrendwassubstantiatedafewyearslaterbythepreparationsfor


another agricultural college, Glenormiston in theWesternDistrict – a region already being serviced by the privateMarcusOldhamCollege,whichhadacceptedstudentssince1962.129 In proportion to its size, Marcus Oldham Collegewas to have a greater impact on regional, Victorian,Australian and international agriculture than the State’scolleges.Foreshadowed since 1939, Marcus Oldham College was abold and fresh approach to agricultural education thatshouldhaveledtoreconsiderationofthedriveforregionalcoverage ingovernment fundededucation.Trusteesof theestatethatestablishedMarcusOldhamwereconstrainedtocateronlyforthe‘sonsofProtestantparents’fromthesitefinally selected near Geelong. Delayed by WW II andacrimony heightened from the Presbyterian Church,implementation began from about 1958 when amongothers, Forster andWadhamwere engaged as advisors inparallel.Themainplanning consultantwas IvoDean,whohadonceworkedatLongerenongandwhobecamethefirstPrincipalofMarcusOldhamwhenitwasofficiallyopenedin1961.130 Alert to the technological and economic changesoccurringinagricultureinsouth-easternAustraliathroughthe1950s,MarcusOldhamfocussedonfarmmanagement.The farmwas run commerciallywith its course based onpractical studies that were continuously assessed andincludedweeklyfarmvisitsandasandwichedpracticalyear.Marketing was nationwide to attract students capable ofpayingthesubstantialfees.Suchmarketing,combinedwitha small flexible staffnetworkedwithagribusiness,definedthe College. The college council routinely includedrepresentatives from both the Faculty and the VeterinaryFaculty131andwassaidtobeamoreengagedcouncilthaneverexistedfortheState’scolleges.


Forster was Dean, but even in retirement his eminentpredecessor remained present, a complication not alwaysappreciatedintheera.Wadhamisrememberedfromaround1964byonewhowouldbecomeDeanofsomefourdecadeslater as actually occupying the Dean’s office in the south-westcornerofOldAgriculture;thatyoungacademicatthetimeandnowretiredrecentlyobservedwryly‘youcouldn’tmovehimout,couldyou!’.132Forster’stenurecoincidedwithaperiodofexpansionoftheUniversityofMelbourneasthenation prospered. Enjoying political influence as the onlyuniversityinVictoria, itsFacultycoulddemonstratethatitserved a different clientele from that of the agriculturalcolleges. With capital development funds flowing fromindustry research organisations and a public appeallaunchedbytheChancellor,whohadrecentlyretiredfromserving as Prime Minister, a Pig Research and TrainingCentrewasestablishedatMountDerrimut–itappearsthatsuch schmoozingwas not the colleges exclusive preserve.New programs were developed, such as a postgraduateDiploma in Agricultural Extension in 1966 that wassupported by the Victorian Wheat Industry ResearchCommittee. Such external funding marked the Faculty asdifferent and privileged within the University, and wasfurther supplemented by additional capital and researchfundsthroughtheStateDepartmentofAgriculture.Thiswasto cease in 1968 when the 1920 State Act expired. TheFaculty then becamemore similar to other faculties in itsrelianceontheCommonwealthforannualoperations.The State Department of Agriculture continued to offertraining through its agricultural colleges in increasingisolationfromtheFacultywhileseekingtolinkthetrainingand extension divisions’ activities. As extension became amorespecializedactivity,itwasseenthatasoundeducation


in communication principles was required and the StateDepartment underwrote a postgraduate Diploma inAgricultural Extension to which it sent its key staff. Thiseffectively ‘formalized’ theruralconnectionsdevelopedbyWadham133asafunctionofhisperipateticpersonality,andestablishedanewniche for theFaculty.AsHawkinsmadethediplomahisown,theFacultybecamerenownedforthecourse, andHawkinshimselfwasoneof the few from theFaculty invited to teach a course at the newly arrivedcompetitorinagriculturaleducation,LaTrobeUniversity.

Old Agriculture around 1955134

La Trobe created a forward-looking undergraduateagricultural science degree, and it appears that theUniversity, or perhaps the Faculty, were complicit inallowing it to develop. The Faculty’s growth of totalenrolmentsfrom84in1951to220in1958wascurtailedbya first-year entrance quota of 70 imposed in 1959.Thereafter, increases in total Faculty enrolments were


postgraduates.In1960Forster,undoubtedlythinkingofthewideragenda‘heraldedtheconsequencesofthesedecisionsandsuggestedthatasecondschoolofagricultureisrequiredinVictoria’.135MonashUniversitywas the likelychoice foranother course in agricultural science, with the naïvelyunintegrated suggestion that it could emphasize plantscienceontheassumptionthattheFacultywouldfocusonanimals.136AVictorian reviewcommitteeestimated that afirst-year intake of 140 was needed to satisfy the State’sdemand,137which came topasswith encouragement fromthe Australian Institute of Agricultural Science – then theassociation of professional agricultural scientists. After1966,theInterimCouncilofLaTrobeUniversitymovedtocreateacomprehensivecourseinagriculturalsciencewithaninitialintakeof20in1968,whichwasplannedtoriseto100 by 1974.138 As these developments took place, theMelbourne Faculty was myopically preoccupied with itscomfortableposition, largelyunbotheredbytheUniversityadministration and so overlooked the implications of LaTrobe’scourse.TheFaculty’sresponseneedstobeconsideredinthecontextoftheoverallUniversity’shealth,whichUniversityhistorianCarolynRassmusencharacterizedasfollows.‘TheUniversityin the 1960s was a loose federation of partially self-governingparts,essentiallyreactivewithahighpropensitytogoondoingthingsastheyhadalwaysdone,tomake-dowith whatever could be cobbled together, and competefiercely with each other. There was much quality, but itsexistencewasmore by luck than design. Superficially, theinstitutionwasheldtogether–andmoreorlessfacinginthesamedirection–bysomethingcalled“collegiality”–butthesystemsofgovernancewerenotrobustenoughtodealwiththerapidlychangingenvironmentandexpectationsfromthe


outside.’139TheFacultymayclaimtobepartofthe‘luck’andtohavefaredbetterthanmostothersmallfaculties.Butluckderived from political contacts, tied State funding and anupsurge in student demand did not enhance the overallFaculty’simageasapremierproviderofagriculturalscienceeducationafterlocalcompetitionarose.The national leader at the time was seen to be the ruralUniversity ofNewEngland inNSW,which had revised itscurriculumtoadoptanintegratedapproachconsistentwiththe demands of agricultural science. The Faculty felt littlecompetition from this interstate university until the samephilosophy was implemented on their doorstep andsupplementedbyarigorousinterviewentryrequirementinadditiontohighmatriculationresults.LaTrobeUniversityopened its integrated and more up-to-date agriculturalsciencecourseandtookadvantageoftheMalthusianfillipofa growing awareness of the precariousness of global foodproductionandrisingpopulation,aswellastheabolitionoftuition fees by the Whitlam government in 1973. A newgenerationofagriculturalscientistswastoresultfromthisexpansion,but theFacultywasnotsufficientlycohesivetofully grasp the opportunity. The effect for the olderuniversitiessuchasMelbournewastodilutetheirinterestinagriculture over time. Over the ensuing three decades,agriculturaleducationwastobecomedispensabletosomeother institutions. The Faculty wandered, sometimesunknowingly,inawildernessithadnotimagined.Innovations in agricultural education were slowlyappreciatedwithintheFaculty–computerswerereluctantlyseenasmorethanapassing fad–butwith thecontinuingfarmer disbelief in ‘non-practical’ education and theUniversity’surbanorientation,agapbetween thecityand


thecountrybecamediscernible.Ithadbeentherefromtheearliest days, albeit bridged by Wadham, and graduallywidenedthroughthe20thcentury. Itwasoneforceamongothers that progressively marginalized the image ofagricultural science education within many metropolis-baseduniversities.Minorresurgencesweretooccurandanecho of the 1960s interest in global food precariousnessaroseafterthe2008globalfoodshortages,whichledinNSWat least, to renewed attention to agriculture education.140Butthesciencebaseofagriculturalsciencecannotbeturnedonatwill.Hence,theAcademyofTechnologicalSciencesandEngineering’sprogramandsimilarinitiativesinschoolsforenhanced STEM education141 – science, technology,engineering andmathematics – in schools is todayhavingsome effect in preparing students for demandingagricultural sciences courses at universities. But whethertheintegratedagriculturalsciencecourseswillre-emergeisunclear.ThecontrastbetweenForster’seraandthatwhichwasto followmightbeparaphrasedasa lossof long-termleadershipoftheFacultyinthefaceofanewlycompetitiveenvironment.ThusForster’syears led intothe1970swithstudent demand increasing and for a time assisting theFaculty,butitwasresearchandaninternationalperspectivethatweretoredeemotherdeficienciesofthetime,andthesereliedonmorethanluck. Forsterretiredin1968atatimewhenAustralianuniversityenrolments were booming. He had maintained diverseconnectionswiththefarmingcommunityandgovernment,andmostnotablyhadbeenChairmanof theCommittee toAppoint and Advise the Commonwealth Government onProspectsforAgricultureintheNorthernTerritoryin1960.Meanwhile,buildingoninterestspawnedinthe1950s‘staffin the Faculty … developed a deep and continuing


involvementintheColomboPlanandotherprojectsinAsiaandafewinAfrica,and[Faculty]academicstooktheleadindeveloping the organization of universitieswhich becamethe Australian-Asian Universities Cooperation Scheme.’142Forster had fostered international connections that wereuniqueintheUniversity,andsoitwasfittingthathebecamethe first Academic Director (1970-77) of the AustralianAsianUniversitiesCooperationSchemeinwhichcapacityheadvised senior administrators in Indonesia, Malaysia andSingapore.143

Original Entrance to the ‘Old Agriculture’ Building



Chapter7

RotatingDeans–1969-89:Tribe,Stubbs,Tulloh,Chinner,Parbery,Beilharz&Ferguson

HavingbegunwitharotationofDeansduring its first twodecades,theFacultyfollowedWadham’sthreedecadesandForster’sonewithanotherperiodof rotation.TheFacultynowre-enteredtwodecadesofDeans’tenuresbeingtwotothree years. Upon the retirement of Forster, it seems thatLionelStubbsservedasDeanforashortperiodin1969,144andtheFacultyinstitutedatwo-yeartermfortheDeanwhowaselectedasprimusinterparesincommonwithpracticesofthetime.Later in 1969 Derek Tribe was elected Dean and soonchangedtheregulationstoallowanappointmentforuptothreeyears.Andinwhatmighttodayseemtohavebeenafitof extreme collegiality, the position was opened to anypermanent academic from Senior Lecturer level toProfessor.Servingforatleastthreeyears(1969-72),Tribewas to become the longest-servingDean for the next twodecades.Aroundthistime,StubbswasChairofPlantProductionandAlanLloydbecameChair inAgriculturalEconomics,whichwas created to replace Leeper's Chair in AgriculturalChemistry. The Faculty was restructured from thetraditionalsoil,plantandanimaldepartmentsintoasingledepartment with five sections; agricultural economics,


agricultural extension, animal production, plant sciences,andsoilsciences.Thesesectionswere ledbyLloyd,StuartHawkins,Tribe,StubbsandLyleDouglas.WithoutbelittlingtheinfluenceofotherDeans,somedetailaboutTribeisrelevanttotheFaculty’scultureandlongevity.As a key appointment byWadhamand as a fellowBritishimmigrant, Tribe had enjoyedWadham’s patronagewhileenduring the same parochial assumptions of ignorance oflocal conditions. He challenged the latter by spending hisfirstChristmasbreakenfamilleworkingonafarm,bothtolearn and to establish a credibility that allowed researchprograms to be farm-based in the absence of adequateFaculty facilities.Havingbeen inspiredbya1947meetingwith Lord [John] Boyd Orr145 and his food-basedhumanitarianethicthatledtothecreationoftheFoodandAgriculture Organization, Tribe maintained anundiminishedenthusiasmfortheglobalfooddilemma.Thisprovidedtheinternationalcontextforhislocalresearchandteaching, a direction he later encouraged other staff intothroughcooperationwithAsianuniversities,and towhichhecontributedinthecreationoftheInternationalLivestockResearchInstituteasoneofthe‘GreenRevolution’centresofthe CGIAR.146 In theseways, Tribe assumed themantle ofWadham,andclaimedhimasaprimarymentorandfriendinhisbiography.147As Dean, Tribe oversaw a review of the undergraduatecoursethatconfirmeditwasbroadly-basedwhileallowingminorspecializationinfourthyearthroughasmallresearchproject, and also introducing a new compulsory subject –Resource Use and Conservation. While AgriculturalEngineeringcontinuedtogeneratedemand,itwasthoughtbetterpursuedintheFacultyofEngineeringwhereitwasto


continue for two decades serving the Faculty as well asgraduatesthattaughtitspracticalaspectsintheagriculturalcolleges.Thesewerenoteasy times for theUniversity.Fundsweretightdemandingstringenciesonfacultiesincludingthisone,whichwasforlornlyasking‘forresourcestoappointafull-timeDean’.148ThustheshorttenureofDeansthroughthisperiod of the Faculty’s life can be explained by disciplineleaderstakingturnstoacceptthedistractingresponsibilityoftheofficewiththeincidentalbenefitofhelpingtoensurethattheirdisciplinewasnotoverlookedwithintheFacultyallocations. Deans after Tribe were; Stubbs (1973-75),Norman Tulloh (1976-78), John Chinner (1979-80), DougParbery (1981-83), Rolf Beilharz (1984-86) and IanFerguson (1987-1989). Tulloh lays claim to a uniqueassociation with this history having been born to thePrincipal of Longerenong, gaining his BAgrSc and DAgrScfrom the Faculty, and then working in it as a ResearchAssistant,andafteraninterludeofeightyearswithCSIRO,asaSeniorLecturerandrisingtoProfessor–andnowinhis90s continuing an association with the Faculty. DuringStubbs tenureasDean, theDepartmentofForestry,whichhad been part of the Faculty of Science since 1948 wastransferredtotheFaculty.OnceitwasrenamedtheFacultyofAgricultureandForestry,anorthwingextendedtheOldAgriculturebuildingwith improved facilitiesespecially forfourthyearandpostgraduatestudentsin1975; it isslatedfor demolition and replacement in 2018. Forestry wasaccommodated in the Old Agriculture building149 andlaboratorieswerebuiltatMountDerrimutfromtheBrumleyBequest. The retention and indeed enhancement of theDerrimut facility was the Faculty’s expression of theobservation of the times that ‘pressure on university


undergraduatetrainingforgraduatestobejob-ready,[had]alreadyvocationaliseduniversityeducationinAustraliafarmore than is admitted’.150 The observation recalled theUniversity’s nickname of an earlier generation as ‘TheShop’.151

Derek Tribe Lionel Stubbs Norman Tulloh

John Chinner Doug Parbery Rolf Beilharz Ian Ferguson The vocational element of agricultural science educationfurtherloadedalready-crowdedcourses–itwasonereasonforthecoursesrequiringhighacademicworkloadsoverfourrather than the usual three lighter years for some otherundergraduatedegrees,andhavingrequiredprojectsduringterm-breaks.Thelongercoursewasafurtherreasonforitsreducedpopularityamongurbanstudents,and it involvedadditional costs to the student. Tuition fees had beensynonymouswithuniversities,whichhadbeenestablishedunderStateActsbutwereonlypartiallyfundedbytheState.Thisrestricteduniversityeducationtothewealthierfamiliesuntil it was slowly redressed with some Commonwealth


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fundingduringWW II and continuing after it. Themerit-based Commonwealth Scholarship Schemewould soon beintroduced,whichwaivedtuitionfeesforcapablestudentsandprovidedalivingallowancetothosewhoseparentsdidnothavesufficientmeanstosupporttheirchildren’sstudies.Bythelate1960shighereducationwasavailabletobrightstudentsfromworking-classfamilies.Suchhigh-performingstudentsfromawidercatchmentwastoserveagriculturalsciencewell.TheCommonwealththenabolishedfeesfrom1974until1989bywhichtimetheunsustainableexpenseofanenlargedsectorwassupplementedbyintroductionoftheinnovative scheme that allowed postponement of aproportion of the cost of the course until a beneficiary’sincomeexceededathresholdalittleaboveaverageweeklyearnings. The scheme has been repeatedly modified, butdoes not appear to have aided agricultural education asmuchassomeotherfaculties.AsnotedbytheCouncilofDeansofAgriculture,studentsaremore reluctant to take courses with diverse employmentopenings.152 Demand for university agricultural sciencefrom farmers remained low153 and ‘this has allowedcriticismof the knowledge levels of persons chargedwithmanagingthebulkofthecountry’sterrestrialresources’.154This isevident inthecomparisonof the lowprevalenceofdegrees among those on farms compared to that of thegeneralworkforce, as is illustrated in the followingTable.HavingtosharebenefitswiththenewcourseatLaTrobe,thewindfall of Commonwealth scholarships and rising globalconcernsabout foodwasmutedwithin theFaculty,whichwas increasingly diverted to research and internationalactivities,aswellassomepropertydevelopment.Theseedsofresearchunrelatedtoteachingweresowninthisperiod.Lookingbackontheperiod,Stubbsadvisedacademicstaffto


not ‘become obsessed by your “tools of trade”, that thedetection of a divided genome assures more importancethanthesolutiontoaproblem’.155

Proportion of those Engaged in Agriculture with a Degree

(as a % of those with degrees in the Australian workforce)156 Year 1984 1994 2004 2009 2012

21% 31% 27% 28% 39%

In1976theStrathfieldsayeEstate,valuedat$588,500wasbequeathed by CliveDisher to the University for teachingand research inagricultureandallied sciences.157With itshistoric homestead on Lake Wellington and its 1,845hectarescarrying7,000sheepand100Herefordcattle,theproperty was a valuable resource, although it requiredcommercial acumen to be productive after wool pricesdeclined.BoththeFacultyandVeterinaryScienceusedandoversawthefacility.TheUniversitywastoremovecontrolofthepropertyfromtheFacultythroughthe1980safterwhichitaccumulatedcontentiousbookdebts;itwasreclaimedfortheFacultybyalaterDeanin1996andwasaviablebusinessuntil,contrarytohisadvice,itwasdivestedbytheUniversitysoonafterhistenure.Faculty research, which had been negligible before the1950s in common with other Australian universities,increased markedly through the 1970s, and by 1983researchgrantsworthsome$1.5millionand involving40staffand70postgraduatesmeanttheFacultyrankedhighlyintheUniversity’sresearchincome.JointresearchwiththeState Government and CSIRO supported applied researchoriented to industry.Postgraduate traininggrewand then


levelledoff fromthemid-1970sasstipends fell in relativevalueinavolatileeconomyandsomadeearlyemploymentattractive. From six higher degree research candidates in1972thenumberthengrewto31in1983,withanincreasein candidates from developing countries. Some Facultyacademics regarded these overseas candidates ascompromising academic standards, a view that wassuccessfully countered by a wider perspective on theintegratedandglobalnatureofagriculturalscience.Havingbegun in the1960s, internationalpostgraduatecandidatesweremainlygeneratedfrompersonalcontactsinSoutheastAsia, aswell as elsewhere in Asia, Africa and Central andSouthAmerica.Withthecreationin1969oftheAustralian-Asian Universities Cooperation Scheme (later AustralianUniversities InternationalDevelopmentProgram,now IDPLimited), most staff were involved with Southeast Asianuniversities.TheFacultyprovidedthefirstthreeDirectorsofAAUCS/AUIDP – Carl Forster was succeeded by NormanTulloh in the part-time role and then, when a full timeappointmentofDirectorbasedinCanberrawascreated,byDerekTribe.158International students also influenced the Faculty’sofferings, which until the 1970s had assumed uniformstudent backgrounds and an understanding of Australianagriculture. A Master of Agricultural Studies was createdwith coursework, research and field study; initially foranimal production, in 1981 itwas expandedwith fundingfromtheAustralianaidprogram(AIDAB,laterAusAID).TheFaculty’sandhencetheUniversity’sprofilerosethroughoutSoutheastAsiaasstudentnumbersincreasedto28,mostlyfundedby the aidprogram.A reviewonbehalf ofAIDABindicated the course’s academic value and viability forfundingonafull-feebasischargedperstudentwiththeaid


programpurchasingsufficientplaces to justifyoperations;thiswaspreferredtotheso-calledfullyfundedmodel,whichthereviewhadfoundtoleavetheFacultysubsidizingtheaidprogram.159ThedegreewascomplementedbytheFaculty-runSoutheastAsianFibrousAgriculturalResiduesResearchNetwork, which was also initiated in 1980 with initialsupport from the aid program. Connecting ruminantnutritionistsacrossSriLanka,Thailand,Malaysia,Indonesiaand the Philippines, the network focused on improvedutilisation of crop residues.Within a decade the networkwas self-sufficient, and its subsequent iterations becameactivities of the Australian Centre for InternationalAgriculturalResearch(ACIAR)uponitscreation.Having proved useful, the model of the Master ofAgriculturalStudieswasadoptedforanimprovediterationof the postgraduate extension diploma as a degree inagriculturalextensionorientedtoAustralianstudentswhowere, in themain, sponsoredbyemployers, especially theDepartment of Agriculture. Other activities of the Facultythroughthe1970sweresomewhatroutinewithcontinuingargumentsaboutthecontributionsofinternationalstudents,a perhaps overly precious view of the University andassumptionsthatfamilyfarmingwouldremainsustainable.The aura of rural stability had confounded agriculturaleducationfordecadesasaresultofmisplacedgovernmentsubsidies.Butsuch‘financialassistancetofarmershadonlybeenofuse inthe longtermif itassistedfarmerstomovefrom unprofitable systems of farming to those that wereprofitable,orinhelpingfarmerstoincreasethescaleoftheiroperations’.160Aneraofchangewasbeginninginthesector– and in agricultural education. The Faculty’s BAgrScremainedindemand,butitsufferedfromthepart-timeandshort-termrotationalDeans–anda lackofanticipationof


theimpactofcompetitionfromthemorerigorousdegreeatthe upstart La Trobe University, which took its firstagriculturalsciencestudentsin1968.

The 1975 Fawn-brick Extension of ‘Old Agriculture’

The new La Trobe University’s high founding idealswereconsistentwiththetimes.Itviewedofagriculturalscienceasits ‘hard’ applied science, and being its fifth and onlyprofessional School in the absence of medicine orengineering, itwas relativelymore important to LaTrobethanitwastoMelbourne.In1975sciencestudentsmadeupless than 25 percent of La Trobe’s 7,758 enrolments andagriculturalsciencewas itsonlyappliedarea.Bythis timestudentdemandforhighereducationappearedtohavebeenmet, government outlays were frozen and La Trobe’sambitionsforgrowthanddiversitywerecurtailed.Victoriahad corrected anomalies resulting fromMelbourne’s longmonopoly,whichhadbeen identified in1961when itwasclaimed,somewhatgratuitously,thatwith4.8percentofthe17-22years-oldstudents itcomparedunfavourably to7.2,7.2 and 7.9 percent for NSW, Queensland and SArespectively.161 Although misleading, because Victoria’s


highereducation institutesandcollegeswereomittedandbecause the State supported the highest national rates ofstudent participation in year 12, the figures reflectedMelbourne’ssoleclaimtothetitleofuniversityinVictoria.TheFaculty’slackofpreparationforthisnewenvironmentandinternalpreoccupationallowedLaTrobetoadvanceitsprogram.La Trobe’s academic organization through Schools ratherthan faculties and departments was soon compromised,althoughitwasretainedintheSchoolofAgricultureunderthe firm hand of the Foundation Chair Bob Reid whorecruited‘mostofitsearlystafffromoutsidethegrovesofacademe’.162 As Foundation Professor of Agriculture, Reiddefined its difference from the Melbourne course in amanner reminiscent of Wadham,163 although at the timemore often attributed to McClymont164 of the leadingagriculturalsciencecourseof the timeat theUniversityofNewEngland. Instillinghisstampon livestock throughhisInauguralLecturein1968,165healsoestablishedstandardsinlearning,andcriticalthinking.‘DisregardingthethrustoftheadvertisementfortheLaTrobepostwhichanticipatedthe need for future specialist graduates, [Reid] based hisapplication in terms of a strong commitment to a broad,integrated course inwhich the interrelationshipsbetweenclimate, soils, plants, animals and economics, and theirdependence on a sound basis of primary sciences –chemistry, physics and mathematics – was stressed.’ He‘appointed staff in sympathy with his convictions’ whoretainedtheintegratedschoolstructureafterheretired,astheonlyLaTrobeSchooltomaintaintheuniversity’soriginalvision.ThedemandingcoursematchedLaTrobe’sstudentintake being ‘so small that a high proportion of admittedstudents had listed [it] as their first preference’ including


‘someveryhighqualitystudents’166–andthiswascombinedwitharuthlesscullingofunderachievers.Thecompetitionfor the Melbourne Faculty was perhaps exacerbated byReid’snegotiation toengagekey staff and inputs from theMelbourneFacultytoteachintohiscourse,suchastheruralsociologistStuartHawkins,anduseofDerekTribe’stextforanimal physiology; his first appointment and ultimatelylongest-servingmemberoftheSchoolwastheleadingsoilspostgraduatefromtheFaculty,NickUren.ThefirsthomeoftheLaTrobeSchoolwascoincidentallytheThomasCherrybuilding, which had been named after the chair of theacademicplanningboardforthenewuniversity,whowasasonoftheoriginaladvocateforthecreationtheMelbourneFacultyanditsinauguralChairofAgriculturein1911.167Themarch stolen by LaTrobe eventually sunk in and theFacultycaughtupwithLaTrobe.Stubbsobservedthat‘onedayinthemid1970sIwastoldbysomeoneinindustrythattheypreferredLaTrobegraduatesoverMelbournebecauseMelbournegraduateswerenotcomputerliterate…Withinashorttime,theFacultywentontoleadtheUniversityinitsteachingofcomputeruseandtheapplicationsofcomputertechnology.’168 But the Faculty was also pursuing anotherdevelopment in which Tribe’s view that internationalstudents would broaden the Faculty’s understanding andinternationalstandingwasvindicated,andLeeperhisbêtenoire retired. Tribe himself left in 1980 to take up hisappointment as the Director of the Australian-AsianUniversitiesCooperativeProgram.Stubbsalsoretiredattheendof1981havingalsoestablishedresearchfacilitiesandpostgraduate training activities that would be built upon.The vacated Chairs in animal and plant production werefilled in due course by Adrian Egan and David Connor in1983.


ReviewsoftheBAgrScandtheBForSccoursesundertakenin1984ledtorevisionsinofferings.Theformercoursewasforced to recognize the changing nature of graduateemployment,whichwasshiftingawayfrompositionsintheDepartment of Agriculture and other State departments.From this time, the coursewas ostensibly oriented to theintegration of agriculture’s economic resource use withinconservationprinciples.Itcontinuedtoproducegeneralists,with specialization coming in postgraduate studies. Suchreorientation brought inevitable discussion about thebalancebetweenpureandappliedsciences,betweenplants,animals, soils and social science, and between agricultureandforestry.Inthemid1980s,risingstarMikeDallinglefttoestablishCalgenePacific,amolecularbiologysubsidiarycompany that retained links with the Faculty for a timethroughpersonalaffiliations;StubbsservedontheCalgeneBiosafetyCommittee,169andaDeanwhowouldarriveintheFacultyadecadelaterservedontheCalgenePacificBoard.170The Faculty had minimal contact with the agriculturalcolleges,whichmeantthatarecommendationtoceasetheDerrimutsecondyearraisedtheoldchestnutoftheneedforfarmingskills.Thecompromiseinanacademicenvironmentincreasinglyseparatedfrombothfarmingandagribusinesswas toclaim that therequired12weeksofvacationworkwouldfulfilthepracticalneed.Commonwealth funding forCreswickhadencouraged it toassociatemore closelywith the Faculty after 1973,whichfinallyreachedagreementwith theForestsCommission in1977. As Dean from 1979 to 1980, John Chinner beddeddowntheamalgamation,whichallowedforBForScstudentstospendtwoyearsinresidenceatCreswickanditsdiplomacoursewasthenterminated.IanFergusonwasappointedto


theFoundationChair inForestryin1981andoversawthenew course while developing an industry and researchprofileintheFaculty.RalphBeilharzwaselectedDeanofthesingledepartmentFacultyin1984followedbyFergusonin1987. As had their predecessors, they felt the conflict ofacademic and industry demands with the risingadministrativeloadontheDean’soffice.Poisedforchangesthat were only to be slowly admitted, the Faculty wassuffering from amalaise compounded by the University’sadjustments to its lost monopoly. However, outside theUniversity, the period saw changes in agriculture andagribusiness that would continue for decades. Combinedwithpolicy shifts in higher education funding, thiswas todrive institutions to consider the costs of duplication andsub-optimal size. A Unified National System withinstitutionalmergerswascomingontotheagenda.Throughthisperiodofchange,thevariablefortunesoftheagricultural colleges continued, but interactions with theFaculty were limited and the rural colleges becamemoreisolated from thewider society. It is thereforeapposite toconsidertheruralcollegesinalittlemoredepthsinceintwoshort decades, as a unified entity, they were to try tonegotiatewiththeUniversityonequalterms.Butlongbeforethattime,theculturesofthetwosectorswerefarapart,evenon issues of social equity.Without abusing hindsight, theadmission of women to agricultural education provides abarometerofsocialawareness;andconsideringtherelianceoftheruralcollegesonpoliticalfavour,itissurprisingthatruralwomen’svotesandlobbyingwereignoredforsolong– until 1972, as the following Table indicates. AcrossAustralia, ‘there seems to have been an epiphany in the1970s as many of the institutions progressively, butsuddenly, became coeducational’,171 partly in response to


affirmativeactionandanti-discriminationlegislation.172Butthefactremainsthatthecollegeswereremarkablytardyinacknowledgingtheirsocialmilieu.Todayitisnotuncommonformorethanhalfofthestudentsofagriculturalscienceinuniversitiestobewomen.Thatittookacenturyforwomentobeallowedtoentertheagriculturalcollegesillustratesthecultural gapbetween theFaculty and the rural colleges.Acounter argument – that Burnley admitted women from1899aspart-timestudents–isbeliedbyitsoperatingasasuburban gardening association day-school that soonmorphedintoafinishingschoolforyoungladies.

Women at the Rural Colleges and the University/Faculty Year and Event Women Accepted into:

University Degrees

Agriculture Degrees

Colleges’ Diplomas

1879 - University of Melbourne admits women

Yes n.a n.a

1883 - First woman graduate, University of Melbourne

1884 - Letter to The Age arguing the necessity of including agricultural colleges for females and that for every girl educated in this manner now, in the next generation it would count six at least, for the girls of the present day are the mothers of the future and their sons will benefit by their teachings as well as their daughters

1886 - Dookie College opens No 1898 - Longerenong College closes; Council minutes record that suggestion that it could instead provide instruction in agriculture to young women was acknowledged

No

1902 - The Women's Progress Leagues Union asks Council for

No


women to be admitted to Dookie and received the reply: unable to accede at present … there being no provision for women students 1905 - University opens Faculty of Agriculture

Yes

1915 - Third-year Agricultural Science student from the Faculty Irene Lowe spends mandatory year at Dookie.

No

1915 - The Australian Women's National League urges Council for women to be provided with the means of securing an agricultural education; reply approves women in principle, but none admitted

No

1915 - Longerenong receives two applications from women that the Principal declines

No

1919 - YWCA deputation from the UK visits and advised Council to appoint a trained lady organiser in domestic arts and hygiene

No

1919-30 - Short courses for women at Dookie and Longerenong when men on vacation

No

1951-3 - Two-week courses for Women's Land Army at Longerenong during the men’s vacation after CWA pressure

No

1945 - Daughter of Dookie Vice-Principal, Jean Levick, enrols

Yes/No

1947 - Jean Levick graduates with diploma

No

1964 - Faculty ceases to use Dookie for practicum

No

1972 - Faculty graduate, Joan Houghton, and CWA lobby until five women admitted to Longerenong

Yes/No

1973 - Dookie admits women Yes


Rotating personalities also marked the colleges; KneenbecamePrincipalatDookieasenrolmentsdeclinedtowardsthe ten-year low of 1972, a problem that had beencompoundedbytheFacultyceasingtosenditssecond-yearstudents there after 1964. Longerenong faced a similarchallenge with Ian McMillan as Principal. Underfunded,neither practical nor intellectual, having shed specialistlecturers and now short of students, Longerenong andDookie finally admitted women in 1972 and 1973respectively. McMillan became Principal of Dookie from1974whenhehandedLongerenongover to JimLonsdale,who became the college’s longest serving Principal. Bothcollegesconsolidatednon-awardcoursesandaDiplomainAgricultural Science was created to complement diverseVET/TAFEcourses.BarryCrokebecameDookiePrincipalin1983 and oversaw the introduction of a three-and-a-halfyear BApplSc(Agric) degree that included a semester ofindustryplacement.The agricultural colleges were struggling to adjust to thetimes and saw decreasing demand among innovativefarmers. This should have been seen as a precariousenvironment in which to create new agricultural trainingfacilities, especially where another provider alreadyoperated. Thus when Glenormiston Agricultural Collegeopenedin1971withBobLuffasPrincipal,hequicklysoughtto reorient it to general farm management and equinestudies.Itshighqualityfacilitiesweresooncomplementedbyafull-sizedindoorequestriancentre,inparttoserviceanAssociate Diploma in Horse Management. Val Pollardbecame Principal in 1979 and set about expanding TAFEprograms, strengthening outreach and trialing a newBApplSc program. Meanwhile a Rural Studies Centre,McMillan,wascreatedinGippslandasafurtheragricultural


training facility to which Brian Clarke was appointedPrincipal in 1976. Non-award courses overlapped withextension agents’ roles,which inspiredBarrieBardsley asPrincipalfrom1985todevelopdistanceeducationandTAFEfundingwhilemaintainingsome100non-awardprogramsfor3,500peopleacross50locations.ThecreationofbothGlenormistonandMcMillancanseemanachronisticinhindsight.McMillanwasinvented,atleastinpart,asGippsland’scallongovernmentlargesseinresponsetoGlenormistonbeingcreatedintheWesternDistrict,whichhad arisen by use of the region’s political clout. ButGlenormiston itself opened less than a decade after theprivateMarcusOldhamCollege,whichhadalreadyclaimeda greaterWestern District loyalty than Glenormistonwasevertogarner.Furthermore,thecoursethatGlenormistonpromotedwasFarmManagement,thesameasthatalreadyestablishedatMarcusOldham.Ithasbeenarguedthatthehigh costs of Marcus Oldham excluded many ordinary‘farmer’ssons’(intheterminologyofthecolleges),whichislargely correct although some equity scholarships wereoffered. But considering that a transition towardsagribusinessfromtraditionalfarmingwasalreadyoccurringand the colleges were following rather than leading thechange,farmswithsufficientaccesstocapitaltoaffordtheMarcusOldhamcourseweremore likely toprovide futureleaders in agriculturemanagement and agribusiness thanthose fromaStateagriculturalcollege.Laterdecadesboreoutthisanalysis.Marcus Oldham marketed itself well, and chargingsignificant fees bred a loyalty and commitment amongalumni in a manner akin to elite private schools.Nevertheless, enrolmentswereneverhighandby the late


1970s were particularly low, which added motivation tooverturnthelimitationsoftheoriginalbequest,towhichtheSupreme Court agreed in 1979 by allowing enrolment ofboth males and females without religious restriction.173HavingshapedtheCollegeasPrincipalforsome16years,IvoDean was followed by Graham McConnell for another 18yearsto1994.Stickingtoitsaim‘toassisthighlymotivatedyoungmen andwomen to become leading farmers in thefuture’,174theMarcusOldhamCollegeCouncilcontinuedtoincluderepresentativesfromUniversity.175The State Department of Agriculture’s other colleges,BurnleyandGilbertChandlersharedtheruralcolleges’lackofcontactwiththeFaculty.Burnleyhadonceenjoyedahighscientific profile until the Department removed researchfromtheinnersuburb;thisincludedsuchresearchasthatoftheFaculty’sLionelStubbsonplantpathogensliketobaccomosaicvirusasanindicatorinlungcancertraces.176Infactthe colleges now had little to offer the University havingpursued a different market sector while constrained bypublic sector regulations.AtBurnley,PrincipalsLittlejohn,Pell and David saw diplomas of Horticultural Science andlater Applied Science introduced, the staff profile change,commercialhorticulturalistsappointed,fruitandvegetableinstruction transferred to Dookie, and loss-making shortcourses continuing. At Gilbert Chandler, industry hadrecommended ‘additional staff with special responsibilityforworkingcloselywithindustry’,177whichPrincipalsPeterMullaney,IanStevensandPeterRyanfrom1978managedthrough short update courses, TAFE certificates,correspondence courses and goodwill sharing of facilitiesbetweenresearchandtraining.Inretrospectsuchmoves,ifsustained,wouldhaverevivifiedthecolleges’relevance.


DavidSmithwasnowDirector-GeneralofAgriculturefortheStateandwasultimately responsible for thecollegesaftermanyyears’experienceasastaffmemberoftheFaculty.Heexpressed dismay at a proposition to form an umbrellaorganizationof the six colleges as theVictorianCollegeofAgriculture and Horticulture (VCAH), and noted thedistinction between university education and collegeaspirations in higher education.His advice to hisMinisterwas that if colleges were to be removed from thedepartment, they should be allocated to regional andtechnicalinstitutionsratherthanuniversities.However,thegovernment changed and Smith and colleagues ‘decidedagainstourbetterjudgementtoformVCAHinourownway,protecting theextension servicesand short coursesof theDepartment’.178VCAH was duly constituted to take over the assets andliabilities of the six colleges of the State Department ofAgriculture. Burnley, Dookie, Gilbert Chandler,Glenormiston,Longerenong,andMcMillanweretobecomeasingleinstitution,albeitoneinfusedwiththeagro-politicallegacyofthecolleges.VCAHcoursesrangedfromin-servicetraining and short courses through TAFE diplomas andembryonichighereducationdegrees.Victoriaremainedthenation’s agricultural State and perhaps, as some argued,neededabroaderspreadofcollegesthanothers.However,theexpectationthatseparationfromthepublicserviceanda new industry advisory council would usher in a longawaited golden era with funds from the Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission (VPSEC) was not to berealized. VPSEC was initially resistant and politicalintervention was needed to quieten the matter until theVictorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture Act waspassedinDecember1982.


Luff was appointed Director of VCAH, a small complexinstitutioncompetingforTAFEandhighereducationfunds,whichthroughentrepreneurialfundinginspiredbyDeputyDirector Nigel Wood, flourished for a time. The largelyconservative VCAH had appointed the Labor-sympathizerWood in the hope of gaining access to higher educationfunding from the national Labor government. AfterWoodinvited key departmental and ministerial advisors toaccompany him on a charter flight around the ruralcampusesandescortedthemtothosearoundthecity,highereducationfundsbegantoflow.179StateVET/TAFEfundingfollowed.180Nevertheless,by‘1987CTECcontributedjust20per cent of the VCAH budget’, most of balance beingVET/TAFE or short course income.181 Then aCommonwealth policy to amalgamate institutions wasannounced and it became clear that VCAH must seek tomergewithacompatiblepartner.UniversityViceChancellorDavidPeningtonnotes, ‘DirectorsofVictorianCAEsvisitedmyofficetoexploreamalgamationduring1988and1989.Igaveeachacupofteaanddiscussedwitheachthenatureoftheircollege.Isuggestedpossibleamalgamationpartners.Isawnoreasontodisrupttheirworthwhileactivitieswhichdiffered greatly fromours, andwished themwell.’182 Thisopinionsoonchanged,andaswiththehistoryofeachofitsfoundingcolleges,thepathtoVCAH’samalgamationwiththeFacultywasnotdestinedtobesmooth.An outsider looking back from the 1990s expressed theopinion on ‘coming into Victoria for the first time I havealwaysfoundthe1984decisionbytheVictoriangovernmenttoentrenchtheCollegesystemintheformofVCAHandturntheir backs on the emerging federal CAE system with itscapital funding and engagement with postgraduateeducation was a very blind gully. Being familiar with


Hawksbury,Wagga and Gatton which diversified as CAEsandprogressedtouniversitiesthe impactsareobvious’.183But the Victorianmoodwas still verymuch one of beingdifferent,perhapsevensuperiortootherStates–anditwassuperior in terms of agricultural outputs,which needed amoreintegratedagriculturaleducationsystemtounderpinitscontinuity.

Old Agriculture: Greenhouses in System Garden for

Construction of Zoology, 1986184 Notwithstanding the challenges of the decade and theFaculty’s inadequate continuity of management, it was arelatively cosy and collegiate place for the traditionalacademics of the time. Perhaps that explains a somewhatrosyperspectivefromwithintheFacultyin1984totheeffectthatFacultygraduateswere‘spreadwidelythroughoutthecommunity’ and internationally, and publications in‘journals with an international circulation’ reflect the


Faculty’s influence ‘across theworld’.185While accurate ingeneral, the Faculty was to require a quite differentapproach to catch up to the world and for its impendingabsorptionofVCAH.


Chapter8

TransitionTimes–1990-95:Egan&White

In 1990, Adrian Egan was elected Dean for three years,whichextendedtofour,afterwhichRobertWhitefilledtheposition for 1994 and early 1995. It was a period oftransitionfromtheoldrotationalDeansandpreparationforan executive function that could implement themerger ofVCAH. Changes in the BAgrSc introduced fourth-yearelectivesand,followingearlierinitiativesatLaTrobe,digitallearning.TheviabilityofMountDerrimutinamoderncoursehadfinallybeenaddressed,andafter1987nosecond-yearstudentshadresidedthere.Excursionssubstitutedforfieldresidence,andnorealconsiderationwasgiventoareturntoDookieorLongerenong,whichbynowwerecampusesoftheVictorianCollegeofAgricultureandHorticulture(VCAH).Inthe light of recommendations to link with La TrobeUniversityandVCAH,itmighthavebeenexpectedthatthischange in the wind might have stimulated more formalinteractionswith La Trobe, but despite Faculty initiativestheUniversitywastoprovereticent.EganhadbeenappointedasChairofAnimalSciencein1982,initially jointly with the Waite Institute, to lead livestockresearchwhichalso led tohis teaching into theFacultyofVeterinary Science. His appointment had complementedthatofDavidConnorwhomovedfromLaTrobeUniversityto the Chair of Plant Science. Over the next seven yearsbefore he became Dean, Egan coordinated the animal


scientists in the Faculty to benefit from the Meat andLivestock Research and Development Corporation’ssuccessful foray into joint industry and governmentresearch funding and continued the AUIDP legacyestablishedbyCarlForsterandDerekTribe.Andseekingtowiden such beneficial coordination, he proposed joiningwith La Trobe University, the Victorian Department ofAgriculture,CSIROandtheVCAH,basedontheoldmodeloftheScottishsystemanditsanaloguesintheUSLandGrantColleges.But thiswasstymiedbycompeting interestsandconflicting advisory boards, such as that of the Centre forFarmPlanningandLandManagement(CFPLM–sometimesreferred to as the Potter Farm) which had relied onphilanthropic rather than research funds. The vestedinterests that had developed over the previous rotationalDeanperiodprecludedmuchinternalcooperation.Eganhadseen all this, having been Deputy Dean from 1986 andthoughtsuchmatterscouldbeimproved,butwhenelectedDeanin1990hewasnotexpectingthemajorchangesthatwouldresultinsuccessivereviewsandprogressiveshiftsinUniversitypolicies.186

Mt. Derrimut Field Station: 1964 to 1986187


Coincident with Egan’s assumption to Dean, theCommonwealth’s McColl Review of AgriculturalEducation188 required a response, which Connorcoordinated with Egan. Preparing these data was to be aboon to a Faculty on the brink of change, for it requiredanalysisofstudentnumbersandemployment,postgraduateandresearchnumbers,income,anddetailedcurriculumandteachingassessments.At this time, theFaculty’sminimumentrance scores for the BAgrSc exceeded those of theUniversity’s BSc, and about 40 percent of students werefemale. The draft McColl Review listed the Faculty as theState’s Recognized Provider, but as for other States withmorethanoneuniversityofferingagriculturalscience,thisrecommendationwassoftenedtoarequirementthatthoseStateseachselectoneRecognizedProviderthemselves.Bythis timetheLaTrobeSchoolwasbeginningtorelyoninputs from other Schools in their university, and despiteFaculty interests in selected teaching and researchcollaboration,detentebetweenthehighestechelonsof thetwouniversitieswasfragile.Atthesametime,preparingforthe taking over of VCAH was to become an increasingdistractionthroughoutEgan’sterm.AsaUniversitydecisionthat largely excluded the Faculty and surely did notrepresent its desires, it was assumed that absorption ofVCAH could be accomplished in the same manner as theearlier relatively smooth amalgamation of the CreswickSchool of Forestry into theFaculty.189ButCreswickwas asingle campus and there were pre-existing arrangements,which contrasted with uneven relationships between thecampuses of VCAH and the University; and even morecomplicating, the driving force was now external politicsratherthanrationalconcentrationofexpertise.


The McColl Review had studied agricultural educationwithin the requirements of the Federal Minster forEducationJohnDawkins’PolicyStatementof1988,190whichhad led to implementation aUnifiedNational System thatwasincentivizedbymoreflexibletriennialfundingalignedtoperformance. Institutionswith less than2,000 students(EFTSU) could only become eligible if they merged orestablished formal relations with a larger institution.Seeking economiesof scale, thepolicy further encouragedinstitutions with less than 5,000 EFTSU to also merge toformcomprehensiveteachingandresearchinstitutions,forwhich 8,000 EFTSU was considered a realistic target.Embeddedwithinthechangeswasageneralundertakingtowithholdincentivesfrommergerproposalsthatdiminishedservices in rural areas. VCAH’s rural presences and lowerthan therequiredstudent loadmeant that ithad toeitherseekamergerpartnerorattempttoraiseadditionalrevenuethroughothermeans.Acentury’sexperienceinformedthefive-yearoldVCAHofitslimitedopportunitiestoachievethelatter.Relying on the Dawkins White Paper Report, the 1990McColl Review considered effectiveness, relevance anddemand across the nation’s 24 institutions providingdegrees in agriculture for some 11,000 students. Itsmainrecommendations focused on; integration betweendisciplines and research organizations; flexibility inresponding to community demands; articulation acrosscourselevels;enhancedstaffcapacity;wideningofofferings,and improved postgraduate training. It suggested thatRecognizedProvidersforagricultureandrelatededucationbethosethatofferedatleastthreeofeightmajorcategoriesof study, had at least 450 EFTSU,�operated fromTAFE toPhD levels, and were part of a multi-faculty institution.


McCollalsosuggestedthatMelbourneandLaTrobeshouldseekmeanstocooperateinagriculturalscience,evengoingsofarastosuggestthattheyrationalizetheirprogramsintoonecourse.The final version of the review painted a rosy picture ofpotential collaboration thatwas notwidely sharedwithintheconcernedinstitutions.Itconcludedthat:in Victoria, the institutions of interest are La TrobeUniversity (which is amalgamating with the BendigoCollegeofAdvancedEducationfrom1January1991),theUniversity of Melbourne and the Victorian College ofAgriculture and Horticulture. Melbourne University’senrolmentsinagriculturalandrelatededucationarenotfarabovetheminimumnumberwhilethoseatLaTrobearewellbelow.Bothinstitutionsonlyoffercoursesatthefour-year and postgraduate level, and the breadth ofofferingsbyeachfacultyislimited.Ontheotherhand,theVCAHhassubstantialenrolmentsandagoodbreadthofcourses although its postgraduate education isminimaland is only just being developed. Discussions areunderwayconcerningtheamalgamationoftheUniversityof Melbourne and the VCAH. The panel considers thatthesediscussionsshouldbebroadenedtoencompassLaTrobe'sagriculturalandrelatededucationofferingswithaviewtoasingleprovideremergingintheregion.AsisthecasewithSydney,considerationofthedetailsofsucha reorganisation needs to be undertaken following in-principle acceptance that a single provider emerge.Particularly relevant to theVictoriansituationwillbeadecisiononwhereresponsibilityforTAFEcoursesshouldlieandtheimplicationsfortheindividualcampusesoftheVCAH.191


For Victoria, the most intensely agricultural state of thenation, the Dawkins and McColl reports warranted highpriority. The State had tacitly supported two universitiesofferingagriculturalsciencedegreessincetheopeningofthecourse of La Trobe University’s School of Agriculture in1968.VCAHwithminorhighereducationactivitywasseenbybothasaninnovativeandrisingplayeroperatinglargelywithin the TAFE sector. Competition between the twouniversitiesmeant that LaTrobe,while initially offering amore rigorous McClymont-influenced integrated coursethanMelbourne,192hadmorerecentlybeenconstrainedbychangesinLaTrobe’sinternalpoliciesandbyMelbourne’sgreater general popularity. Lingering MelbourneresentmentabouttheestablishmentoftheLaTrobeSchoolhad precluded deep collaboration.When VCAH came intoplayMelbourne’sinterestwasatleastinpartmotivatedbykeeping it from La Trobe.193 Vice Chancellors and theirDeputies from all extant Victorian universities passedthroughVCAH’sdoorsthroughthisperiod–allflirtingwiththe idea of amalgamation.194 Luff saw the only twopossibilities to be the universities that had agriculturalcourses – Melbourne and La Trobe – and preferredMelbournebecauseofitssize.HeconductedastrawpollofVCAH staff, most of whomwere Melbourne graduates, toconfirmthedecision.195DiscussionsthenbeganbetweentheVCAHDirector’sofficeandtheUniversity’sViceChancellor’soffice.WithintheUniversity,thismeantthattheFacultyhadrelativelylittleinputtothepreliminarydiscussionsthatsetthescene from1988andwouldeventually leadtomergerafteradecadeofangst.DeftuseofNationalPartycontactsandrobustlobbyingledtoaHeadsofAgreementbetweenVCAHandtheUniversitybeingsignedin1989.196Land,alwaysclosetotheheartsof


thoseinagriculture,ledtothefirstofmanydisagreements.TheUniversitywouldassumeVCAHliabilities if theywereaccompaniedbyitsassets,themostvaluableofwhichwereits extensive lands.TheStateTrainingBoardon theotherhand argued that Longerenong andMcMillanwithmainlyTAFE and short courses should remain Crown land. TheUniversityprevailedaftersecuringCommonwealthfundingto cover the full costs of higher education courses and asuretythattheStatewouldcovertheremainingdeficits.197Resolvingtheseandothermattersinanincreasinglyfearfulatmosphere, the University expected the merger to beeffectedbymid1992.ItwastotakefivemoreyearsduringwhichtimestaffinbothVCAHandtheFacultyweredrawnintofurtherdistractingargument.Promisestocoverdeficitcosts for the operation of VCAH facilities were soonforgotten.When affiliation – the term by nowmorphing to become‘amalgamation’–discussionsbeganinearnestin1992,theUniversityfollowedtheMcCollreviewbutignoredthesingleprovider recommendation. Rapprochement betweenMelbourneandLaTrobe,howeverlogicalitmighthavebeen,would have required different personalities at eachuniversity’s helm. More University-commissioned reportsandreviewsweretoensue.First,CappandCaroconducteda10-dayUniversityreviewofVCAHadministrationacrossallofitscampusesandseniorpersonnel and concluded that 'theUniversityhasmuch togainfromtheamalgamationwithVCAH’.Inexpressingthehope‘thatUniversitystaffwilltakeaninterestintheCollegeandmakeuseofitsfacilities’thereportimpliesthemarginalrole played by the Faculty itself in the process. ThemoresignificantGreenlandreview198wascommissionedaround


thesametimebytheUniversity,anditraisedfurtherFacultytensionswiththeUniversityadministrationfrom1992.Inseekingameanstoamalgamate,theLandGrantCollegeconceptwasvariouslyinvokedbytheGreenlandreviewandEgan and also embraced by the University as a model ofconvenience. Superficially, the concept rested on theextensive farmlands of Dookie, Longerenong, andGlenormiston as potential research sites linked throughteaching and research with the Victorian Department ofAgriculture’s facilities at Werribee, Hamilton, Horsham,Ellinbank, Kyabram, and Tatura. The dream of such self-fundingassetswasattractivetothesmallFacultythathadrecentlyshedthecostsofitsMtDerrimutresidentialyear.However, affiliation and the still distant goal of mergerrequiredhonestandopensharingof information thatwasnotalwaysforthcomingfromeithertheUniversityorVCAH,which had been structured as a company limited byguaranteeafteritwasseparatedfromtheStateDepartmentofAgriculture.Asuchalegalentity,itwasnotcompelledtoshare information,which furtherhobbledattempts for fullcooperation. Meanwhile, with the 1992 appointment ofRobert White as C.R. Roper Professorial Fellow in SoilScience, theFacultydecided tocreate,with thesupportofthe Victorian Education Foundation, postgraduate coursesinsoilscienceandsoilmanagementincollaborationwithLaTrobe, which had recognized strengths in the soilsciences.199Atthisstage,theFacultywasstillproceedingasiftheRecognizedProvideridealoftheMcCollReviewcouldbecomeareality involving the twouniversitiesandVCAH.ButtheUniversityhadnodesireforsuchintegrationwithLaTrobe.


Adrian Egan Robert White The University-commissioned Greenland Review of theFacultywastoexaminetheneedsofagricultureandrelatededucationconsequentupontheaffiliationoftheVCAHwiththe University. Noting the rapid advances in agriculturalscience and technologies, the review argued forimprovements in education to serve efficiency gains inagricultural industries, enhanced integration ofenvironmental concerns and resource conservation, and agreater focus on the Asian region as a market. Amongspecific recommendationswere a focuson food anddairyscience, a suite of offerings from TAFE throughundergraduate applied science degrees to postgraduateresearch,linkageswiththeStateDepartmentofAgricultureand the Faculty of Veterinary Science, with which it wassuggested within the University that the Faculty mightmerge. This last suggestion was quickly stymied bycompetitionamongtheanimalscientists,butlikemostlong-term objectives was to be successfully resurrected twodecadeslater.This was a period when VCAH should have beenconsolidating its new independent structure, but its


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managementwasdividedbetweenaheadofficedealingwithsuch consolidation and handling discussions with theUniversityandHeadsofCampuscontinuingtheirpaststyles.Coursesranged from in-service trainingandshortcoursesthroughTAFEdiplomasandhighereducationdegrees.LuffretiredandBarrieBardsleywasappointedVCAHDirectorin1994supportedbyCompanySecretaryandDeputyDirector,theomnipresentNigelWood,fortheimportantfinancialandmanagement matters that were to feature in theamalgamation.Atthecampuses,developmentsthroughthisperiod included, at Dookie, appointment of some morequalified staff, expansion of the degree program, andrationalizationofsomeshortcourses intoTAFEprograms.Research, never a mandated activity of VCAH or itspredecessors,developedlaterwiththeJointCentreforCropImprovement(JCCI)withtheVictorianInstituteofDrylandAgriculture, which was nominally associated withLongerenong, while Burnley and Gilbert Chandler dippedtheir toes into postgraduate,mainly coursework, degrees.Glenormiston struggled in the new VCAH world ofaccreditation and academic creep – as didMcMillan to anevengreaterextent.ThroughthesameperiodVCAH’smajorbenchmark,MarcusOldhamCollege,continueditsfocusonfarm management-cum-agribusiness and consideredoffering a focused degree course.200 Marcus OldhamPrincipalGrahamMcConnellmaintainedthecollegeethicofapracticaldiplomaratherthanadegreecourse,butby1997the intakewas only 23when total enrolmentwas around100.AcademiccreepwithinVCAHfollowedanationaltrendforcollegesthatwasevidencedalittledifferentlyinthenewMarcus Oldham course, which was a response to specificdemands from its supportive fee-paying clientele. Facultycontacts with Marcus Oldhamwere less than in the past,


especiallynow thatVCAH issuesoccupied theUniversity’sandFacultymanagement.If the University’s strategy aimed to re-establish itsdominance in agricultural science over La Trobe byabsorbing VCAH, that outcome was to be facilitated fromabout 1990 by La Trobe’s missteps. Having begun withrigouranditsuniversity’ssupport,LaTrobe’scourseunderBobReidexpandedinanorderlymannerinstudentandstaffnumbers. Its Chairs since inception had beenReid (1967-74), Ted van Stevenick (appointed 1976), John Freebairn(1977-86), Pat Carnegie (1979-87) and Tony Chisholm(appointed 1988). Despite being the new-comer and in adifficultlocation,skilfulstaffappointmentsandclosesocialengagements with students complemented an ethos ofcareful entry selection and standards that had beenestablishedbyReidfromits1968outset.201LaTrobe’sleadovertheFacultyissaidtobegunfromthatinitialintakeandtohavecontinuedthroughthe1980swhenitprogressivelybegan losing its integrity and then key staff. Some starscontinued at La Trobe through the 1990s, but overall thecourse and the School’s heyday had passed202 and theuniversity itself cared less for what had once been itsflagshipappliedscience.InthiswidercontextofVictorianagriculturaleducation,theFacultywasthelargesthighereducationplayer–yetitwasonlyvariablydominantandtheUniversity’sobjectivetoleadinallfieldswasbeingreasserted.TheFacultywasoutoftunewith the University administration, which led to someunproductiveinitiativesthatweremostlystillborn,suchasa1993UniversityproposaltostarttheBAgrScwithsecond-year students from the BSc course. Feeling thwarted andvoiceless in the University, Faculty staff pursued their


research, which strengthened the Joint Centre for CropImprovementwiththeStateDepartmentofAgricultureandshouldhavehelped theVCAHLongerenongcampushad itbeen receptive, and a joint postgraduate activity in soilscience.TheCFPLM(PotterFarm)alsosoughttoinvolvethecampusesofVCAH.Facultystaffhadlearnedtobewary–notjustofchange,butalsoofVCAH’spoliticalcloutandoftheUniversityoverridingtheFaculty’spastcosycollegiality.OlderFacultystaffnowfound decisions that they considered their business beingmadebytheUniversityadministration.TheDeanfoundhisauthority undermined at times, and though armed withhonourable educational intentions was confronted bypoliticalnecessities.Thiswasanenvironmentinwhichthecolleges and thus VCAH had been formed and was theexperience that had honed their acumen over a century.Suchcontentioustimescanbeproductiveasacademicsburythemselves in their research, and thus papers and booksflowedoutoftheFacultyandresearchincomeroseandwiththatthereputationsofsomestaff.Egan’s Deanship became complicated in isolation fromUniversity decisions, yet he continued to make hissubstantialcontributionstovariousUniversityCommittees,while maintaining a high teaching, postgraduate,postdoctoralandresearchloadinadditiontointernationaladvisory missions. Through this period, he revived aninnovation of the cadetship program that assisted inenhancingtheFaculty’sattractiontobrightstudents.Butby1993,hehadcometotherealizationthattheFacultycouldnolongerberunbyapart-timeDeanelectedbytheFacultyand endorsed by the Vice Chancellor and Council. HeconsequentlysuggestedthatthenewUniversityprocessof


aninternationalsearchforanExecutiveDeanbefollowed.Stepping down, Egan recommended Robert White act asDeanwhilethesearchwasundertaken.Eganrevertedtohisrole as Head of the Animal Production Section and soonattractedARC funding to create the JointFacility forFoodAnimalResearchatWerribee,203replacingresearchfacilitiesthathadoncebeenatMtDerrimut.Appointed by the Vice Chancellor to ‘hold the Facultytogether’ while a new Dean was sought, White took theDean’s office in 1994 after having spent two years in theFaculty. His candid summary over the 22 years since hisinitialappointmenttothepresentisan‘abidingimpressionoftheFacultybeingindisarray’.204Attributingthisstatetothe one-size-fits-all Dawkins reforms that purported toimprovethequality,diversityandequityofaccessforhighereducation, he sees the specific reform directives thatColleges of Advanced Education become universities andthatmergersoccurtoachieveexpectedeconomiesofscaleas having failed. But theUniversity justified its desires bystating that the Faculty should grasp the opportunity ‘tobecome a leading player nationally in agricultural andrelated education by amalgamating its small andunderperformingFacultyofAgricultureandForestry’withVCAH.205 To this end the University had nuanced theDawkins reform through McColl’s more specificrecommendations for agricultural education by engagingGreenland to review the Faculty as ameans of facilitatingamalgamationwithVCAHandignoringLaTrobe.Using the credibility of that ‘external’ review, a WorkingPartyoftheUniversityCouncil’sJointCommitteeonPolicyinfluenced the Council decision to create a Faculty on themodeloftheUSLandGrantCollegesinsofarasitwouldoffer


acontinuumfromshortcoursesthroughTAFEprogramstoresearch conducted in collaboration with the Statedepartments of Agriculture and Conservation andNaturalResources, and with CSIRO. The University Council dulyapproved:creationofanewFacultyofAgriculture,ForestryandHorticulture;theChairofAgriculturebeinglinkedtothepositionofDeanofthenewFaculty;creationofanewChairof Agriculture (Soil Science) to which White was to beappointed; a Chair of Pasture Science; combined degreesthat includedagriculturalscience,and formalizationof theJointCentreforCropImprovementandtheCentreforFoodScienceandEngineering.Through1994Whiteattemptedto ‘reconcile thedisparateinterestsoftheleadersofthediscipline“fiefdoms”thathadruledtheoldFaculty’inhisdualcapacityasDeanandHeadof its Department of Agriculture, which was soon to beappended by ‘and Resource Management’ after hebroadened the scope of the BAgrSc to include naturalresource management. With University support, Whiteoversaw the early retirement of several senior academicswhile increasing research activity through new youngerappointments–allseenbytheUniversityaspreparingforthe appointment of the as yet unidentified new Dean. AsEganhadfoundtohischagrin,theUniversitywasfirmlyincharge and the Faculty often found itself pushed towardsoptions it considered unacceptable, such as the potentialstreamliningofjointFacultyandVCAHadministrationbeingused as an excuse for successive attempts to remove theFaculty from Parkville to Werribee or to the VeterinaryPrecinctinFlemingtonRoad.NeithertheFacultynorVCAHwanted this or other University initiatives likemoving toDookie,whichledVCAHtoemplyitsskillstoslowprogress;a tactic employed again in 1995 when it surprised the


UniversitybyrenewingtheleaseontheVCAHofficesinEastMelbourne for threeyears –butby then therewas anewDean more used to business dealings. At the same timeWhite’s rational approach was further interrupted byattemptsbytheFaculty’sDepartmentofForestrytobeco-locatedwiththeVictorianDepartmentofConservationandNaturalResources.The University’s 1993 Working Party on Agriculture andRelated Education had disingenuously recommended thattheamalgamationbebasedon‘aresearchmanagementplaninvolvingVCAHtotheextentthatisjudgedappropriate’.206As White notes, the culture of a research-intensiveuniversity aspiring to high world rankings was alwaysincompatible with a vocational education institution with‘no remit to carry out research’.207 The fantasy waseventually abandoned in the next decanal period whenvocational courses were managed as a discrete unit.Meanwhile for higher education, ‘as [the proportion oftuition fees potentially payable by students] rose,undergraduate student numbers dwindled and minimumentrance scores declined’.208 But feesmight be seen to beonlypartofthestorywhennationalandworldwidetrendsin declining enrolments in agricultural education areconsidered,asdiscusselsewhere.TheproductoftheWorkingParty,theFacultyofAgriculture,ForestryandHorticulture,wastocomeintobeingfromtheend of 1994 with two departments – Agriculture, andForestry – and a School of VCAH. It would be the largestproviderof agriculture and related education inAustralia,operatingfromninelocations.Intheevent,thenewFacultywasdelayeduntilthenewDeancouldtakeuphisChair inearly 1995, whereupon White withdrew from


administration to lead various research programs in soil,waterandnutrientmanagementinAustraliaandoverseas.Despitethiserabeingcharacterizedbyitsmainactorsas‘allthefiefdoms,everywherethefiefdomsandnothingbutthefiefdoms’,209goodworkwenton in thetraditionof insularacademics. In hindsight we may see it as a period oftransitionbetween thatof the rotatingDeanswith limitedinfluenceandsometimesfactionalalliancesandthattocomewith an Executive Dean empowered to effect change. Thetransition was traumatic for some of the players as hasbecomecommonwithinintrigue-indulgentuniversities,butit was nevertheless a productive period in terms of bothresearch outputs and Faculty development. It forestalledwhimsicalsuggestionsthattheFacultybeclosedormergedinto Science. But like the Hydra of mythology, these andothermonstrousideaswouldreappear.


Chapter9

MergerandAcculturation–1995-99:Falvey&LeeDow

Onehundredandtenyearsafterthemaincollegeandninetysince the creation of the Faculty, the oldest and themainagriculturaleducationcomponents inVictoriawere finallytobecomeone.In1994,aDeanhadbeensecuredwithanexecutive role. Lindsay Falvey had managed a largeinternational consulting group in agriculture andengineeringfor15yearsafteradecadeinappliedresearchinAsiaandAustralia.HemettheUniversity’srequirementfor academic credibility mixed with private sector andmanagementexperience.ThisperiodoftheFaculty’shistoryis perhaps the best documented, including historicalconsideration of the University’s experience withmergers,210mentioninthememoirsoftheChancellorofthetime,211andane-bookofFalvey’sperspective.212Animosityand intransigencehadbecomeentrenchedafterpriorattempts tomerge theFacultyandVCAH.Falvey feltthemergercouldbecompletedwithinthreeyearsbywhichtime he predicted that he could well be unpopular andshouldmoveon;ViceChancellorDavidPeningtonsuggestedfiveyearsonthegroundsthatcareeracademicscanforestallchange forabout threeyears.Falveyaccepted the tenuredChairofAgriculture,andfiveyearsasDeanafteraweek-longdiscussionwithlong-termmentorDerekTribewithwhomhewasengagedonanassignment inThailandat the time.Tribe’sinductionofFalveyintoUniversitypoliticsassumed


acontinuationofhis1970’svision,whichinturnhesawascontinuingSamWadham’s.213WhileFalveysawAustralianagricultureinasimilarglobalcontexttoTribeandWadham,he also came with a private sector view that agricultureextendedfarbeyondthefarm,andthattheUniversityshouldfocusonseriousfuturefarmersandagribusiness.ThenewFacultywastobevastlylargerandwastobemanagedquitedifferentlyfromitsolderconstituents.In retrospect it is fair to say that the University grosslyunderestimated the challenge of the merger, and naivelyassumeditwouldfollowtheprocessesthathadintegratedthe Melbourne College of Advanced Education into theUniversity. However, that merger into the Faculty ofEducationhadtakenseveralyearsofplanningandgradualintegration for what was a much simpler task, since itinvolvedtwoMelbourne-basedcampusesandwasallhighereducation.Bycontrast,theVCAHmergerschedulecouldnotbeconsideredpiecemealandwascomplicatedbyTAFE/VETcoursesandtheintegrationofsixadditionalcampuses,fourof which were in rural regions. The Victorian Minister ofEducation preferred to have VCAH integrated with oneinstitution rather than fractured between perhaps morelogicalprovidersofTAFE/VET,andpreferredtheUniversityto other universities in the State.214 Given the history andthese compounding factors, the VCAH merger was nevergoing to be smooth andwould require University resolveandconsistency,bothofwhichweredestinedtofalteratkeytimes.OntheDeantakinguptheroleinearly1995,VCAHbecameanaffiliatedSchoolintheFacultybesidetheDepartmentofAgricultureandtheDepartmentofForestry.Butunhelpfulrelationshaddevelopedoverthepreviousyearsandinthe


understated terms of the 1997 Faculty history,215amalgamation‘concernsdevelopedtoalevelwhichretardedprogress’.Infact,notwithstandingattemptsofconsultationand inclusion, hostile opposition to the machinationssurrounding the proposed merger had developed withinboththeFacultyandVCAH,whicheachfeltmarginalizedtosomeextent in theprocess. ThenewDeansawthe initialtasktobeoneofconciliationtobringtheantagonisticpartiestogethersothatamergercouldbeeffected.

Lindsay Falvey Kwong Lee Dow

RecognizingthefearsofVCAHthatitssegmentofagriculturewouldbesubsumedwithintheUniversity,andthoseoftheoldFacultythatacademicstandardsandresearchwouldbediluted,Falveycanvassedkeyplayersbeforeofficiallytakingup his appointment. He also visited the most active landgrantuniversities(LGCs)intheUSAbeforeimplementinghisprogram in order to boost credibility within the vaguephilosophicalbasesbeingespousedbyboththeUniversityand VCAH. While using the LGC rhetoric for strategicpurposes, the wider context of Falvey’s approach wasAustralian agriculture in the international arena, asindicated in his inaugural professorial lecture.216


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Recognizing theneed for loyaltyandconfidentiality in theDean’soffice,hesoonappointedanewPersonalAssistant,Mary Vatsaloo, who had served him in that capacity forseveralyearsintheprivatesector.AfterloyalsupporterIanPausacker resigned from the role of General Manager tofollowhisinterests,theDeanwelcomedJanetBeardtotherolein1997;Beard,agraduateoftheFacultywithhighleveladministrative experience from La Trobe, would proveinvaluabletotheFacultyovertheensuingeightyears.Invokingauthoritytoavisionthatheencapsulatedinabooksponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation with anintroduction by theWorld Bank Vice President,217 Falvey‘worked hard to integrate the VCAH operations inpreparationfortheunified[Faculty].Fivedepartmentswerecreated, each of them working across several of thecampuses,andrequiringacumbrousmanagementstructureof faculty officers, heads of department and heads ofcampus.’218While‘cumbrous’,thiswasanegotiatedstrategyforintegrationsuchthateachdepartmentandunitincludedstaff fromboth theoldFacultyandVCAH.Some40seniormembers, drawn from each department and unit,participated in a year-long strategicplanningprocess thatacknowledgedthepresenceofMarcusOldhamandLaTrobeUniversityinthesectorandsoughttoarriveatFaculty-wideagreementofagreedstrengths–andinefficiencies.Falvey brought with him his international agriculturalcontactsandvisionaswellashisprivatesectorapproachtoweldingcooperationthrough;along-termstrategicplanningprocess,regulardinnerswithseniorcolleaguesandspouses,and honorary doctorates for senior international figuresincludingWorldBankVicePresidentIsmaelSerageldin,andthe Thai international livestock scientist Charan


Chantalakhana.HealsobroughttwoMiegunyahFellowstothe Faculty, former Deputy Director General of FAO andDirector General of a CGIAR Centre, Christian Bonte-Friedheim,andasenioragriculturaladvisorfromUSDAwhoparticularly focused on bringing the colleges closer to theFaculty.ThecollegesthatnowmadeupVCAHhadmadetokenmovestoward amalgamation. At Dookie with Peter Ryan asPrincipal,more qualified staffwere appointed, the degreeprogramwas expanded, old style courseswere subsumedinto TAFE programs and enterprisesweremanagedmorerigorouslywhilestudentnumbersdoubledto1996andstaffnumbers declined. At Longerenong with Max Coster asPrincipal, preparation for the Joint Centre for CropImprovement (JCCI) that was formalized with the Dean’sappointmentaddedtoasuiteoftrainingrangingfromfarmapprentices to postgraduate candidates; JCCIwas to bringLongerenongclosesttotheFacultyofallthecampuses,yetevenitsintegrationwasminimal.Burnley,withGregMooreas Principal, expanded its higher education courses andcommenceda limiteddoctoralprogramwhilemaintainingTAFEcoursesinhorticulture.ValPollardcontinuedtobuildGlenormiston through an Indigenous Rural EducationProgram and diverse industry courses while studentdemandwavered.AtMcMillanwithBobGrayasPrincipal,apprenticeship programs and certificates of Rural OfficePracticeandFarmChemicalUserscateredfor22,000peopleup to 1995. Gilbert Chandler Principal Joy Mannersexpanded facilities and bravely serviced short and TAFEcoursesanddoctoral candidateswithonly13staff.MooretookoverasGilbertChandlerPrincipaluntilMalcolmHickeywasappointedinajointagreementofVCAHDirectorBarrieBardsleyandtheDean.


Inaddition tobringingallparties intocommunicationandpreparing tomerge ahead of the anticipated timeline, theDeanwelcomedBardsley succeeded byHickey, as DeputyDean. Engaging industry lobbies, regional farm groups,government departments, individual colleges, VCAH headoffice, Faculty staff and the University hierarchy in thepreparations, Falvey’s energy had themerger ready to beconsummatedby1997.TherevisedParliamentaryActwaspassed in April with an effectivity date of 1 July andUniversityStatuteswereapprovedintheinterim.Thiswasayear ahead of the expected schedule. In the haste tocapitalizeonthegoodwill,someVCAHfinancialissueswereleftoutofthefinalnegotiationbysilentmutualagreement.Someoftheseweretolingerfortwodecades,oneminoroneconcerningunclaimedfundsfromadefunctprivatearmofVCAHwasonlytidiedupthroughthecontinuinggoodwillofsome Faculty retiree members of the Society of OldAgriculture Fellows (OAFs).219 VCAH also brought back totheFaculty its longestservingprofessional, JeffTopp,whowas valued as the Faculty’s institutionalmemory since hehadvariouslyworked in theFacultyandVCAHinacareerthatwastospan33years.IndustryrepresentativesontheVCAHCouncilhadfearedaloss of identity in the Faculty, which was addressed by aUniversity statute allowing the Faculty to trade as theInstitute of Land and FoodResources (ILFR), a name thatencapsulateditsconstituentcomponents.TheVCAHCouncil,whichwas to becomedefunct uponmerger, also requiredthat their function continue in an advisory council of theFaculty,suchthatthecommitteeknownas‘thefaculty’washenceforth referred toas aBoardwithexternalmembers.FalveyattemptedtoguidetheBoardinacorporatemannerto formulatepolicyconsistentwiththeobjectivesthathad


smoothlyledtothemerger,althoughitsoonbecameevidentthat the Board had insufficient appreciation of thefunctioning and responsibilities of a University or of thefinancialsituationofVCAHthathadbeenimpendingbeforemerger. When some members engaged in unnecessarypoliticalintrigues,theBoardceasedtobeconstructiveandunsettledtheFaculty.TheFacultynowincludedmorethan400staffacrossitsninelocationsandsome7,000haoflandcontributingtoinformal,vocationalandhighereducationsectors. Itwasthe largestagriculturaleducationfacultyinAustraliabyfarintermsofacademic staff, professional staff, budget, campuses andland. Its goal to lead internationally in fields of localrelevance was implemented through new strategicprofessorial appointments jointly funded with the StateDepartment, CSIROor industry. Falveymet regularlywiththeStateDepartmentasitsoughttorelocatekeyscientificexpertise,whichsawsixnewjointly-fundedChairscreatedin the Faculty and focused attention on pasture-baseddairying,milkprocessing,grains,oilseeds,forestindustries,amenity horticulture, resource management andagribusiness.ResearchincreasedapacethroughsuchentitiesastheCRCforHardwood Fibre and Paper Science, theMohan Singh-PremBhallamolecular biology laboratory, RobertWhite’ssoilsgroupandtheJCCI,amongothers.ButtheFacultywasrunningindeficit,mainlyasaresultofliabilitiesinheritedinthe merger. Functions such as campus catering wereprivatized and entrepreneurial use of Faculty assets wasplaced in the hands of Nigel Wood, now appointed asDirector Enterprise Development; in this capacity he alsoassembledasoundoutlineforaMasterinAgribusinessthat


allowedfundingtobeattractedfromtheNationalAustraliaBankandwastogrowtobecomeoneoftheFaculty’smostsuccessfulcourses.AssociateDean for Research andGraduate StudiesAdrianEgan structured funds ‘allocated from theVCAHCompanyspecificallyforVCAHstafftobuildaresearchcapability.Theattemptstoapplythosefundsonthebasesofbothmeritandencouragement to adopt a research culture were greatlysupportedbyFrankLarkinsas[DeputyViceChancellorforResearch]andhisstaff.Itworkedwellforsomebut,inallbutacoupleofcases,gettingoffthegrounddidnottranslatetoa foot on the ladder to gaining contestable funds in theresearchgrantsarena.FortheseasonedresearchersintheFaculty much of the research had historically requiredstrong affiliations with external collaborators in theVictorian Department of Agriculture (however titled atvarioustimes)andDivisionsofCSIRO.’220Falveyhadengagedinanexhaustingroundofconsultationswith rural constituencies and industry bodies, whichincludedreferencetotheneedtorationalizetheFacultytobetter service future agricultural and agribusiness needs.One special briefing of the assembled National PartymemberswasconductedintheVictorianParliamentHousejointlywiththeViceChancellorAlanGilbert.Falveyenjoyeda close working relationship with Gilbert, the ‘doyen ofeconomicrationalistvicechancellors’,221whowasengagedinvisionaryexpansionoftheUniversity’sinfluenceandland,and creation of a private university arm among otherventures.Theaimoftheconsultations,especiallythosewithpoliticians,wastoforestall thetypeofregionalbacklashesexperiencedinthepast,whichwasespeciallyimportanttoGilbert while he nursed relations with Spring Street in


support of his grand initiatives. This sensitivity to SpringStreetwastoprovetheAchillesheelfortheFacultywhentheDeanandDeputylaterpresentedtheViceChancellorwithabudgetmanagementscenario.ThewayforwardwasclearinFalvey’smind–hesawthatmuchVET/TAFEwasvaluable,butnotallofit,whichofferedopportunitiestoshiftresourcestowheretheywereneeded–inhisviewitwasacaseofagriculturaleducationhavingstrayed from the dictum that ‘learningwithout thought islabour lost; thought without learning is perilous’.222 Heworkedwiththestaffthroughaplanthatrequiredreductionof duplicative andmarginal areas in order to support thenewFaculty’sfocusonthemajorneedsoffutureagricultureinsouth-easternAustralia.Hiswork-planindicatedhownewprofessorial appointments were made to lead the focusareas,whichweretobepaidforbysomestaffreductionsinother areas and by jointly-funded appointments withgovernment and industry, as presented in the followingTable.Among various developments at the time, one example isprobably sufficient to demonstrate the modernizationactionsthattypifiedthisperiod.TheAnimalWelfareScienceCentre – initially chaired by Falvey – arose from such apartnership with the State Department providing jointfunding for Paul Hemsworth and including MonashUniversity.TheCentrewastogrowoverthenext20yearsinto a global centre uniting researchers from the US andEurope producing world-leading practical outcomes thathave transformed government and industry and informedthepublic.


SuchanapproachwastocreatethecoreofAustralia’smajoragricultural education hub. With the merger legislated,actionon theplanwas tobegin in1998.But resistance tochangegrewfromMarch1998,beginningwithruralpressarticles, concerned phone calls and letters. Concoctedfictions for questions in Parliament impugning the Dean’spersonalintegrity,abusivephonecalls(‘weknowwhereyoulive’), vitriolic libel in letters and outrageous publicdisloyaltytotheFacultybysomeex-VCAHstafffollowed.223ThecoordinatedcampaignsexceededtheFaculty’sandtheUniversity’s ability to respond beyond generic factual

Academic area Professor Name Funding Campus Dean’s Office Dean: Chair of Agriculture Lindsay Falvey Trust 1- 2.5 yr P Dep Dean: Fellow-Food Malcom Hickey DNRE in part P Animal Production Animal Science: Chair Adrian Egan ILFR P Dairy Science: Chair David Chapman Trust 1 1999 P Dairy Science: Fellow Jock McMillan 0.5 Vet Sci W Dairy Genetics: Fellow Mike Goddard 0.5 VIAS P/VIAS Animal Welfare: Fellow Paul Hemsworth 0.5 VIAS P/VIAS Crop Production Crop Agronomy: Chair David Connor ILFR P (L) Crop Science: Chair Roger Cousens ILFR P Crop Production: Fellow Jim Kollmorgen 0.5 NRE L Resource Man & Hort Food Horticulture: Chair Snow Barlow 0.6 NRE P (D) Soil Science: Chair Robert White Trust 2 P Food Sci and Agribus Agribusiness: Chair Ellen Goddard 0.5 NAB P Food Science: Chair Margaret Britz NRE GC Food Science: Fellow Alan Hillier CSIRO GC Forestry Forestry: Chair Ian Ferguson ILFR P Forest Industries: Chair Peter Vinden ILFR C

B = Burnley; C = Creswick; D = Dookie; GC = Gilbert Chandler; L = Longerenong; P = Parkville; VIAS = Victorian Institute of Animal Science, Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE); Trust 1 = Rowden White; Trust 2 = Rowden White; NAB = National Australia Bank


statements.Itwasanunnecessarilydebilitatingtime,fuelledbymisinformationandvestedintereststhatwas,soonerorlater,goingtobackfire.Thiseventuallyoccurredafter2004whenthesameoldtacticswereagainemployed.

Ellen Goddard Margaret Britz

Among the new senior posts were the first two womenappointed to chairs in the Faculty, Ellen Goddard(Agribusiness) and Margaret Britz (Food Science). Staffduplicationsarisingfromthemergerweretobeaddressedonamanagedschedulethatwouldbalancetheoperationalbudgetwhile theduplicationsandcapitalcost liabilitiesofrural campuses required shedding of unproductive units.Falvey,HickeyandBeardworkedtorationalizeduplicationand unproductive activities, while Wood designed newincome streams. But smooth implementation wasinterrupted by a resurgence of the colleges engagingregionalpoliticiansandtheruralpressinmisinformation224thatwas only partiallymollified by theDean’s and seniorstaff’s tedious visits. One of these visits included theChancellorSirEdwardWoodwardwhohadbeenprevailedupontoofficiateatLongerenong’sgraduationceremony;heand the Dean took the opportunity to meet with local

23/01/2017 Goddard.JPG (127×173)

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representativeswhohadjoinedvoiceagainsttheUniversity.Woodwardinterpretedsuchreactionsas‘outrage,withthecountry towns affected up in arms, bitter attacks on theuniversitybyMembersofParliament,andadelugeoflettersto newspapers and directed to the university claiming, ineffect,thattheuniversitywastryingtosiphonmoneyofftothecityfromwhathadbeenaprofitableruralenterprise’.225

Malcolm Hickey Nigel Wood

Infact,thatLongerenongreactionwasparforthecoursebutwas a form of Victorian agro-political intervention withwhichtheUniversityandtheChancellorwerenotfamiliar.Falveyrecalledthataftersuchapparentlyhostilemeetingsitwasnotunusualforalocalleadertoprivatelyassurehiminearthyagriculturalstylethat‘youknowwehavetosaythis,butyouknowus,it’sjustwords’–anditmostlywas.226Thereal resistance was within some underperforming ruralcampuses.ItwasinevitablethattheUniversitywouldceasesubsidizingfailingruralcampusesandduplicativestaff,butthe process was to be delayed. Concerned with SpringStreet’scomfort,theUniversityonlysupportedtheFacultyto make some minor changes and then issued anunnecessarypublicassuranceofnon-actionontheplan.But


as a University history indicates, the ‘concessions did notallaytheanxietiesofsomeruralcampusesthattheywouldbe diverted from their mission, anxieties magnified as itbecame clear that the expenditure needed to remedy abacklog ofmaintenancewould create heavy losses.…Theundertaking given casually by Penington’s successor, AlanGilbert,thattherewouldbenoclosureofruralcampuses,noreductioninTAFEprogramsandnomovementofstaffmadetheDean’spositionimpossible.’227AcriticalanalysisoftheFaculty’sintegrationwithVCAHtocreate a total of eight campuses identifies low studentdemandasa‘stumblingblock’fromtheoutset.228Itwas,butFalveyalsosawbenefitsinsuchalargeanddiverseFacultyin serving the essence of agricultural science while beingabletostaveoffunwantedinterventionsfromtheUniversityandrecalcitrantsectorsoffarming.Theoverallstrategywasforestalledin1999bytheViceChancellor’srejectionoftheDean’sandDeputy’sprivateadvicetocloseoneoftheruralcampuses.Inameetingimmediatelyfollowingthatdecision,FalveyemphasizedtoGilberthisadvicethatthedecisionnotto proceedwas strategicallywrong andwould lead to hisresignation – it was ‘not in the long-term interest ofagricultural education or rural communities’.229 A shortstandoffbroughtnoactionandFalveyconfirmedhewouldresign as Dean under certain conditions; Gilbertacknowledgedthat‘weshouldhavegraspednettle’and‘nexttimeweaddress thismatterwewillnotblink’.230But thisproved not to be the case either. As Woodward laterobserved, ‘I was not surprised when the same problemsresurfacedin2004’,231andintheinterimtheUniversityhadconsistentlyfailedtounderstandtheruralcommunity.


The conditions Falvey set for his departure includedcontinuing as Dean until other key elements of hisrationalizationcouldberenderedasirreversibleaspossible.He left a structure that carried the Faculty forward withMalcolm Hickey as overall Deputy Dean, Val Pollard asDeputy Dean VET, Ellen Goddard as Associate DeanCoursework,DavidConnorasAssociateDeanInternationalandAdrian Egan as AssociateDeanResearch. Therewerefive departments supplying both higher education andTAFE/VETeducation,namely:AnimalProductionheadedbyEgan;CropProductionheadedbyRogerCousens;ResourceManagement and Horticulture headed by Snow Barlow;Food Science and Agribusiness headed byMargaret Britz,and Forestry headed by Ian Ferguson. This cumbrousstructure232hadassistedandbedded-downthemergerandwas due for streamlining by staff reductions in 1999 inFalvey’splan.Officially ending his term in mid 1999, Falvey listed themilestones of his more than four years as Dean at hisfarewelldinneras:233mergingaheadofschedule;strategicplanning to gain consensus; international and researchprofiles; incremental industryandgovernmentfundingforjoint chairs; an integrated curriculum; rationalizedvocational education, and a corporate approach tomanagement. His later analysis saw these as significantaccomplishments that required continued rationalmanagement that might be squandered by a lack ofUniversity awareness of what was needed to be a worldleader in agricultural science.234 Contrary to one report235these initiatives were not reversed although therationalizingofruralcollegeswastowaitanothersixyears.Retaining his Chair of Agriculture until 2005, Falveyreturned to global and advanced agriculture among other


later roles as Chair of the Board of the InternationalLivestock Research Institute, in some ways mirroring hismentorTribe’spath.TheperiodofmergerwasawatershedfortheFaculty.Thetwomain providers of agricultural education in themainagricultural State had combined; theweakening La TrobeUniversity course, theprivateMarcusOldhamCollegeandmiscellaneouscoursesbydisparateTAFEcollegesweretheother minor providers. Rationalization should haveoccurreddecades, perhaps even a century earlier – and itwasagriculture’sillfortunethattheopportunityaroseatatimewhentheUniversitydidnotvalueagriculturalscienceashighlyasitdidthemorecurrentlyprestigiousfaculties.IthadearliersoughttoclosetheoldFaculty,enteredintothemerger with VCAH partly to thwart La Trobe and wasconcernedwithenhancingitsglobalimageinamannerthatundervalued contributions from agricultural science. TheFacultynowneededcaring leadership throughaperiodofwaiting for the inevitable rationalization.As it turnedout,rationalizing would be further delayed while the settlingleadership came with the longest serving Dean in theUniversity and future Vice Chancellor, Kwong Lee Dow,assumingtheDeanshipfrommid1999.Through this period, the other agricultural educationprovidersofnote,LaTrobeUniversityandMarcusOldham,had made their own adjustments to the changingenvironment.Itmayhavebeenclearertosuchoutsidersthatthe demise of the rural colleges, and in particularDookie,had begun in the 1960s expansion of higher educationthrough the creation of new universities – particularly LaTrobewithitsagriculturalsciencecourse.Dookie’sstreamofcapableadventurouscitystudentswhohadmissedouton


auniversityplacenowevaporatedastheyenteredLaTrobe.Thefee-chargingMarcusOldhamCollege,whichhadthrivedwithinitsmarketmaintainedapracticaldiplomaratherthanadegreecourse,butby1997theintakewasonly23.Aftersome shorter-term Heads at Marcus Oldham, Dookie’sDeputyHeadofCampusGregBrinsmeadwasappointedforthe period 1998 to 2002,whichmany saw as a tribute toboth Dookie and Marcus Oldham. Meanwhile, La Trobe’scoursewasincreasinglyservicedbystafffromotherpartsoftheuniversityasstaffleftvoluntarilyandotherwiseandtheSchoolceasedtobeamanagemententity.KwongLeeDowoccupiedtheDean’sofficefromJune1999toMarch2000.Histenurewascharacterizedbybuildingafaculty spirit that would facilitate an incoming Dean andappeasesomeofthemorestridentvoiceswhohadelectedtousetheFacultyandtheUniversityasavehicleforpersonalpoliticalpurposes.LikeeachDean fromthe1990s,hewasconfronted by misreporting in the rural press and livelyruralmeetings.Evercalminthefaceofcriticism,LeeDowbecame the face of the University outside Melbourne,strategicallymentioning his Shepparton roots to establishregional authority. During his nine months as Dean, theFacultyfinancescontinuedtodominateinternalUniversitydiscussions,andwiththemanagementexpertiseofGeneralManagerJanetBeardandDeputyDeanMalcolmHickey,theperiod produced increased understanding across theinstitution.ButhavinglongbeenDeanofEducationthrougha period of low enrolments and low entrance scores, LeeDow was alert to the same trend for agricultural, food,forestry and horticulture courses. Without expressing itpublically,hebecamequicklyawarethatruralcampusesandVET/TAFE were the central issues for rationalizing theFaculty;healsoknewthattheUniversityremainedsensitive


toitspublicimageandwasunlikelytoaddresstheseissuesquickly.ThiswastobemandateofthenewDean,thesearchforwhomhadintimatelyinvolvedLeeDow.ThechoicewasBob Richardson, whose accomplished dispersal of thenation’swoolstockpilewaswellknown.LeeDowcontinuedinhissubstantiveroleofDeputyViceChancellor,andlaterbecameViceChancellorafterAlanGilbertlefttheUniversity.



Chapter10

Rationalizing–2000-06:Richardson,Larkins&Slocombe

Vice Chancellor AlanGilbert’s response to criticism of theUniversity’spoorruralpresencewastoseekaregionthatLaTrobe, Deakin, Monash and Ballarat universities had notclaimed. He therefore created the Goulburn ValleyUniversityCentreinSheppartonandattemptedtolocatethenewDeanof theFaculty there,with the additional title ofAssistantViceChancellorRegional.TheFacultyofMedicinehadalsobeenencouragedtoopenafacilityattheCentreand,foratime,dreamsofsomethinglargerwereentertained.236BobRichardsonbeganasDeanoftheFacultyinApril2000,rejectingtheSheppartonlocation,andinitiallyretainingthefiveDepartmentFacultystructureestablishedin1997.TheUniversityhaving forestalledthe initialrationalisation, theonlyway the structure could be supportedwas by higherstudent numbers. Declining enrolments, finances and theVET/TAFEissueweretodefineRichardson’stenure.Bob Richardson was a different type of Dean to LindsayFalvey;hetookprideinbeingknownasarationaleconomistwhohadanappetitefordetail.Hewasapracticingfarmer,with farmer’s hands and demeanour, which won himcredibility across rural areas. Having been CEO of WoolInternationalwherehesalvagedthebestoutcomepossiblefrom the collapsed wool price stabilization scheme, hebrought a diligent administrative approach to the Facultyandwassoontoadvocatetherationalizationthathadbeen


thwartedin1999.237Hisfirstyearwentsmoothlyallowinghimtonegotiateanextra$1millionfromtheUniversitytosupport marketing of courses in the hope of stimulatingenrolments.WorkingwellwithhisseniorcolleaguesintheDean’soffice,hishardlineonsomefinancialandacademicmattersoccasionallycausedthemto‘rolltheireyes’.238But the trigger that exacerbated other issueswas studentnumbers,whichhadpeakedback in1997, the yearof themerger.By2000whenRichardsonwasappointed,numberswerebelowthecombinedtotaloftheoldFacultyandVCAHin1994asthefollowingTableindicates.ItwasevidentthatthedeclinethathadbeguninVCAHenrolmentspre-mergerwascontinuingandthatthiswaspartofageneraltrendinagriculturaleducationaroundthecountryandbeyond.Thecontinuinghighcostbaseimposedbynotallowingstaffandcampus reductions combined with declining studentnumbers catalysed Faculty deficits,which should have setthesceneforRichardson’srationaleconomicapproach.Total Student Numbers: Faculty & VCAH 1994 to 2000239

(1997 merger means that from 1998 figures are combined) Year 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 Pre-merger Faculty 556 604 626 695 Pre-merger VCAH 1500 1551 1498 1404 Total 1960 2102 2177 2195 2113 1970 1885 RichardsonsawhecouldrestructuretheFacultyandbalancethebudgetbyreducingstaffnumbersby53between2001and2003.By2002,ViceChancellorGilbert acknowledgedthathemayhaveoversoldhisGoulburnValleyInitiativeandraised unrealistic expectations in rural areas, and thatDookie and Burnley higher education courses mustchange.240 This was in response to Richardson having


advised ‘the eight campusmodel can never be financiallyviable’.241Atthesametime,heinformedtheUniversitythat‘the pretence that the Board has a governance role isincreasinglyembarrassing’.HesawtheBoardashavinganadvisoryroleininteractionwiththeexternalenvironment,which mainly concerned VET/TAFE. But it was to take achangeofpersonalitiesandpublicconcernin2004untiltheBoardengagedinitsrole.The professoriate designed by his predecessor to build anew Faculty began to erode with resignations, while aconsultative process with industry and regionalcommunitieshighlightedthatnoneofthecampusesreliantonVET/TAFEcouldbeviablewithoutnewcourseofferingssupported by a marketing campaign, and reduced costs.RichardsonsoughttograduallydifferentiatethefunctionsofcampusessothatLongerenong,GlenormistonandMcMillanwould become VET/TAFE-only campuses while ParkvilleandDookiewouldbesolelyhighereducation,withParkvillerepresenting most of the Faculty’s research, research-trainingandprofessoriate.Theother campuses–Burnley,CreswickandGilbertChandler–wouldbemaintainedasamixofhighereducationandVET/TAFEwithintheirspecificareasofexpertise.Heconsolidatedhisfirstroundofchangesin the 2002 creation of three Schools; Agriculture& FoodSystems,Forestry&ResourceManagementandVocationalEducation & Training in place of the five academicdepartments.HeappointedtwoAssociateDeans,SteveReadandDavidChapman;threeHeadsofSchools,SnowBarlow,Roger Cousens and Val Pollard; six Heads of Campuses,GavinDrew(Longerenong),DougMaclean(Glenormiston),SylviaVagg(McMillan),RogerWrigley(Dookie),LeonBren(Creswick)andGregMoore(Burnley).Hethenfocussedoncostreductionsandmeansoffurtherstaunchingthebudget


haemorrhage at a pace that some staff considered harshwhileViceChancellorGilbertsawitasmuchtooslow.242In thisenvironment, successeswereoverlooked, includingsuch initiatives as: a new BAnimScMgmt; an upgradedBFoodSc; a GradDip and GradCert in Wine Science, andalmost meeting the agreed student:staff ratio of 13.5 onaverage despite continuing low ratios at Dookie, GilbertChandler,CreswickandBurnley.MaintainingthatUniversityexpectations do ‘not reflect the crisis-managementenvironment’ in which he was operating, Richardsondescribedhistimeasmostlyoccupiedby‘problemsoffarms,forestry, regional political expectations and culturaldifferences between former University of Melbourne andformerVCAHstaff’.243Hissuccessininitialstaffreductionsandrestructuringalsoresultedincriticismin360-surveysofhis leadership andmanagement in successive years244 – afactormoreeasilyoverlookedforhispredecessorsbutnowfactoredintoperformanceappraisalsandsanctions.Itwasthese staff attitudes that were to undermine his strategywhen he initiated the next logical step of reducing theaccumulatinglossesinVET/TAFE.After2002,itbecameevidentthattheUniversity’s–Gilbert’s–expectationsoftheDeanwereunachievable.Whilenotingthat the task ‘must sometimes seem like a missionimpossible’,theViceChancellorcontinuedtocriticize; lackofprogress in increasing studentdemandand in reducinginefficienciesinheritedfromthemerger,failuretointroducebusiness courses at Dookie, and communication issues.245TheensuingexchangeeventuallyledtotheViceChancellorsuggestinginwordsreminiscentof1999that‘thismightbetheyearinwhichweshouldgraspthat[problemofmultiplecampuses] nettle’.246 Richardson outlined an approach of


concentratingVET/TAFEatonesiteandseekingco-userstocover the operating costs of the campuses losing thesecourses.247 He also predicted that the Board, despite itsmarginal activity,would be an added risk in the expectedpublicreactions.Notwithstandinghisfocusonfinances,Richardson’sprivatenotesquestionedtheUniversity’sshort-termfinancialfocus,whichhesawasconflictingwithitsqualityobjectives–‘howimportant is it that we get the deficit down further? Wereally need to be spending $0.5-1.0millionper annumoninfrastructure to be quality providers in the future’.248 Hecommissioned Craig Pearson to conduct an independentreview of the Faculty, which confirmed Facultymanagement’sviews.249Soonafter,RichardsonpresentedaFacultyrestructuringproposaltotheUniversity’sPlanningandBudgetCommitteeinwhichhedefinedthe‘continuingchallenges’in2004as:‘aninabilitytogrowhighereducationenrolmentsandresearchatDookie;thecontinuinglegacyofno-research staff in higher education; lack of demand forcampus-basedfull timeVETcoursesatregionalcampuses;and difficulty in expanding the fee-for-service income ofregionalcampusessufficientlyortodiversifytheiractivitiesin other ways.’ Without specifying detail, the proposalimplied that Glenormiston, Longerenong and McMillanwould lose programs and staff to Dookie andwould seekjointarrangementswithlocalTAFEinstituteswhilesome30morestaffwouldbeshedin2006.250TheUniversityCouncilacceptedtheproposal.AdvisedbyPegasusCommunications,Richardsonembarkedon regional consultations as the first step towardimplementing these changes, enjoying some productivemeetingswith the Southwest TAFE, University of Ballarat


and Gippsland TAFE.251 Having invested himself in thechange process as the University spokesperson, he wasinfuriated by key VET/TAFE Faculty staff joining publicoppositioninregionalmeetingsandonradio.252Hisrapportwiththefarmingcommunitydissolved.Farmergroupsandregionalauthoritiesregisteredtheirdissatisfactionwithhisstrategy for the rural campuses, albeit inmore restrainedtermsthanthesamepartieshadusedintheirattacksoffiveyearsearlier.However,theywerestridentandill-informedinanycase,suchasthestatementof ‘absolutedisgustandstrongestpossibleobjection to thearbitraryactionsof theDean and the Faculty of the University of Melbourne inclosingregionalagriculturalcampusesacrossVictoria’.253Events came to a head near the end of 2004. A paperpreparedfortheUniversityCouncilincludedreferencetoapreliminaryreportofPhillipsKPAconsultantsandjustifiedreconsideration of its decision after receiving Ministerialadvicethat‘theUniversitywouldnotbeallowedtore-directexisting VET programs away from existing regionalallocations’.254Theconsultants’draftreportwasapparentlyleaked including its summaryof theFaculty’sproposal ‘toprogressively transfer from 2005 all full-time TAFEDiplomas and Advanced Diplomas currently offered atGlenormiston,Longerenong,McMillanandGilbertChandlercampusestoDookie’.255On the key issues of VET/TAFE and underperformingcampuses, Richardson challenged the consultants’conclusionthatthedispersedVET/TAFEapproachcouldbeviableiftheUniversityleviedthesame28percentofhighereducation income toward overheads rather than only fivepercent.Hisfinalcommentwasthat‘anoptionofseparatingVET/TAFEactivitiesoutoftheFacultycompletelyshouldbe


developed. If it and its campuses are as successful as [theconsultants]nowclaimthenitwillbeabletostandalone.’256HesawsuchaproposalwouldseparateVET/TAFEintoanInstitute outside the Faculty for which the Board would‘logically become the Advisory Board’.257 Then theUniversityCouncil repeated the1999historybyreversingitsdecision.Byitself,robustevenill-informedruralcriticismwas understood by Richardson as part of the culturalenvironment,buthisprivatecorrespondenceindicatesthatthedeviousdisloyaltyofsomeFacultystaffcombinedwiththeUniversity’srecantingofitsagreementinthemidstofitsimplementation,affectedhimpersonally.

Bob Richardson Frank Larkins Ron Slocombe Amidstrisingangst,theDeansubmittedhisresignationfromallcapacitiesattheUniversityonNovember8,effectivelyasa protest against its unwillingness to act. The modifiedconsultants’ report,258 submitted after Richardson hadresigned, appears to consider the optionof theUniversityexiting VET/TAFE and paints a scenario that one feelsRichardson might have accepted had the Universitymaintained its resolve. Before the University’s change ofheart,RichardsonhadintendedtoresigninMarch2005withthe rationalization process set in place. Vice Chancellor


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Kwong Lee Dow had earlier asked him to remain untilSeptember2005,buthecouldno longeragreetodoso.259With his resignation, the nowanomalousBoard convenedand‘acceptedtheviewthatitwasnolongerpossiblefortheDeantomanageandleadtheFacultyafterthereversalofapolicyapproachhehadadvocatedpublicallyandwhichhadbeen strongly publically opposed by so many [Faculty]campusesandotherstaff.’260Thissomewhatdisingenuousstatement from a disengaged Board that had a history ofcomplicating difficult change environments stimulatedRichardson’squestiononhisnotesfromthemeeting,‘whatisthefutureroleoftheBoard?’.Suchcommentaryneednotbeseenassourgrapes,forhisprivatenotesindicateastrongprofessionalapproachbeingmaintaineduntilhisfinaldayinJanuary2005.TheViceChancellorthrough2004wasKwongLeeDowwhohad been Dean for the months between Falvey andRichardsonand consequentlyknew the issues.He lenthisauthority to correcting the media’s favourite jibes ofunconsidered‘axing’ofstaffand‘closing’ofcampuses.Hesetthesceneforthelong-stalledyetinevitablerationalizationoftheFacultywhenwithcharacteristicdiplomacyhetoldthemedia that, ‘using deficit funding to maintain full-servicecampuseswith replicated infrastructure isdiverting fundsfrom teaching and research in [the Faculty] and in theUniversity. Over the past five years, the University hascontributed$15milliontothe[Faculty]budgettocoveranannualdeficitwhichhasnowbeguntorisesignificantly.…while[theFaculty]willremainamulti-sitecampuswemustconsider whether it can support a number of separate,replicated full-service campuses inagricultureandrelatededucationorjustone–asisthecaseinagriculture-relatedfacultiesinotherAustralianuniversities.’261


OneinterestingoutcomeofthefurorewasaproposalfromtheGoulburnOvens InstituteofTAFE,nowheadedby theerstwhile Dookie Head of Campus, Peter Ryan.262 Theproposalwas for thecreationof theVictorianAgriculturalIndustries Specialist Centre, which built on both hisInstitute’s capacity and Ryan’s own knowledge of theagricultural, food and horticultural VET/TAFE sector.EchoesofVCAHreverberatedacrosspartsoftheFaculty–ifthe proposal had gained momentum, history might againhavebeenrepeated.TheUniversityCouncil’sdecisionbecameinterpretedasoneof delay rather than abandonment of the rationalizingprocess,buttheircredibilitywithintheFacultywaslow,andso morale sank further. While consistent with the 1908Cambridge parody of universities’ decision-makingdescribedinMicrocosmographiaAcademica,263theCouncil’srecanting was publically painted as a vindication of ruralover urban values in the country campus catchments.Fanciesofruralhighereducationstudentsflockingtoruralcampusessoonprovedfalsewhentheyappearedasmainlymediocre VET/TAFE applications. Those unfamiliar withuniversities read different meaning into such rural pressquotesfromastaffmemberas,‘itmeansstudentsinterestedinagriculturecancontinuetheirstudiesandstillbearoundtoworkonthefamilyfarm’.264Thetime-warpofthecollegespersisted.Around this time, a peripheral debate about agriculturalscience education around Australia focussed on decliningstudentintakesasasymptomofcoursesbeingoutoftouch.With themarket-drivenmodel of higher educationhavingcome into vogue such logic appealed to many. Informedspokespersons were dismissed as having vested interests


whentheysuggestedthatamajordriverwasariseinurbanignoranceof theeconomicandsocialroleofagriculture inAustralia.Merginginstitutionswasagainsuggested,aswasa review of the agricultural education sector.265 SuchrhetoricwasonesourceofthestrengththeUniversityfinallyfound to rationalise its agricultural education. HighereducationwastheUniversity’sstrengthandVET/TAFEwasbeyond its competence. This realization was to allow thelong-delayed shedding of non-higher education campusesand associated staff, but the 1990s opportunity to shiftresources from duplicative and low performing areas tothosethatwouldservefutureagricultureandagribusinesshadbeenlost.Part of the direction that Deans had been heading since1995, which was to be finally accomplished in 2006,acknowledged that VET/TAFE compromised the highereducationgoalsoftheFaculty.Richardsonresignedstatingpublicallythathis‘positionhadbecomeuntenableaftertheuniversity overruled his plans’ and unwittingly echoedFalvey’swordsofhalfadecadeearlierwhenhesaidthattheUniversity’s decisionwas ‘not in the long-term interest ofruralcommunities’.266RichardsonhadadvancedtheFacultytowardsitsrecoveryandinrenamingittheFacultyofLandandFoodResources,hehaddiluted influences fromVCAHandtheBoardthatdidnotfullyappreciatethedemandsofhighereducation.Richardsondiedin2008,aged64.267ThelegacyofGilbert’s1999decision,reiteratedin2004,toretainalloftheoldVCAHcampusesandstaffhadkepttheFacultyinfinancialdifficultydespiteRichardson’seffortstotightlymanagethebudget.UponRichardson’sresignationin2005,FrankLarkinswasappointedDeanonthebasisofhislong experience inworkingwith variousDeans asDeputy


Vice Chancellor (Research), a post he continued to holdwhile Dean. This dual responsibility assisted in therestructuringthatwasnowtotakeplace,atlastwiththeViceChancellor’sandUniversityCouncil’sendorsement.LarkinscametotheFacultywithabrieftorepositiontheFacultytobeacademicallysound,regionallyacceptableandfinanciallysustainable.268 Retired Deputy Dean Malcolm Hickey wasbroughtback‘through2005asHeadoftheSchoolofForestand Ecosystem Science to oversee governance changes atCreswickandtocompletethedifficultmergerofUniversityand State Department of Sustainability and EnvironmentstaffandresourcesatCreswick,ParkvilleandHeidelberg’.269FromthisandearlierexperienceswiththeStateDepartmentreorganisationsandmergers,theVCAHandwithitsmergerintotheoldFacultyandafterretirementbeingaskedtosortoutmerger issues related to Forestry, Hickey discerned atheme.‘Acrossthecampuses,especiallythebuildings,farms,pilotfactoryandresidences,[therewas]acommonthreadand that was poor due diligence’. This led to ‘missedopportunitiestoidentifyandthereforecostandbudgetfortheseandtheassociatedOH&Sissuesthatwereclearlythere[beforehand]’.ThiswasnottosaythattheUniversitydidnotconductduediligence, but rather than such investigationswerebiasedtoacademicratherthanbusinessmanagementprinciples. He noted that such ‘information would havemodifiedbehaviouronbothsides’,andpresumablyeffectedsmootheroperationalenvironmentsforallparties.270Using strategic planning and stakeholder consultations,Larkinsdevelopedprofilesofregionalindustriesatthesametime as confirming the major causes of ongoing deficitbudgets. He then evaluated management of each of theFaculty’s eight campuses in terms of their capacity tooperate within a new budget model that could align the


FacultywiththeUniversity’soverallplantodeliverworld-classoutcomes.Atthistime, theFacultywasstill tryingtomanage the farmlands of Dookie, Longerenong andGlenormiston, and the residential facilities at Creswick,Dookie, Gilbert Chandler, Glenormiston, Longerenong andMcMillan. It was physically structured around the mainParkvillesite,thesixex-VCAHcampusesandCreswick,andwas organizationally structured into four schools;Agriculture&FoodSystems,ResourceManagement,Forest&EcosystemScience,andVocationalEducation&Training.Courses still ranged from Certificate Level 1 vocationalprogramsanddiplomas,throughundergraduatedegreestoresearch training degrees, some of which were part ofadvanced biotechnology research. Such diversity of assetsand activities had reduced flexibility to adjust to changedstudentdemandandhadledtoconstantdeficitsfrom1999.In the intervening period, Richardson had managed toreduce annual deficits to $1-2 million by 2005, butaccumulatedlossesacrossthefiveyearstotalledsome$15million, which was significant compared to its 2005operatingbudgetof$46.4million.271Larkins consulted widely, on occasion countering localdignitaries’ rhetoric about rural campuses serving localfamiliesbyasking‘andwheredoyousendyourchildrentouniversity?’.Ensuringthataffectedpartiesandcommunitieswere aware of the need to change, he presented the ViceChancellorandtheUniversityCouncilwithaframeworktoreposition the Faculty as a financially sustainable andinternationally recognized research-based leader inagriculturalscience.AwareofnationalcompetitionbyvirtueofhisDVCResearchrole,hefocusedtheFaculty’sresourcesonhighereducationandresearchprogramsasthemeanstoreturnthebestdividendtoindustry.Thismeantreturning


theTAFEstudenthoursandassociatedfundingtotheStateGovernmenttowhichtheUniversitywasfinallyamenable,andwiththemmostremotecampuses.Richardsonhadsetup this path in the previous few years by separating theVET/TAFEteachingfromhighereducation,creatingaSchoolofVocationalEducationandTraining,andmakingthreeofthe rural campuses VET/TAFE only. The path was thenpaved by the new Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis’ publicstatement that the University ‘is not the best-placedproviderofvocationaleducationandtraininginagriculture-related education’; this was refreshing admissionuncommonintheever-positiveMelbournetraditionandittookthewindfromcritics’sailsbyagreeingwithoneoftheirprincipalarguments.272TheFacultythenplanned,withtheStateGovernment,thehandoveroffacilitiesandcoursestoregionalTAFEInstitutestooccurovertheensuingtwoyearstoallowenrolledstudentstocompletetheircoursesandforstaff employment entitlements to be managedappropriately.ThecampusesatLongerenong,Glenormiston,GilbertChandlerandMcMillanweretransferredbacktotheStateforongoingmanagementwhileBurnley,CreswickandDookiewereretainedandintegratedasfaraspossiblewithParkville’shighereducationandresearchprograms.HavingrestructuredtheFacultyinamannerthatshouldnothavebeen interrupted some six years earlier, LarkinshadprepareditsmajorelementsforhandovertoanewDeaninwhose appointment he was intimately engaged.273 In theinterim, a respected Chair from the Faculty of VeterinaryScience, Ron Slocombe, assumed the role as Dean,inadvertently foreshadowing a future iteration of theFacultythatwastooccursomesevenyearslater.


By 2005 the Faculty had weathered turmoil almostcontinuallyandbeenfrustratedindelaysinactionforwhatwas seen as inevitable by those concerned. Researchcontinuedapace,highereducationteachingrankedwell,andkeystaffadvancedintheircareers.MohanSinghhadbeenpromotedtoProfessor foreshadowingrecognitionofsomeotherkeyleaderstobesimilarlyrecognizedsoonlater.RonSlocombecametothisproductiveyetuncoordinatedmilieuasActingDeanofwhatwasnowathreeschoolFacultythathadasHeadsGregMoore forHorticultureatBurnley,RodKeenan for Forestry at Creswick, and Snow Barlow forAgriculture,ParkvilleandDookie.With20years’experienceintheUniversityandarespectforitssystemstemperedbyafair approach, Slocombewas tooversee theFaculty’s finalexit fromVET/TAFEwith its financialchallengesyet tobefully resolved. He defined his 12 months in the role ascharacterized by three main activities; celebration of theFaculty’sCentenary,reorientingtheFaculty’scoursestotheimminentMelbourneModel,andcompletingthesearchforanew Dean. The Faculty Centenary year – 2005 – wascelebrated in 2006 after considerable preparation,confirming alumni pride in the Faculty and yielding thephotographofsevenDeansoftheFacultyattendingthegaladinneratOrmondcollege.Beginning with visits to the eight campuses, Slocombeassured current students that they would not bedisadvantaged by the University ceasing VET/TAFEactivities,andexperiencedalevelofresentmentsomewhatsubdued from earlier times although still pronounced atLongerenong and McMillan. He recognized that workingwith the Heads of Schools to consolidate the Facultyacademicprogramswas anurgentneed in order to readythemfortheMelbourneModel,whichallowedonlyalimited


number of undergraduate degrees comprising some keybreadthsubjects.ItwasseenthatitwasimperativefortheFaculty tobe appropriately represented in thedesign anddeliveryofbreadthsubjectsintherelevantareasofscience,environment,engineering,commerceandhumanities.

Faculty Deans at the Centenary, L-R: Ron Slocombe, Adrian Egan, Lindsay Falvey, Ian Ferguson, Bob Richardson, Frank Larkins, Doug Parbery, Robert White, Norman Tulloh AtthemainParkvillecampus,Slocombetooktheviewthatundergraduate degree level agricultural subjects were, orshould be, similar to those at Dookie. Some Facultycolleagues differed on the basis that their research andhigher-level teaching activities distinguished them fromDookie’s practical course, staff and students. Bothperspectiveswerevalidwithin thedynamiccontextof the‘needforrevenue,renovationandthereductionofsubjectsand courses’ to suit the Melbourne Model. Nevertheless,some science-based subjects had persistent low studentassessment scores. On the other hand, the MAgbus had


blossomed into a successful online format that was ‘wellsubscribed, financially viable and one of the first onlineprogramsattheUniversity’.274FoodSciencewasidentifiedashavingpotential inthenewModelbutwashinderedbylimitednumbersofseniorstaff,excessiveteachingloads,lowenrolmentsandlowentrancerequirementsincludingIELTS.Said Ajlouni’s stamina through the period was especiallyvalued,aswas lateracknowledged.TheParkville facilities,whichhadbeenrenovatedlessthanadecadeearlierduringthe merger required re-modernizing, and competition forlaboratory spaces, greenhouses and equipment wasongoing. Deli Chen’s work on Green House Gasesmeasurement and abatement, and David Chapman’s indairying continued to attract international interest toParkville,asdidthemolecularworkofPremBhallawhowasnowmadeProfessor.TheFacultywasstrengthenedbytheappointmentsofFrankDunsheatotheChairofAgriculturein2006andNigelStorktotheChairofEcosystemsin2007whiletheDean’sofficewhichhadforadecadebeenmanagedbyJanetBeardwastofeelherlosswhenshetransferredtothecentralUniversity.Attemptsto increasedegreestudentenrolmentsatDookie‘hadspawnedenormoussubjectoptionsandkeptentrancestandardsatnearTAFElevels’.275Barlow’sworkongrapesandwinesprovedattractivetoDookiestudentsinrenovatedlecture rooms but other subject areas were static or indecline, and spartan student accommodation wasunattractive to many prospective students. Attempts towideninterestinDookiebyopeningthewinerytotouristsdidnotfulfilitsexpectedpotential,nottheleastbecauseofthestenchoftheDookiepiggery,whichaspartofrectifyingFaculty finances was under contract to externalmanagement.ThepiggerywassymptomaticofDookie’slong


legacyasafarmingschool,whichhaddelayedreorientationof its dairy, sheep and cropping enterprises whileundervaluingtheheritageandindigenouscomponentsofitsnaturereserve.

Janet Beard Prem Bhalla

AttemptstointerestotherfacultiesinDookiewereunfruitfuldespitebringingtheUniversityseniorexecutive(VC,DVCs,Provost, Deans and senior faculty administrators) to thecampus,whichonlyservedtoreinforceitsremotenessfromthemainParkvillecampus.AlthoughSlocombeexploredthepossibilityofveterinarystudentsgainingexperienceinpre-veterinary animal science at Dookie, the Faculty ofVeterinarySciencedidnotconsiderDookieforthispurposeuntilseveralyearslater.BynowtheUniversityreactionwaspredictable; exit fromVET/TAFE and the requirements oftheMelbourneModeltocancellowenrolmentsubjectsandconsolidate degrees did not warrant further Universityexpenditure on improved accommodation at Dookie. Thestudent accommodation management group YMCAexpressedsome interest in takingon therole,butnothingeventuated. The academic outcome at this stage was thatboth the Dookie BAgr and the Parkville BAgrSc wereretained with the former supported by a Dookie


ScholarshipsProgramwhile creativeways to link the twodegreesweredevelopedwithinthecomplexcross-creditingandcostingoptionsavailableatthetime.At Burnley, national strengths in horticulture for councilparks and gardens relied on VET/TAFE programs whilehigher education enrolments remained static despitechanges in course structures; post graduate numbersremainedlow.AdialoguewiththeDepartmentofBotanyinthe Faculty of Science to encourage their involvement atBurnleyappearedtoleadnowhereatthetime,butwastodoso later. In contrast to its unsatisfactory higher educationfacilities and performance, the Burnley gardens ‘weremaintainedsuperbly’andwerethefocusof‘thestronglocalcommunity’. Staff fears that the University might exitBurnley as it had three rural campuseswere lessened byViceChancellorDavis’assurancethat‘BurnleywouldremainundertheUniversityumbrella’.Thuswassownaseedthatwould emerge to daylight eight years laterwhen BurnleycampuswasreallocatedtotheFacultyofScience.The Creswick campus was to share that same destiny ofreallocation. Perhaps an added attraction of the Creswickcampus was the fact that at this time in 2007, itsinfrastructure was well maintained and it housed arespected research culture inwood science that hadbeenbuiltupbyPeterVinden.Thiswasallinadditiontoinputstothe BForSc on which the Melbourne model was nowexpected to exert further downward pressure on alreadylow enrolments. The School was to move toward forestecosystem management, which embraced modelling ofbushfire behaviour that became important following thesevere2008bushfires.Suchresearchoutputs ‘representedoneofthemosttroublingissuesfor…youngandmid-career


scientistswhoengagedinappliedresearchforwhichtherewasverylimitedpeercomparisonsavailable,who[becausethey]published technicalnotesrather thanpeerreviewedmanuscripts,weredisadvantagedbythepromotionssystemin theUniversity at the time. Clinically appointed staff in[VeterinaryScience]sharedthesamefate.’276Appalled at substandard submissions emanating from theFacultytoUniversitycommitteesandlargelyworkingalone,Slocombe instituted quality control measures andencouragedFacultystaff toplayarole inwiderUniversityaffairs–amovethathefelt‘radicallyimprovedthestatusofthe Faculty within the University’. Coming from anotherfaculty, hewas less familiarwith the disillusionment thathadresultedfromalternatingUniversityintransigenceandinterferenceintheFaculty.TheFacultywasnowpositionedtowhereitcouldhavebeenalmostadecadeearlier.ButthevisionofbuildingonanewprofessoriateinconjunctionwiththeStateDepartment,CSIROandtheprivatesectorhadbeenfractured.Nevertheless,itwasamajorAustralianproviderof agricultural education, as befitted a leading UniversitylocatedinthemostagriculturallyintensiveState.Otherlocalproviders had run down their offerings significantly,particularlyLaTrobeUniversity.TheVET/TAFEproviderswerenowof less concern to theFaculty, evenwhere theyoffereddegree courses.MarcusOldhamCollege joined thetrend to offer bachelor and master degrees through itsassociation with Deakin University, gaining substantialcapital from land sales. Simon Livingstone was MarcusOldhamPrincipalinthisperiodofchangefrom2002,277butFaculty contact was minimal, the major contact possiblybeingretireesFalveyandHickeychairinghighereducationpanels for the Victorian Registration and QualificationsAuthority (VRQA), the agency responsible for accrediting


highereducation forsuchnon-self-accrediting institutions.SomeTAFEInstitutessimilarly introduceddegreecourses,suchasNorthernMetropolitanwhichRobertWhiteassessedforVRQA.Throughouthis tenure, the thirdmajoractivitydefinedbySlocombewasinvolvement,withLarkinshispredecessor,inthe intensive central University process of finding andappointing a new Dean; Rick Roush was the preferredcandidate and he took up his role in 2007. Slocombegratefully returned to his research and teaching in theFacultyofVeterinaryScience,appreciatedashavingbeenanenergeticandfairadvocatewithintheFaculty.


ADiverseFaculty–2007-14:Roush RoushassumedtheDean’sChairin2007tooverseeaperiodofcalmdevelopmentoftheFacultyasanintegralpartoftheMelbourne Model, which defined the operationalenvironment. With that change had come increasedcentralization of authority across the University, albeitvaryingwithcompatibilityofpersonalities.ManywhohadknowntheFacultyoverpreviousdecadeshopedthiscouldbe a return to an earlier approach after the adventure oftaking over VCAH. It is therefore worth a briefreconsideration of that intervening period to provide thecontext for the longest serving Dean of the Faculty sinceForsterinthe1960s.In1997,themergedFacultyincorporatingVCAHhadbeenlaunchedamidstfanfarewiththeDeandrawingametaphorfromapersonalstory.‘InmyyoungerdaysIroundedupwildNorthernTerritorycattleonhorseback.Afriendfromthatera asked me whether the Faculty had now reached thesituationwiththismergerthatonehaswhenthecattlearefinally herded into the gate corner of a square-mile bushpaddock.Oncethegateisopenedtheworkallbeginsagainascattlescatter.Wehavethecattleatthegate,thelargestagglomerationofacademicsrelatedtoagricultureeverseeninAustralia.Butunlikethenoviceringerwonderingwhichwaythecattlewillgonext,wehaveaspecificplan.’278Butplans of that and the next long-termDeanwere thwartedwhen the gate towards which all were being herded waslocked by those who had assured that it would be open.Ratherthanblametheherderorthegatekeepers,itisfruitful


toconsidertheoverviewofaninformedobserveracrosstheperiod,whoelicitedfivespecificissues.279The five confounding issues were: Faculty structure;curriculumchange;theUniversity’signoranceofVET/TAFE;financialdeficit,andunderestimationoftheintegrationtask.Faculty structure had been based on a matrix toaccommodatethemergerthatwastobechangedafterayearorso,butthatplantochangewasscuttledwhenthegateofrationalizationwas locked.Thiswasadifficultoperationalenvironment for new Professorial appointments, andallowedsometimesconflictingactionsbyremotecampuses.Curriculum change to three-year undergraduate courseswereindependentanddistant‘fromtheTAFE/VET-focussedprograms at the heart ofmany regional campuses’,whichwere seen as unrelated to high-quality higher education.This reflected theUniversity’s ‘little real understandingofregional agricultural campuses’ or of VET/TAFE andexacerbated divisions in opinion. Compounding theseirritationswastheViceChancellor’sdecisiontoembargotheFaculty’s planned reduction of staff and campuses whileschizophrenically holding accumulating deficits to theFaculty’s account during a phase when agriculturalenrolments across Australia were in decline. Finances,VET/TAFE and rural campuses vexed Deans, and in aninsightfulmoment in the2000 interregnumtheUniversityquestioned whether the Dean’s task was possible givenconflictingUniversityobjectives;thesamecommentofthe‘impossibletask’wasacknowledgedinappraisalsofthenextDean.Bythetimethematterwasfinallyresolved,thegainsofjointprofessorialpoststoleadthekeyfieldsinwhichtheFacultycouldbuildnational and strategic international leadership


hadbeenlost.Sowhiletheissueswerefinallyactedoninamanner apparently consistentwith the intent of the long-termDeans,mainlybyshort-termDeanswithspecificbriefsto shed VET/TAFE and rural campuses, opportunities foragriculturalleadershipwerenowlessevident.Thetaskwasmore to prepare for Roush’s arrival at a time when theUniversity’snewMelbourneModelwasbeingimplemented.The Melbourne Model required only six undergraduatedegrees across the University each including broadeningsubjects,whichallowedtheFacultytoargueforcontinuationof a specific BAgr degree at Dookie since it could notreasonably fit into the Model. The Dookie BAgr studentswere to spend their first year at Parkville for foundationsubjects, andhaving had a taste of theUniversity and thecity, they preferred to spend future years there – thusallowingtheFacultytoofferadegreeoutsidetheMelbourneModel.But itwasnotanagriculturalsciencedegreeinthehistoricsenseoftheFaculty.In the midst of grappling with the Dookie degree, SnowBarlow who had initially been appointed to assist itsintegrationwiththeFaculty,recalls‘drivingintoDookieonabrilliantdayandbeingimmediatelyawareoftheutes,bighatsandtheusualdogsandhavingthethought“isthisthetransformativehighereducationexperiencethatMelbourneUniversityisseekingtoprovide?”AllIcouldseewasthatweweretakingkidsfromconservativeruralcommunitiesandre-enforcing those values without exposing them to thewiderworld.’ Thismeant that,while themoveof the firstyearofthedegreetoParkvillewasagreedonthegroundsofteaching resources in thebasic sciences, ‘I alwayshad theideathatitcouldbemorethanthat,andwhenthestudentsexpressed the view that they would prefer to stay at


ParkvilleIwasmorethanhappytoagree.’280Farfrombeingpejorativeabouthats–Barlowhimselfcamefromabighatrural background – this was a comment on divergencebetweentraditionalpracticesandthecontinualevolutionofagricultural production systems under the influence ofscienceandinnovation.

Snow Barlow Mohan Singh Deli Chen Roush was initially appointed Dean for three years andextendedforfiveyearsin2011,281resigningbeforetheendofthattermin2014.Hehadcomefromanindustry-linkedacademic career in the USA and Australia, most recentlyhaving been CEO of the Australian CRC for WeedManagementandDirectoroftheState-wideIntegratedPestManagementProgramoftheUniversityofCalifornia.AnewandexperiencedGeneralManagerTeresaTjiahadbeen inplacefromtheyearbeforehisarrival.Withhisappointment,the Faculty was again renamed, this time to become theMelbourne School of Land and Environment. GeographystaffweretransferredtotheFacultyandathreedepartmentstructurewasinstitutedwiththeDepartments;Agriculture&FoodSystems,Forest&EcosystemScience,andResourceManagement&Geography.ThenameandtheacquisitionofGeographywere ostensibly portrayed as representing theFaculty’s role in the Melbourne Model in which it would


contribute much of the BEnv. The other degrees of theFaculty – BFoodSc, BAgrSc, BNatResMgt and BAnimSc –were subsumed into the new BSc within the Faculty ofSciencewiththeFacultycontinuingtoprovidemajorinputsintotheFood,AgricultureandAnimalSciencemajorswithintheBScamongsome32majors.Whether intendedornot,theincorporationofthehistorictrademarkoftheFaculty–theBAgrSc(whichhadinfactbeenreducedtoathree-yearcoursesome15yearsearlierwithoutmuchoutcry)intotheBachelor of Science signalled to staff and friends of theFaculty that the University was downgrading agriculturalscience.UnderthisnewMelbourneModel,theFacultygainedmuchneededfirst-andsecond-yearstudentsthroughdevelopinga seriesofpopularBreadthSubjects taught inconjunctionwithotherfaculties.Thefoodandwinesequencesincluded‘FoodforaHealthyPlanet’and‘AustraliaintheWineWorld’and soon attracted1,000 students each across their threeyears.TheFacultyretainedtheDookieBAgrdegreeonthegroundsofdistancefromthemaincampusandwhenthisultimatelymoved to Parkville it became the anchor that allowed theFaculty to survive as a faculty of agriculture. The Facultycontinued to bill itself as Australia’s largest provider ofagriculturaleducation282andDookieasthelargestregional-basedprovider,283butsuchclaimsnowlackedsubstance;asthefollowingTableindicates,theUniversityofQueenslandappearstohavebeenthelargestprovidersincetheFacultyshed VET/TAFE, and Charles Sturt was certainly a muchlargerregionalproviderthanDookie.


Universities in Agricultural & Environmental Education284

2004 EFTSL

2004 Rank

2009 EFTSL

2009 Rank

Queensland 1636 1 1278 1 Melbourne 945 2 1067 2 Charles Sturt 609 3 717 3 Sydney 545 4 343 8 Adelaide 483 5 454 5 Curtin 405 6 247 12 Tasmania 403 7 484 4 ANU 387 8 388 6 La Trobe 329 9 352 7 New England 327 10 318 9 Western Sydney 295 11 222 13 Murdoch 233 12 315 10 Western Australia 185 13 308 11 In a submission to a Victorian government enquiry intoagricultural education and training,285 the Faculty nowstated its mission as, ‘sustaining our community’s land,natural resources and environment’ – agriculturewas theprimarysubsetwithin thatrubric.At the time, theFacultyranked fourth in terms of research in the Universitywithresearch grants totalling $20.5m in 2009 and the secondhighest in terms of incomeper staffmember –Deli Chen,MohanSinghandFrankDunsheaweremajorplayers–yettheFaculty’sundergraduatepopularitycontinuedtosufferfrom negative community perceptions of agriculture.Managing declining demand had resulted in reduced staffnumbers and increased workloads, and had stimulatedproposalsforaRegionalPartnershipsFacilitationFundanda research, education and technology partnership labelledDookie21.Dookie21soughtregionalinvestmentsexceeding$40 million,286 but ultimately raised little thereby again


calling intoquestion theUniversity’sunderstandingof theruralandagriculturalcommunities.PriortoRoush’sarrival–in2004-5–HeadofSchoolBarlowhadinvestigatedmeansofenhancingtheresearchprofileofDookiewiththesupportoflocalindustry.Asthiswasinthedepthsofthemillenniumdrought,waterwasdeterminedtobeanobviouspathway.Consequently,BarlowjoinedforceswiththeUniversity’snewlyappointedDirectoroftheWaterResearch Institute, John Langford, and was successful inobtaining a $1.5million grant from the State Science andTechnologyInitiativeforirrigationresearchatDookie.ThisprovidedabasisforconvincingViceChancellorGlynnDavis,who had earlier expressed doubt about low entry-scoringagriculturalstudentsatDookie,thatDookiewasavaluablewater research site unique among the major Australianuniversities.Afurther$20millionwasthensecuredfromtheNationalWaterCommissionandadministeredthroughtheFacultyandwhen implemented jointlywith theFacultyofEngineering studies were expanded to hydrology,agriculture and biodiversity. TheDookie 21 initiative thatRoushthusinheritedwasintendedtobuildonthisresearchplatform.However,‘theUniversitysupportedthisinitiativewiththefullstrengthofitsbusinessplanning!–thekissofdeath.’287NewtothemachinationsoftheUniversity,Roushwas unaware that the business planning process hadsidelined Barlow and Langford, who had the contacts toleveragefunds,andsoDookie21becameanotherfurphy.Inthemeantime,DeliChenbrokeanotherethnicglassceilingtobecometheUniversity’sfirstChinese-bornfullProfessor,and his soils group grew to become one of the largestresearch income earners in the University. Chen togetherwithARCFellowMohanSinghandPremBhallawerenowFaculty leaders –with their origins inAsia representing a


belated part of the 1997 Dean’s plan and as earlierforeshadowedintheGreenlandReport.

Rick Roush Teresa Tjia

A comprehensive five-year Faculty plan outlined theaspirations of the Faculty from 2011 to 2015, mainlyindicatingconformitywiththeUniversity’splananditsfocusonhighprofile researchand rankings.TheplandescribedDookie21: ‘withmodern infrastructureandequipment sothatitcanbothinspireandtrainstudentsandpractitionersof all ages’ in a ‘world class interdisciplinary centre ofexcellence for research and development of systems andtechnologiestowardsefficientandclimateresilientfarming(livestock, horticulture, and broad acreage) in support ofsustainableAustralianandworldfoodproduction’.288Suchan aspiration required more substantial and ongoingfunding than the University realized or would provide.PerhapsitwasmoreaneedtoconformwiththeUniversity’srhetoric that led to the Faculty plan’s claim that ‘Dookierepresents a world-class research and experimentalfarm’,289whenitmightmoreaptlyhavebeendescribedasunder-resourced, understaffed and unfortunately-located.Tomany concerned with agricultural science, persistence


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withtheDookiesiteundersuchconditionswasinconsistentwithclaimsofexcellenceinagriculturaleducation.Intermsofstudentincome,theFacultybenefittedfromtheDookie BAgr students’ taste for Parkville that kept themthere for two years in a degree unconstrained by theMelbourne Model. This was through 2004-2009 whenAustralian domestic higher education completionsincreased by 8.3 percent compared to agriculturalcompletions declining by 15 per cent.290 The Facultyfollowed national agricultural trends until 2010 whenenrolments exceeded teaching targets by 58 students andtheFacultybeganitseliminationofsubjectswithenrolmentsof less than15students.Mastersdegreeswereoffered in:Agribusiness; Agriculture; Animal Science; Food Science;Forest Ecosystem Science; Urban Horticulture, and WineTechnologyandViticulture.TheFacultyalsoadministeredthe Master of Environment. Graduate Certificate offeringswere:RiverHealth;GardenDesign,andClimateChangeforPrimary Industries.291 Faculty publications for 2010 were133 percent of 2009 through increased collaborativeresearch, which incidentallymeant that the keyweightedindicator did not change significantly.With 90 percent ofacademicandresearchstaffactivelyengagedinresearch,theFacultyexceededUniversitytargets,assistedgreatlybytheabsenceofVET/TAFEobligations.However,asaresultoftherationalizationactionspriortoRoush’sappointment,seniorleadershippositionswerethinlyspreadacrosstheFaculty’sthreedepartmentsandfourcampuses;specificgapssuchasin Pasture Science, Production Horticulture and FoodSecurity were identified. Collaborative arrangementsinvolving theFaculty included: internationally, theAnimalScience Welfare Centre, and domestically; the PrimaryIndustries Climate Challenges Centre, the Climate Change


Research Strategy for Primary Industries, the PrimaryIndustries Adaptation Research Network of the NationalClimate Change Adaptation Research Facility, the Social,Economic and Institutional Dimensions Network, theVictorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research,andtheMelbourneSustainableSocietyInstitute.292Jeff Topp, the longest serving professional of the variousiterationsof theFacultymanaged theCreswick centenary,whichwas celebrated in 2010 as amajor forestry alumnievent attracting even greater numbers than the 125 yearcelebrationsofDookiein2011.Dookiealumniinattendanceincluded the ShadowMinister for Finance, Andrew Robb,and ‘Australian Legend’ Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis,whoasaBAgrScstudentwasoneofthefirstwomentostudyatDookie.

Jeff Topp Nancy Millis293

The Shadow Minister’s speech highlighted the majorcontributiontoagriculturethatDookiehadmadeinthepast–atimelyreminderthatthetimesanditsrolehadchanged.Itsheydaywasfurthercelebratedthroughanengagingandunder-patronizedexhibitionattheBaillieuLibrary.294Somenowseethosecelebrationsasportentsofadisappearingera

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inAustralianagriculturaleducation,althoughthatwasnotyetinthemindsofmostparticipants.ItmaywellhavebeeninthebackofthemindoftheChairofPastureScience,DavidChapman,whowasakeychairforaFacultyinamajorworldpasture-baseddairyregion,andfromwhichheresignedtoreturntoNewZealandin2010.295By 2011, the Faculty’s ‘diverse disciplines’ were those of‘landandenvironment’ratherthanagricultureperse,anditsought to address ‘issues of climate change, food security,watermanagement,sustainableuseofresources,changesinurban ecosystems and other problems that challengegovernment decision-makers, industry leaders, and urbanand rural communities’. It was a significant provider ofundergraduate Breadth Subjects in the New GenerationDegreesintroducedwiththeMelbourneModel.Ontheotherhand,itadministeredonlytwoundergraduatedegreesitself– BAgr and the Associate Degree in EnvironmentalHorticulture – both oriented to industry and with entrypathways for disadvantaged and mature-age students.Graduate teaching included courses linked to industry,intensive residentials, online, block-mode, and semester-longsubjects.Theresearch trainingprogramthroughPhDandMPhilwasalsoofferedatallcampuses.296Having lost the key opportunity to enthuse first yearstudents, enrolments in agricultural subjects fell belowthose experienced before the Melbourne Model wasintroduced.Furthermore,Honoursenrolmentsfellfrom40EFTSL in 2010 to 19 in 2011 as a result of the reducedenrolmentsinmajors,particularlyAnimalScienceandFoodScience. As Roush’s Faculty Plan noted, ‘lack of lecturingopportunities to large-enrolment undergraduate subjectshashamperedourcontactwith themarketandnegatively


affectedourpipeline intoHonours.Thiswill have flow-onimpacts for our PhD, MPhil and graduate courseworkprograms’.Graduateenrolments fell in2011asa resultofUniversityerrorsintheinternationalonlineinformation.297Marketresearchreports298,299promptedtheFacultytoturnto executive and industry courses, offshore demand andlower-costmodesofdelivery.TheUniversityfocusoncost-efficient courses that led to cancellation of low enrolmentprogramswasaccompaniedbyimprovedcostmonitoringofindividual subjects. Staffwere required to undertake evermore administrative tasks in a managerial environment,although sporadic use of senior honorary staff assisted towideninternationalandindustrycontacts.Atthesametime,theOldAgriculturereceptionareawasrenovatedtocreatestudentlounges,wirelessstudyspacesandflexibleteachingspaces– at lastopening theFaculty to theSystemGardenwithviewsoftheremnanttowerofMcCoy’sconservatory,asinthefollowingimage.

The Old Agriculture lobby opened to the System Garden300

Priority research areas were identified as: BushfireBehaviour and Management, Environmental Change andDevelopment,ResourceEconomics,andWaterConservationinCropping.Thiswaswithin thestrongresearchareasof:Animal Science, includingbehaviour andwelfare; Ecology,ecophysiology and ecosystem function; Food Science and


product development; Forest Production and sustainableforestmanagement;Geography,includingphysical,cultural,and human geography; Land and Food systemsmanagement, innovation and change; Plant Biology,production, and biotechnology; and Water, nutrients andgreenhouseeffectsinlandsystems.301TheFaculty’simprovementintermsofUniversityindicatorsacross some five years to 2011 relied on the GeneralManagerTeresaTjiaworkingcloselywiththeDean.Seeingthe taskasoneof rebuilding the remainingcampusesandParkvilleinphysicalandfinancialterms,theFacultyGeneralManagerworkedonthebudgetdeficit inheritedfromnowforgottenUniversity intransigence thathad, after somanyyears,morphedintoacriticismoftheFacultybeingapoorperformer.Acrosstheseyears,boththedeficitandtheimagewerecorrectedthrough;a$6millionimprovementinannualoperationsmatchedby$10millioninnewcapitalprojects,$12million for regional campusgrants anda100percentincrease in income from professional and industryprograms. Together with Tija focusing on FacultyadministrationanditsrelationshiptothewiderUniversity,Roush’staskwasassistedbytheFaculty’shealthyresearchincome and teaching of breadth subjects to large multi-faculty classes. ‘This was achieved in ever-changingcontradictory environments and against a back-drop ofregionalpolitics’302andledtoaUniversitycommendationoftheFaculty’sadministrativeleadership.303Thecombinationofinternalreputationalandbudgetaryimprovementaimedto build ‘staff and stakeholder confidence, and ensuredcontinuation of quality education, research and industrypartnershipforfood,landandwatersecurity’304–albeitonasmallerscalethanwasonceenvisaged,mixedasitnowwaswithadiversityofotherfieldsandbroadly-basedteaching.


By 2011, the Faculty was offering such undergraduateeducation as a three-year sequence ‘Food for a HealthyPlanet’for300-400studentseachyear,majorsintheBSc,anAssociate Degree in Environmental Horticulture and theBAgr courses. Graduate coursework covered AgriculturalScience, Animal Science, Agribusiness, Food Science,Wineand Viticulture, Forest Ecosystem Science and UrbanHorticulture. The BAgr was now based on two years atParkville followed by the third at Dookie and targeted abroaderspreadofentrancescores;itwasalsointendedtobeapathwayintograduatestudiesinVeterinaryScience.ThedegreewasnotthatdescribedbyWadhamandsuccessorsinearlier chapters. As the custodian of the Office forEnvironmental Programs, the Faculty administered theMasterofEnvironmentandtaughtintoitsprograms.305TheOfficelatermovedwithGeography’sexitfromtheFacultytocontinueasasuccessfulmulti-facultydeliveryfacility.Perhaps as a result of having spread itself across awiderfield at this time, the Facultywasmissing amajor play inVictorianagriculturalresearch.ForacompetitiveinstitutionliketheUniversity,ithadalwaysbeenimperativetokeepawatchful eye on collaborators, especially the StateDepartment.ButwiththeFaculty’seyeintrovertedthroughtheseyearsitmissedtheDepartment’sneedtoseekahomeforitssomeofitsseniorscientists.Consequently,thathomewasfoundnotatMelbournebutatLaTrobeUniversityevenas that university’s agricultural education shrank belowcriticalmass.Establishedwithabudgetofsome$288millionin2012 tohouse some250agricultural scientistsunderarecognizedleader,thejointcentre–Agribio–appearedtobe critical to future agricultural research linked toeducation.306Although thismaybeseenasan lapse in theUniversity’s diligence, its impact was to be positive for


agriculturaleducationandresearch.CollaborativeresearchbetweentheFacultyandtheStateDepartmenthadlongbeenwellestablished.AtleastonejointProfessorialappointmentwith the Faculty continuing since the grand vision of themid-1990sfoundhimselfhousedatbothMelbourneandLaTrobe.307 The fillip to La Trobe assisted the sector tomaintain a wide front that was to prove valuable whenappreciation of agricultural education later rose.With theState Department continuing to be a major player inresearchbeyondAgribioandwithMelbourneandLaTrobe’spresence,theVictoriansectoragainbecameconspicuouslydynamic.Butatthetimeofitscreation,theFaculty’sprimaryconcern was its precarious funding base fromundergraduateeducation.Undergraduate student demand continued to soften,attracting theusual angstwithin the agricultural academyand pressure from market-driven purists in highereducation.Market failurewas clearly indicated by studiesthat showed an increasing Australia-wide deficiency ofgraduatescomparedtoindustrydemand,308whileestimatesof studentdemand foragriculture,horticulture/viticultureandforestryinVictoriawereonly83,36,and21.309Itwasclear that industry demand needed to be segmented, anapproach that gave the Faculty yet another idea to utilizeDookie,310whichwasmoresuitedtopracticaltrainingthanscientific education. Postgraduate completions inagriculturerosebymorethan20percentthroughtheperiodwith internationalstudentdemand.For theFaculty,as themajorproviderinthemostagriculturalintensivepartofthecountryandwithoutasubsidizedquotamanagedaccordingto national interests as in some countries, reliance on anurban-market-drivenmodeltomaintainaconstantcadreofhighly trained researchers and broadly educated


agriculturalscientistswasinadequate.Thoseinvolvedintheprogressive components of the agricultural sector wereconcernedthattheFacultywasunabletomeetitssocialandeducationalobligations.By2012theFacultywasinsurplusby$2.6mandthedeficitof$5.5maccumulatedfromUniversityactionswaswrittenoff. Roush was lauded among University management,particularly by those who recalled decades of angst overdubious figures. Yet the remote campuses remained afinancialdrain,theadditional‘easilyidentifiedannualcosts’being$0.75millioninrent,$2millioninservicecharges,thecost of 10 additional professional staff, transport costsbetween campuses and unquantified inefficiencies of losttimethroughtravelandlongdistancecommunication.Apartfrom the cumbersome external campuses of Burnley,CreswickandDookie,theFaculty’spresenceatParkvillewasfracturedacrossthehistoricAgricultureprecinct,BouverieStreet and the AliceHoy building. This sprawl spawned aFacultyproposalthat‘theUniversityandthe[Faculty]wouldgain from a purpose built [Faculty] hub at Parkville’ that‘would allow the co-location of staff from differentdisciplines to engage ingreater collaboration’.311Thiswasonlytobeconsideredin2014aspartofthenextiterationofFaculty restructuring in conjunction with VeterinaryScience,forimplementationin2017.While its teaching load into the BEnv and the BSc wassignificant, the degrees themselves were biased towardsbuiltenvironmentsandmedicinerespectively.Agriculturalsciencehadallbutdisappeared.TheFacultywasnow‘akeyprovider to the University’s undergraduate teachingprograms, offering popular Breadth subjects in … whatmight be considered non-traditional cohorts for [the


Faculty’s] specialisations’. Meanwhile Agricultural Sciencecontinued to languish. A Diploma of General Studies wasdevelopedjointlywithTAFEinstitutionstoencourageruralschool leavers into tertiary study. But the main fillip forgeneralagriculturalstudywastobeageneralriseindemandacross the nation, leading to BAgr enrolments being 42percent higher in 2012 than 2010 with a new major inAnimalProductionattracting50students.Perhapsthemostoriginal shift in demand was a continuing rise ininternationalstudentstakingtheBAgr–from12in2010to29in2012.312Research continued to expand with: an ARC IndustryTransformation Hub supported by Kraft Foods under thedirection of Frank Dunshea, which brought an initial $5milliontotheFaculty;DepartmentofAgriculture,FisheriesandForestrygrantsthattotalledmorethan$9million;andDeli Chen, Mohan Singh and Prem Bhalla sustaining theirlargegrants.Newresearchersunderwrittenbya$1.5millionUniversity grant spread over three years assisteddevelopment of a critical mass in the area of food andnutrition. International research partnerships focused onAsia through the Australian Centre for InternationalAgriculturalResearch, collaborationswithChinaand Indiaand other initiatives.313 Barlow, who had originally beenappointedtotheChairofProductionHorticultureandlaterredesignated as Professor of Horticulture and Viticulture,resignedin2013.314Through this period, the University embarked on amajorfund-raising drive to which Roush devoted much effort,particularlyforcampaignactivitiesofpotentialbenefittotheFaculty. This reduced the chances for opportunisticmanagementwithinstrategicplanning.Thusthere-creation


of a Deputy Dean position was prompted, which had notbeenfilledsinceMalcolmHickey’sretirementin2002.TheUniversity was continuing to change as it dexterouslypositioned itself above others in Australia, dragging theFaculty along in its wake. One part of the changes wascreationofapathwayforpromotiontoProfessoriallevelinadditiontothetraditionalsystemofwaitingforaChairtobevacated, or otherwise being appointed as ProfessorialFellows.Nowallwereofsimilarstatus formostpurposes,andinthisperiodnewProfessorsincluded;RobynWarner(MeatScience),JimHe(SoilScience)andPaulTaylor(PlantPathology).In2013,theProvostcommissionedanexternalreviewafter‘biological sciences was assessed as having only averageperformance on the world standard, placing itdisappointingly lower than its peers’.315 The reviewconsidered biological sciences across the faculties ofengineering,medicine, science, veterinary science and theFaculty, which was at the time constituted of threedepartments: Agriculture & Food Systems, ResourceManagement&Geography,andForest&EcosystemScience.The University considered the review’s 23recommendationsinOctoberandacceptedthat:‘theFacultyof Veterinary Science remain as a stand-alone entity’; ‘thecurrent development of a business case and architecturalstudies to improve teaching facilities for the Faculty ofVeterinarySciencebeprosecutedwithasenseofurgency’;‘the biomedical science departments… remainwithin the[medical] faculty’. Some related recommendations weretakenunderconsideration,andthosespecifictoScienceheldoveruntilanewDeanofScienceassumedtherole.Notingoverlap, the review also highlighted the demarcationbetweenthebiologicalsciencesrepresentedinScienceand


theFaculty,whichledtotheobservationthattherewas‘anopportunity to capitalize on the strengths and commoninterests of the two faculties. Bringing the two togethercouldhelpinreducingexcessiveteachingloads,promotearationalisationofsubjectsandincreasetheopportunitiesforcollaborative research’. The consequent recommendationwas that: ‘the three departments that constitute [theFaculty]andassociatedresearchcentresbecomepartoftheFacultyofScience’and‘retaintheirdepartmentalstatus’.316The review of biological sciences had focussedmainly onissueswithinScienceandthesuggestionofamergeroftheFaculty with Science came as a surprise to all concerned.Having received submissions from some 26 sourcesincludingtheFaculty,thesuggestionappearstohavereliedon an argument of teaching and research efficiencies.Accordingly, theUniversityconsultedwithaffectedpartiesand weighed the additional issues raised.317 Against suchbenefits as new opportunities in environmental, forestryand ecosystem science and geography, concerns wereexpressedabouttheFacultybeing‘suckedintotheinward-lookingfocus’ofSciencewhereitcould‘losetheadvantageofitscurrentoutwardfocusandresearchlinks’.Alternativessuch as promoting synergies without organisationalrestructuring or creating a School of Life Sciences and aSchool of the Environment were proposed. The views ofexternal partners and stakeholders repeated those heardoverthepastthreedecadesof‘withdrawingsupportfortheregions’ thatwould disenfranchise rural communities andbe seen ‘as anothernail in the coffin’ that could endangerendowments and relations with the State Department ofAgriculture.Geography,whichhadcomeintotheFacultyasan orphan was pleased to be rehoused and quickly shedassociations with ‘Resource Management’; this raised the


need for the social sciences of agriculture to be properlyprotected in any amalgamation of the Faculty’s diversedisciplinesintoScience.TotheUniversity’scredititnotedtheideaofanindependentagriculturalinstitute,andcommentaryaboutthe‘synergiesandefficienciespossibleinbringinglargenumbersofanimalscientiststogetherwithveterinaryscience’,whilenotingthesuggestion that ‘agriculture should be kept separate andperhapsmergewithVeterinaryScience’,318anoption thattheDeanofVeterinarySciencewaswillingtoentertain,andeventually shepherd.319 From among such options, theagriculturally-oriented part of the Faculty merging withVeterinary Science emerged as practical, and staff wereofferedthechoicetostayormovetoScience.Aninformedreaderofthesedocumentsmustbestruckbythedilutionofagriculture that had occurredwithin the Faculty over therecent years in favour of environmentally orientedterminology.Oneseniorobservernotedthat‘onlyoneofthethreedepartmentsof theFacultyhasbeencombinedwithVet Science. The other two are in an expanded Sciencefaculty,thoughslightlymodified,ratherthanbeingdirectlyandsimplytransposed’.320ThisclearreductionintheroleofagriculturalsciencewithintheFacultybythistimewasoneof the reasons that many old hands felt that the tail ofunrelated disciplines was wagging the agricultural dog. Italso explains why those with an historical interest inagricultural science see the real Faculty ashavingmergedwith the veterinarians to create the Faculty of Veterinaryand Agricultural Sciences. As such, the merger might beclaimedtobearesurgenceorstrengtheningofagriculturalsciencewithin theUniversity. Itwas certainly accepted inthe rural communitieswithunprecedentedyet stillmutedacclaim.


Thepublicannouncementofthemergerof‘agriculturewiththe Faculty of Veterinary Science’ was supported by theusualrhetoricthat ‘thesechangeswillonlystrengthenourresearch and teaching programs’. Roush had accepted themergerinpreferencetothatwithScienceintheknowledgethat theFaculty’s surplusesandcovetedRoyalParadesitecould enhance both Veterinary Science and AgriculturalScience. But with two of the Faculty’s three departmentshavinggonetoScience,thecostofhavingdiversifiedoutoftheagriculturalsciencesnowcamehometoroost.Despiteconsultation,themergerannouncementscameasasurprisetosomeFacultystaff;theDeanhimselfwastobesurprisedonce the implications of the merger became clear. TheFacultywas renamedonceagain tobecome theFacultyofVeterinary andAgricultural Sciences (FVAS), retaining theDookie campus and the BAgr, which was to double itscommencingintaketo200.321The University Executive approved formation of FVAS inMarch2014withtheerstwhileDeanofVeterinaryScienceKen Hinchcliff assuming the Faculty’s Deanship; the newnameoftheFacultywastotakeeffectfrom1July2014.TheUniversitypaidtributetoRoush’ssevenyears,andheinturnacknowledgedthededicatedFacultystaffwhomheassuredwould benefit from themerger strengthening the Faculty,where he would continue to serve through research,teaching and program development.322 The student paperFarrago quoted the new Dean as providing a ‘custodialfaculty’fortheBAgr‘because[theFaculty–meaningMSLE’snon-agricultural components] is being merged with thefacultyofScience…the[BAgr]needsahome’.323Recallingpast merger disruptions, teeth were gnashed inside theFaculty and out – but less vigorously than during pastmergers.


Roush’stenuremightbecharacterizedashavingincreasedthesizeoftheFacultythroughmergersthatdiversifiedtheFaculty beyond agricultural science. His tenure saw theFaculty budget being balanced under University pressureand at the cost of a strategic professoriate. Roush alsorejuvenatedtheAustralianCollegeofAgriculturalDeansofwhich he was the inaugural President of its phoenixiteration.Thisgroup,withcriticalworkbyJimPratley324ofCharles Sturt University, presented a strong case forincreased agricultural education, which was ultimatelyreflected in a resurgence in Faculty enrolments. Roush’sinterestinthedetailofmanagementandstrongadvocacyofplant genetic modification in the face of environmentalpolitics assisted the Faculty through a period whenagricultural science was poorly understood by both itsbeneficiariesandtheUniversity.Butby2014Roushwasfedupandresigned.WithinmonthshewasappointedDeanofthe College of Agricultural Sciences at Pennsylvania StateUniversity, ‘one of the largest integrated academic andoutreach units of its kind in the USA with researchexpenditures approaching $97 (A$125) million annually,3,000 undergraduate students and 580 graduate studentsacross nine academic departments’.325 Roush had steppedup from Melbourne’s global ranking of universities inagriculturefrom32toPennState’srankof11.326

This history concludes at this point; the period betweenRoush’s departure, during which this work has beencompiled,hasseenthreeoccupantsoftheDean’schair.KenHinchcliff assumed overall Deanship of the combinedFacultyfor18monthsuntilheresignedtobecomePresident

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and Warden of Trinity College at the University.327 BrianLeury stepped into the breach until the merger could bebeddeddown.By2016,theFacultyhadsome414staff,andthenewlyappointedDeanJohnFazakerleyobservedthat‘atpresent,weofferover20coursesand300subjectsto3,500students and train approximately 259 research higherdegreestudentsonanincomeofaround$100m.WeprovidetheonlyprofessionalentryveterinaryprograminVictoria.The Bachelor of Agriculture is the fastest-growingundergraduateagriculturedegreeinAustralia.TheFacultymaintainsa2,500haworkingfarmatDookieanda24-houranimalhospitalatWerribee.’328Some34percentofstudentswere international, 57 percent were in the agriculturestreamandthebalanceintheveterinarystream.TheFacultyboasteda research incomeof$16million for2015.At thetime of writing, it is managed through two Schools,the�MelbourneVeterinarySchool(GraduateSchool)andtheSchoolofAgriculture&Food.The Faculty’s ‘Old Agriculture’ building and its ‘new’extension with which some 61 percent of the Faculty’s10,800 alumni identifieswas rumoured to be replaced bymodern facilities to service veterinary and agriculturalsciencestudents.329Theagriculturalsciencealumniremainwary that ‘agriculture’ may disappear from the site, andindeedfromtheUniversityasitaspirestobetheOxbridgeoftheSouth.ButitseemsthatagriculturalsciencewillretainitsfirmgripontheUniversity’slandscapealongtheParkvilleStripbesideother facultiessharingthesamedisciplines inmedical,scienceandveterinaryfieldsasatestimonytotheintegrated science now essential to this fundamentalunderpinningofcivilization,agriculture.



Chapter12

Overview:FacultyNamesandFaces

Since 1905, the Faculty has traded under various names,including: the Faculty of Agriculture, the School ofAgriculture, the School of Agriculture and Forestry, theInstituteofLandandFoodResources, theFacultyofLandand Food Resources, the Melbourne School of Land andEnvironment, and now the Faculty of Veterinary andAgricultural Sciences. It has been served by 22 Deans, ofwhichonlysixservedmorethanfouryears,adecanalperiodthatseemstohavebecomecommoninbusinessschools330and might be a portent for applied fields that requirecurrencywiththeirprofession.ThoselongerservingDeanssetorchangedthecultureoftheFaculty;Osbornebythree-termsofholdingtogetherthenascentFaculty,Wadhambyfirmly establishing thepresenceof theFaculty, ForsterbyfosteringtheFacultyasitsmonopolywaschallenged,Falveyby integrating the government and industry andmergingwith the colleges, Richardson by addressing irrationalmanagementsystemsintheFacultyandtheUniversity,andRoush by diversifying the Faculty to fields beyondagriculture.FacultynamesandDeansarepresented inthefollowing Table. But such an overview undervalues thechangeswroughtwithin theFaculty through itshistory todate.RegardlessofFacultynamesandDeans,theFacultyismoretrulyrepresentedbyitsconstituentstaff,bothacademicandprofessional.TheFacultyhasbeenblessedbydedicatedstaffcommittedtothefieldofagricultureaswellastheirownrole


in serving its improvement; this includes both specialistsandintegrators.AtleastnineleadingagriculturalscientistsfromtheFacultyhavebeenelectedFellowsoftheAcademyof Technological Sciences and Engineering;331many otherFaculty members have been with Academy’s initiativeknown as the Crawford Fund, which was created byAcademyFellowandFacultyDean,DerekTribetosupporttheinternationalprofileforagriculturalscience.

Names and Deans Across the Faculty’s HistoryYear Faculty Name Deans

1905-26 School of Agriculture Osborne, Cherry, Ewart, Laby, Richardson

1926-56 Wadham 1957-68 Forster 1969-89 School of Agriculture and Forestry Tribe,

Stubbs, Tulloh, Chinner, Parbery, Beilharz, Ferguson

1990-95 Egan, White

1995-00 Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture to 1997, then Institute of Land and Food Resources

Falvey, Lee Dow

2000-06 Faculty of Land and Food Resources (from 2004)

Richardson, Larkins, Slocombe

2007-14 Roush Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural

Sciences (from 2014)


Suchavocation–acallingifyoulike–maynotbecommontoallfacultiesinauniversity,anditprovidesahighlevelofresilience in the face of inadvertent and inappropriateactions in the wider university and beyond. This historyindicatessomeofthemanyadaptationsrequiredofFacultystaffover11decades,andthroughsuchperiodstheFacultycontinued to rank highly in publications, research incomeandgraduatecompletions,evenattimeswhenitwasunderpressure for inappropriately allocated debts,countermanded strategies and national downturns ofstudentinterestinagriculture.Formostoftheirexistence,boththeFacultyandthecollegesserved government and family farming. The VictorianDepartment of Agriculture and other governmentdepartments were the major employer of graduates atvarious timesupuntil the1960s – as technical assistants,extension agents, administrators and applied researchers.Aswoolwas of overriding economic importance until the1950s – and beyond through artificial pricing – sheepresearch was a major focus. In parallel, grains, dairying,horticultureandmeatgrewwithmarketsandtechnologiesthatimprovedefficienciesandvariouslybenefitedfromrail,refrigerationandcanning.Intensificationofproductionfromresearch and technology was complemented by landsubdivision and increased labour intensity, for manydecades through family farms.332 From the 1970s, anincreased commercial focus and more conspicuousagribusiness was only one factor leading to governmentlargessewavering; agricultural subsidieswere questionedandeventuallywithdrawn,andgovernmentcadetshipsthatpaid students and guaranteed their employment upongraduationreducedinnumbereachyear.Butdespitesuchchange,theagriculturalcollegescontinuedasiffamilyfarms


wouldremaintheeconomicdriverwhileinfactmostwouldsoon be unable tomeet the economic demands of capitalneeded toapplynew technologies,meethigh labour costsand service the demands of increasingly business-mindedbanks. The Faculty’s teaching and research remainedfocussedongovernmentandsomeproducers,whilelargeragri-businesses began to turn to international sources forthelatestdevelopments.Seeninthesetermsthehistoryofagricultural education in Victoria is one of periodicinstitutional failure to adjust to economic change – or tochanges in education policy as in the case of allowing LaTrobe to usurp the initiative, and in blithely seeking tointegratethecollegesintoaUniversityfaculty.However,itwouldbeunfairtoconcludethatintegrationofagriculturalcolleges into a university is undesirable. A contrast inAustralia is afforded by the University of Queensland’sintegrationofGattonAgriculturalCollege,whichisseenasamoresuccessfulmerger,possiblybecauseitbenefittedfromcircumstancesandactionsthatdidnotapplyintheVictoriancase.Forexample:onlyonecollegewasintegrated;Gattonwastheonlyagriculturalcollegeofferinghighereducation,whereasfiveofthesixVictoriancollegesofferedsomeformof higher education; the progressive Darling Downscommunity supported Gatton more reliably than did thecommunities surrounding the Victorian colleges; theUniversityofQueenslandinvestedheavilyinraisingGattontoitsstandards,whichincludedrelocatingmanyseniorstaffand combining the agricultural and veterinary faculties;Gatton was well located on a major route to the State’sclosest and largest inland city, and CSIRO was active inproductionagricultureintheState.ThemostsimilaroftheVictoriancolleges,Dookie,sharedonlypartsofsomeoftheseadvantages.Regrettableasmuchthwartedeffortassociatedwiththecollegesovertworecentdecadesmaybetothose


involved, it was a short period in the Faculty’s life –throughout which it has remained a national leader withpatchesofinternationalbrilliance.

The history might also be summarized as follows: Uponcreation, the Faculty remained inwaiting for its first twodecadesuntiladynamicDeanarrivedandcreatedacultureof science linked to commerce that suited the next threedecades.Thenfollowedadecadeofconservativelyfollowingnational developments while a neighbouring universitycreated a competing course that soon undermined theFaculty’s assumed entitlement, until new appointmentssought increased collaboration and research activities.Meanwhile,theco-extantvocationalcollegesinagriculturewerelanguishinginthepolicyfermentofthelastdecadesofthe20thcenturyandweretobeintegratedintotheFacultyunderaplantocreateagloballeaderinkeyfieldsofregionalsignificanceunderwrittenbythesheddingofduplicativeandunderperforming components. That grand vision,forestalledbytheUniversity’spoliticalimperatives,createda financial burden from thwarted staff reductions thatfocussed attention on frugal Faculty management andrational plans, which were again stymied by Universityfaintheartedness. By the time that the decision to shedunderperforming assetswasmade, itwas too late for thegrandvision toberealized.A reducedrole for theFacultywas imposed with more non-agricultural fields beinginsertedintotheFacultyastheUniversitymovedtoaliberalarts model that rendered agricultural science less visible.This then allowed the vestigial agricultural sciences to bemerged into a new iteration of the Faculty that includedveterinaryscience.Andthereitreststodayawaitingitsnextresurgenceinservingtheworld’sfirstneed,food.


Deans of the Faculty, Chronologically from 1905 to 2014333


1920 - 1924 1925 - 1926 1927 - 1956 1957 - 1968 1969 - 1972


1973 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1979 - 1980 1981 - 1983 1984 - 1986


1987 - 1989 1990 - 1993 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1998 1999


2000 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 2014


1905 - 1912 1912 1917 - 1918 1919 1920


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FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE


Chapter13

WhitherAgriculturalScience?Alumni, staff and friends of the Faculty’s old agriculturalsciencecoursemaylamentitspassing,but,inthespiritofitsphilosophyof systemicwholeness,wedowell toperceivechanges as part of the overall social environment. WhatbeganasanecessityforanoviceEuropeanculturetoadapttoastrangeenvironmentandprogressedthroughaperiodofintegratingsoundscienceacrossdisciplinesservedsouth-easternAustraliaandsimilarenvironmentselsewhereintheworldverywell.Thespiritwaskeptaliveintothe1960sand70swith global awareness of theprecariousness ofworldfood supply, which as a moral issue motivated manyscientificmindstoentertheprofessiondespitelocalsocietybeginning to see it as somewhat less prestigious thancommerce,lawormedicine.TheFacultywanedattimesintheabsenceofgenuinecompetition,andwaxedundergoodleadershipandbuoyanttimes.Throughmostofitslifeithasbeen renowned internationally – accolades, literaturereferencesandhonoursbestowedonitsprofessoriateadornthe record. But as this history documents, Deans havecarriedforwardabatonfromthatpastintothecurrenterainaracewithagriculturalandUniversityenvironmentsthathavechangedmarkedly.TheUniversityenvironmenthaschangedwithpositioningofthe institution beside elite international universities thatoften do not include agricultural science in the mannervaluedbythoseintheprofession.Agriculturalpracticehassimilarlychangedwithrapidadvancementoftechnologies,


includingcommunicationtechnologies,andnowdrawsfromarangeofscientificandtechnologicaldisciplinesthatcannotbecontainedwithinatraditionalagriculturalsciencefaculty.Suchknowledgerequiredintegration–buttheappreciationof that need is yet to revivify. The social environment inwhichtheFacultyoperatedhasalsochangedmarkedly.Uptosevendecadesago,agricultureanditsintegratedsciencewas valuedwidely, and about five decades ago themoralresponsibility to use agricultural science to stave offstarvation enthused undergraduates. By contrast today’spopular interest in food fashions is seenby those imbuedwiththeagriculturalsciencevaluesofthepastasparochialand somewhat superficial. The oncewaxing awareness ofthe need to apply agricultural science knowledge to thepopulous food-deficit regions of the world is in a waningphase that is perhaps poised to change as unplannedimmigration is traced to food shortages induced bygovernance failures and climate change. So, rather thanbemoanchangesinthemeansbywhichagriculturalscienceisperpetuated,wemayseeitswiderappreciationascyclicwithafaithfulremnanteveravailableforitspalingenesis.In this new environment, the resurgencewill notmean areturn to apast iterationof theFaculty. Yet thatpastwillinform the future. Past agricultural science courses arerecalledbymanycontributorstothishistoryashavingbeenan integratedwhole thatrequiredsoundunderstandingofphysics, chemistry, biochemistry, statistics, economics,appliedsocialscienceandmuchmoreinfourintensiveyearsof study that includedwhat were holiday times for otheruniversitystudents.Sometimesreferredtowithprideastheliberal arts degree of Australia, its graduates excelled indiversefieldsofsciencebeyondagriculture.Butthisbecameits Achilles’ heel as the age of specialization, industry


relevance and student choice advanced. Graduateemployment outside agriculture was mistaken for notmeeting industry needs, and students increasinglydemanded influence on course content. The variablysuccessfulMelbourneModel,whichhasinstitutedaformofliberal arts that bridges sciences andhumanities formoststudents,addsatouchofironywhenthe‘liberal’agriculturalscience coursehasmorphed intoa shorter less integratedandlessintellectuallydemandingcoursewithout‘science’inits title.Yet it isconsistentwiththeviewof1960sFacultypedantGeoffreyLeeperthatisparaphrasedas,if‘duringthecourseofhisuniversitystudiestheundergraduatedevelopsa habit of honest enquiry and has advanced towardsindependence of thought as a result of the stimulus andexampleoftheacademicsthentheuniversitymaybesaidtohavedoneitsjob’.334Intelligentwell-educatedgraduatesoffour-year Melbourne Model degrees containing soundscience and humanities who continue into postgraduateagricultural science studiesmaywell be the future torch-carriersoftheprofession.Suchfutureagriculturalscientists,complementedbythosefromlessscience-basedagriculturecourses,willbuildonthelegacyofVictoria’s130yearsofagriculturaleducation.AsthemostagriculturallyproductiveStateofoneoftheworld’sfourpercentofnationsthatarenetagriculturalexporters,itsagriculturalsciencebaseremainscriticaltomuchmorethanAustralia.University urban-bias and industry confusion ofhigher education with ‘job-ready’ graduates in the recentpast have led to Australian agricultural education beingdescribedas‘insomeways[having]aspecialplace…whileinotherways[missing]theboatinnottakingadvantageofopportunitiesavailableatparticulartimes’.335YetthewordsofWadhamin1927,thelongest-servingDeanoftheFaculty,


remaintrue–heemphasizedthat ‘theultimateaimofanyuniversitymustbetoadvanceanddisseminatelearningandtheadvanceof learningisdependentonsoundresearch…we shallmost nearly attain that objective ifwemake onehundred percent of our students realize what researchmeansandwhatareitsdifficulties…soundknowledgeoftheprinciplesofpurescienceareessential…thestudentmustbe made to realize that our knowledge is in a state oftransitionandthatweareprobablyonthethresholdofgreatadvances’.336 Later Deans have expressed this as ‘theagricultural scientist is not a generalist, but is a multi-disciplineSpecialist’,337 or as a graduatewithabroadanddeep higher science education informed by an integratedunderstanding of social, biological and physicalinterrelationships.338 This history suggests thatWadham’smissionwascarriedbyBobReidatLaTrobeUniversityatatime when the Melbourne Faculty wandered in itswilderness. If the 1960s proposal to locate La Trobe atBurnley had been implemented,339 this history ofagricultural science and the Faculty might have beendifferent.Yet despitemissed opportunities, agricultural science hasmaintaineda coreof commitment.That callingguided theFaculty through lean war years, opaque politics and themayhem resulting from colleges being encouraged torebadgeasuniversities.340Inthatlastperiod,someimaginedthat the integration of skills-based and science-basedlearning341ofScotland’spast inwhich 'the longtermwell-being of vocational agricultural education require[d] anannual recruitment of good university graduates'342 stillexisted in the late20thcentury.But thedemiseofsystemswith such an ethic was already widespread beyondAustralia.343 The 1990s recollection that 'the [Land Grant


CollegesoftheUSA]havedevelopedfrominstitutionswhichwere little more than trade schools'344 was thereforeunderstoodbyinformedFacultystaffaslittlemorethantherhetoric of the merger of the colleges into the Faculty.Informed staff knew the difference – that US Land GrantCollegeswere todayhighperforming research institutionswithlinkstoextension,whiletheAustraliancollegesdidnotconductresearchandhadlosttheir linkstoextension.Buthaving subscribed to that rhetoric as an instrument ofchange, it became a challenging management task tocoordinate independent colleges, State institutions anduniversities –one thatwasdestined to ebband flowwithpersonalities and politics. Today’s hindsight allows theinformed comment that ‘whoever thought that the entitybroughttogethercalledVCAHcouldsimplybedroppedintothe University of Melbourne and a new merged entity inagriculture and related areas could take Victoria to thepromisedlandwasmisguided.Butmaybe,untiltheexercisehadbeentriedandworkedonforadecadenoonecouldhavebeen quite sure. I think we now are!’345 With thatretrospection, those who managed through the periodconsider that the merger did not serve interests ofagricultural science or general agricultural education.346Future higher agricultural education must not make thesameerror.Past errors in agricultural education also include: Facultystaffbeingoutoftouchwiththetimes;myopiathatfailedtoseethatoldstyleofcollegesweredoomedtodisappear;thatpork-barrellingwas an unsustainable fundingmechanism,and that serious agriculturists and agribusiness valuedresponsivecoursessuchasthatofhigh-feeMarcusOldhamCollege,347 which succeeded while fee-free nearby State-ownedGlenormiston struggled. Long-time observer of the


AustralianruralindustriesNeilInallremarkedthat‘MarcusOldhamhassurvivedbecauseof its independence, thefactthat it hasn’t been deterred from its mission and to itscommitment to practical, on farm work as part of eachstudent’s learning.And it’ssurvivedbecauseof the lackofgovernment involvement, apart from going for somefinancial help from, would you believe, Edward GoughWhitlambackintheseventies.Ithassurvivedthe20yearsof the downgrading of agricultural courses at most ofAustralia’suniversitiesandtheoldagriculturalcolleges.’348Marcus Oldham never pretended to offer demandingagricultural science education, seeing that as theresponsibility of universities. But most such universitieswerelocatedincapitalcities.University agricultural science education in Australia is astrangelyurbanphenomenon.Onlyoneolderuniversity islocated in a rural city, the University of New England inArmidale NSW. By the 1980s, nine universities offeredagriculturalscience,whichexpandedtosome22campusesaftercollegesinflatedintohighereducationbeforeandwiththe1989Dawkins’Reforms–thiswasmorethanthenationrequired.Soonadeclineinagriculturalstudentnumbersledto a reduction to 11 institutions and culling of about 100agriculturalacademicstaff.Modifiedcoursesandageneralresurgenceafter2009shiftedthestudentgenderbalancetofemale,349 an indication of the responsiveness that mustextendtootheraspectsofagriculturaleducation.Attractingcapableyoungmindstodemandinguniversitycoursesrelieson priming examples about agriculture in school subjectsthatbothwidenstudents’mindsandensureaneducationalcontinuum,350 yet Victoria has provided scant attention toagriculture in school geography, history,mathematics andscience curricula351 and school-leaver STEM skills remain


lower than in the heyday of agricultural science courses.Such neglect combined with an urban orientation andnostalgic conceptions of ‘farming’ dragged intakes intoagricultural science courses across Australia down to its2012 nadir of a 45 percent decline from the early 1990s.Without further attention, the current resurgence inenrolmentsmaybeanhiatusofsurvival–anIndiansummer– between agricultural science being downgraded tosourcing of science and humanities subjects from diversefacultieswithoutintegration.If the Faculty is in an hiatus between offering a seriouslyintegratedscience-basedcourseandjustbeingaproviderofanother ‘broadening undergraduate experience’, theleadership challenge is to grasp the current opportunitiesarisingfrom‘the[2008]worldfoodcrisis,theaspirationsofthe emerging Asian middle class and various Free TradeAgreements [that] have rekindled interest in foodproductioninAustralia.Thisislikelytoremainatahighlevelfor at least the ensuing decade, providing a degree ofcertainty to educational providers that demand forgraduates will continue.’352 Those graduates will bepostgraduates who have long been an essential source ofinnovation353 in an economic sector with low levels ofgeneral education.354 And research trainingmust build ontheintegratedunderstandingforgedinundergraduateyearsfromtheintegrativesystemscalledforinrecentstudies.355The current iteration of the Faculty as Veterinary andAgriculturalSciencesallows focusonsuch integrationandresearch.Basedonacharterimpliedbyanexternalreviewofresearch,356commonalitiespotentiallyextendbeyondtheanimalsciencesintomolecularbiology,nanotechnologyandother fields that blur old divisions between substrates,


microbes,plants,animalsandhumans,andinteractthroughsuch understandings as One-Health. The review echoedthoseofearlierperiods,particularlythestrategicplanningofthe1990sinitsfocusonagriculturalindustriesinsouth-easternAustraliaasabasisformaintaininggloballeadershipin selected fields. In addition to the practical McKinnonProject,thereviewhighlightedcurrentFacultystrengthsofagronomy, crop sciences, plant pathology, moleculargenetics, and soil science complemented by such animalfieldsasgenetics,infectiousdisease,parasitology,pathology,physiology, microbiology and welfare. While it may beunrealistictoexpecttoleadinall12fields,thelistprovidesabasisforfutureFacultyplanning.Insuchanenvironment,experienced agricultural scientists remain interestedobserversofthecontinuingevolutionoftheFacultyinsuchauniversityasMelbourne.SomefearthattheUniversity’saspirationstogreatnessaretaking it down the paths of Cambridge andOxford,whichabolishedtheiragriculturalcoursesintheearly1970sandthe mid-80s respectively, ‘masking the change with anintroductionofaschoolofpureandappliedbiology,whichsoonmorphedintojustpurebiologyandfieldapplicationsdisappeared, except for the study of birds and voles inWythamWood’.357Thisdoesnotseemaprobableoutcomebecause Melbourne differs markedly from the OxbridgeworldinbeinginthecentreofthemajoragriculturalareaofanationfinanciallyreliantonagriculturalexportstonearbyAsia’sburgeoningandincreasinglywealthypopulation.AndtheUniversity ofMelbourne remains the largest player inthis major region with the largest number of seriousagriculturalsciencestudents358withthehighestproportionof the research training.Thismakes agricultural science aclear responsibility of a prestigious university that can


attract high-performing postgraduates from the city andinternationally.Today’s agriculture demands sound integratedunderstanding in research and the application of itsoutcomes–tocontinuallyadapttoever-newpests,climateand other variables while efficiently increasing foodproductionforexpandingpopulationsfromreducinglandsandminedresources.Itisnoexaggerationtoclaimfromthepastcentury’sexperiencethatourresponsestoagriculturaleducation today may be one yardstick by which ourcontributiontohumancivilizationisjudgedinthefuture.UniversityhistorianCarolynRasmussenrecentlydiscussed‘buildingsasmemory’,usingtheoldArchitecturebuilding’sreplacementbythenewandattractiveMelbourneSchoolofDesignasametaphorfortheadministrativechangesthattheUniversityhasmadeinadaptingtothemodernera.359ShedescribedtheUniversityupuntilabout1990asakintoitsolderbuildingsinbeingaproductof‘unfortunateaccretions,false starts, ill-fitting or cumbersome compromises, usefulbut temporary developments, some brilliant solutions toknottyproblems,carefulconservation,andboldnewideas’.WithintheUniversity,somesawthesolidbroadbaseoftheFaculty’s red-brick ‘Old Agriculture’ building facing RoyalParadeasrepresentativeofthestolidimagetheyretainedofpastpracticesinagriculture.Thebuildingwasdesignedwithits back to the SystemGarden,Botany and theUniversity,evenafteritsnewwingincorporatingtheDean’sofficewasadded,although thiswasrectifieda fewyearsagowhenawallwasopened to the light, theGarden,Botany, Zoologyand the University. Deans had warded off successiveattemptstomovetheFacultyfromthesite;recentlyaDeanwas facedwith suggestions to redevelop theold red-brick


building,butthesehavebeenwithdrawn.Thusthefirmgripon the earth of the first and extant building of ‘OldAgriculture’withitsstrongpresencespeaksofafuturethatawaits thenext iterationofagricultural scientists–andoftheFaculty.

South-west Corner of ‘Old Agriculture’: The Dean’s Office


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73 Theodore Fink (1901) Report on Technical Education: Continuation Schools in Great Britain and Europe, Establishment of Continuation Schools in Victoria; Survey of Technical Education in Great Britain, Europe, America, Japan, etc.; Technical Education in Victoria - Report and Recommendations. Victorian Royal Commission on Technical Education, Melbourne. 74 R. Aldridge and T. Kneen (1986) Dookie College: The First 100 Years, VCAH. 75 Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) (1897) Following the Equator. American Publishing Co. 76 1927 Dookie Collegian 77 http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1616.php 78 Elinor Morduant (1910) Sinabada. P114. 79 Argus, n.d. VCAH Files. 80 Cyclopedia of Victoria, 1903. Vol 1: 227-80. 81 E. Scott (1936) A History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 82 G. Blainey (1957) A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 83 University of Melbourne http://our-history.unimelb.edu.au/timeline/ 84 G. Blainey (1957) A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 85 M.A. Clements (1977) Frank Tate and the Politics of Agricultural Education in Victoria, 1895-1905. Chapter 8 in, Stephen Murray-Smith (1977) Melbourne Studies in Education. Melbourne University Press. Pp258. 86 M.A. Clements (1977) Frank Tate and the Politics of Agricultural Education in Victoria, 1895-1905. Chapter 8 in, Stephen Murray-Smith (1977) Melbourne Studies in Education. Melbourne University Press. Pp258. 87 S.M. Wadham (1951) Education in Agricultural Science in Australian Universities, Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 17:99-100. 88 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 89 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pye-hugh-8138 90 Kwong Lee Dow (2017) Personal Communication.


91 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lawson-sir-harry-sutherland-wightman-7117 92 S.M. Wadham (1951) Education in Agricultural Science in Australian Universities. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 17:99-100. 93 E. Scott (1936) A History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 94 J. Poynter and C. Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. 95 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 96 D. Maunders and D. Jaggs (1989) An Asset to the State: Longerenong Agricultural College. VCAH. 97 G. Blainey (1957) A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 98 Lindsay Falvey and Barrie Bardsley (1997) Land and Food: Agricultural and Related Education in the Victorian Colleges and the University of Melbourne. Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne. Pp266. 99 L.R. Humphreys (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. Pp225. 100 G. Blainey (1957) A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Press. 101 G. Blainey (1956) Sir Samuel Wadham: Selected Addresses – With a Biographical Study. Melbourne University Press. 102 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wadham-sir-samuel-macmahon-11930 103 G. Blainey (1956) Sir Samuel Wadham: Selected Addresses – With a Biographical Study. Melbourne University Press. 104 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wadham-sir-samuel-macmahon-11930 105 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 106 G. Blainey (1956) Sir Samuel Wadham: Selected Addresses – With a Biographical Study. Melbourne University Press. 107 Image adapted from: L.R. Humphreys (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. Pp225.


108 University of Melbourne Archives, Letter from D. Rivett to S. Wadham 1931; quoted in L. R. Humphreys. (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. Pp225. Page 33. 109 G. Blainey (1956) Sir Samuel Wadham: Selected Addresses – With a Biographical Study. Melbourne University Press. 110 Samuel Wadham (1927) The Point of View of the Agricultural Student. Inaugural Professorial Lecture 16 March 1927, quoted in L.R. Humphreys (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. PP225. Page 59. 111 B.R. Davidson (1981) European Farming in Australia: An Economic History of Australian Farming. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Pp437. 112 J. Poynter and C. Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. 113 R. Aldridge and T. Kneen (1986) Dookie College: The First 100 Years, VCAH. Page 127. 114 University of Melbourne Archives, http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/umblumaic/imu.php?request=display&port=45208&id=68ad&flag=ecatalogue&offset=0&count=default&view=details 115 Quoted in: R. Aldridge and T. Kneen (1986) Dookie College: The First 100 Years, VCAH. Page 127. 116 Mike Stephens (2012) Daring to be Different: Marcus Oldham College – Celebrating 50 Years 1962-2012.Stephens. Pp236. 117 Letter 28 in VCAH Files, Nov, 1956. 118 Department of Agriculture (1968) Gilbert Chandler Institute of Dairy Technology 1939-1968. 119 http://www.anu.edu.au/about/our-history 120 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 121 G. Blainey (1956) Sir Samuel Wadham: Selected Addresses – With a Biographical Study. Melbourne University Press. 122 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 123 Wadham, S.M. (1951) Education in Agricultural Science in Australian Universities, Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 17:99-100. 124 Nick Uren (2016) Personal Communication 125 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85.


126 John Pointer and Carolyn Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. Pp546. Page 216. 127 G. Halloran (1976) The Mount Derrimut Field Site of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Melbourne. 128 Department of Agriculture (1968) Gilbert Chandler Institute of Dairy Technology 1939-1968. 129 http://www.marcusoldham.vic.edu.au/foundation/achievements-and-history 130 Weekly Times, December 1961. 131 Mike Stephens (2012) Daring to be Different: Marcus Oldham College – Celebrating 50 Years 1962-2012.Stephens. Pp236. 132 Frank Larkins (2017) Meeting of the Society of Old Agriculture Fellows, University House, March 28, 2017. 133 John Pointer and Carolyn Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. Pp546, Page 139. 134 University Archives, http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/umblumaic/imu.php?request=display&port=45208&id=68ad&flag=ecatalogue&offset=0&count=default&view=details 135 N.C. Uren (1986) Some Aspects of University Education in Agriculture. Presented to the Conference of Directors and Principals of Agricultural and Horticultural Colleges of the South-West Pacific, August 26. 136 R.L. Reid (1969) Developments Leading to the Establishment of The School of Agriculture at La Trobe University. Unpublished manuscript. 137 Sir Alan Ramsay (1963) Report and Recommendation of the Committee for Development of Tertiary Education in Victoria. 138 R.L. Reid (1969) Developments Leading to the Establishment of The School of Agriculture at La Trobe University. Unpublished manuscript. 139 Carolyn Rasmussen presentation to the Past Players dinner, University House, University of Melbourne, November 22, 2016. 140 J. Pratley (2013) Review into Agricultural Education and Training in New South Wales. NSW Government, Sydney 141 http://dayofstem.org/australia/partners/atse-stelr-joins-day-of-stem-initiative/ 142 John Poynter and Carolyn Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. Pp546, Page 139. 143 A. Lazenby and D. Blight (1999) Thirty Years in International Education and Development: The IDP Story. IDP Education, Canberra. Pp228.


144 Doug Parbery and R. Greber (1996) Lionel Leslie Stubbs: Pioneer of Australian Plant Virology. Australian Plant Pathology 25(4): 261-370. 145 John Vercoe (2003) Professor Derek Tribe AO OBE Agricultural Scientist. The Livestock Revolution: A Pathway from Poverty? Conference of the ATSE Crawford Fund Parliament House, Canberra. 13 August. Pp 86. Pages 4-5. 146 Lindsay Falvey (2012) Derek Tribe: International Agricultural Scientist: Founder of the Crawford Fund. Crawford Fund for International Agricultural Research, Canberra; & Institute for International Development, Adelaide. Pp253. Pages 70-86. Online also. 147 Derek Tribe (2003) Living in the Twentieth Century: The Autobiography of Derek Tribe. Unpublished Manuscript. Pp258. Refer to: Lindsay Falvey (2012) Derek Tribe: International Agricultural Scientist: Founder of the Crawford Fund. Crawford Fund for International Agricultural Research, Canberra; & Institute for International Development, Adelaide. Pp253. 148 John Pointer and Carolyn Rasmussen (1996) A Place Apart: The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge. Melbourne University Press. Pp546, Chapter 12. 149 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 150 J.S. Hall (1972) Development in Formal Agricultural Education: A Selective Review. Agricultural Progress 47: 9-16. 151 R.J.W Selleck (2003) The Shop: The University of Melbourne 1850-1939. Melbourne University Press. Pp855. 152 J. Pratley (2016) Graduate Supply for Agriculture – A Glimmer of Hope. Farm Institute Insights, 13(2): 1-5. 153 R.N. Farquhar (1966) Agricultural education in Australia. Australian Council for Educational Research, Hawthorn Victoria. 154 Lindsay Falvey and Barrie Bardsley (1997) Land and Food: Agricultural and Related Education in the Victorian Colleges and the University of Melbourne. Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne. Pp266. Online also. 155 Lionel Stubbs (1994), in Doug Parbery and R. Greber (1996) Lionel Leslie Stubbs: Pioneer of Australian Plant Virology. Australian Plant Pathology 25(4): 261-370. 156 Derived from: Jim Pratley and Cameron Archer (2016) Education and Agriculture in Australia – A Journey of Contradiction. Boundless Plains to Share: Australia’s Agribusiness Partnership with Asia – Century 21. One Mandate Group. http://www.boundlesstoshare.com/


157 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/disher-harold-clive-10020 158 A. Lazenby and D. Blight (1999) Thirty Years in International Education and Development: The IDP Story. IDP Education, Canberra. Pp228. 159 L. Falvey et al. (1982) Review of Master’s Programs at the University of Melbourne. AIDAB. 160 B.R. Davidson (1981) European Farming in Australia: An Economic History of Australian Farming. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Pp437. 161 Martin Report, quoted in: W. Breen and J. Salmond (1989) Building La Trobe University: Reflections on the First 25 Years 1964-1989. La Trobe University Press. Pp205. 162 W. Breen and J. Salmond (1989) Building La Trobe University: Reflections on the First 25 Years 1964-1989. La Trobe University Press. Pp205. 163 Samuel Wadham (1927) The Point of View of the Agricultural Student. Inaugural Professorial Lecture 16 March 1927, quoted in L.R. Humphreys (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. PP225. Page 58. 164 J.S. Ryan (2007). McClymont's Vision: The Challenge Remains: Rural Science 50th Anniversary Conference 2006. Armidale, New South Wales: University of New England School of Rural Science and Agriculture. p. 205. 165 R.L. Reid (1968) Animals in Agriculture. La Trobe University Inaugural Lecture. Cheshire. 166 W. Breen and J. Salmond (1989) Building La Trobe University: Reflections on the First 25 Years 1964-1989. La Trobe University Press. Pp205. 167 Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cherry-sir-thomas-macfarland-9737 168 Doug Parbery and R. Greber (1996) Lionel Leslie Stubbs: Pioneer of Australian Plant Virology. Australian Plant Pathology 25(4): 261-370. 169 Doug Parbery and R. Greber (1996) Lionel Leslie Stubbs: Pioneer of Australian Plant Virology. Australian Plant Pathology 25(4): 261-370. 170 Falvey was Managing Director of MPW Rural Development, a foundation shareholder in Calgene and he became an alternate director. Calgene later became known as Florigene, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florigene#History 171 Jim Pratley and Cameron Archer (2016) Education and Agriculture in Australia – A Journey of Contradiction. Boundless Plains to Share: Australia’s Agribusiness Partnership with Asia – Century 21. One Mandate Group. http://www.boundlesstoshare.com/


172 B. Gaze (1997) The Ambiguity of Affirmative Action in Australia. Law in Context, Vol. 15, No. 2, 136-186.�http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=323238506410284;res=IELHSS 173 Mike Stephens (2012) Daring to be Different: Marcus Oldham College – Celebrating 50 Years 1962-2012.Stephens. Pp236. 174 Graham McConnell (1980) Marcus Oldham College Graduation Address. 175 Mike Stephens (2012) Daring to be Different: Marcus Oldham College – Celebrating 50 Years 1962-2012.Stephens. Pp236. 176 Doug Parbery and R. Greber (1996) Lionel Leslie Stubbs: Pioneer of Australian Plant Virology. Australian Plant Pathology 25(4): 261-370. 177 P.D. Mullaney (1980) The Role and Function of the Gilbert Chandler Institute of Dairy Technology to assist the Dairy Industry. Department of Agriculture, Victoria. 178 David Smith, quoted in: Hamish Russell, Barrie Bardsley and Robin Lawson (2014) Reminiscences from the Inside: Bringing Science to Agriculture: A History of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria 1846-1996. Russell, Bardsley and Lawson. Pp120. 179 Nigel Wood (2017) A View from Nigel Wood for the Faculty History. https://oafs.live/essays/a-view-from-nigel-wood-for-the-faculty-history/ 180 Nigel Wood (2017) Email dated March, 14 2007 181 Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andrew Brett (2016) Life after Dawkins: The University of Melbourne in the Unified National System of Higher Education 1988 – 96. Melbourne University Publishing. 182 David Penington (2010) Making Waves: Medicine, Public Health, Universities and Beyond. Miegunyah Press, Melbourne. Pp389. Page 256. 183 Snow Barlow (2017) Email dated January 22, 2017 184 University of Melbourne Archives http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/umblumaic/imu.php?request=display&port=45208&id=68ad&flag=ecatalogue&offset=0&count=default&view=details 185 N.M. Tulloh (1984) The School of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Melbourne 1905-1984. The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1984: 74-85. 186 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 187 http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/106323 188 Department of Employment, Education Training and Department of Primary Industries and Energy (1991) Review of Agriculture and Related Education. Australian Government Publishing Service.


189 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 190 Dawkins report, Higher Education - A Policy Statement, July 1988. 191 Department of Employment, Education Training and Department of Primary Industries and Energy (1991) Review of Agriculture and Related Education. Australian Government Publishing Service. 192 J.S. Ryan and G. L. McClymont (1996) Rural Science: Philosophy and Application. Armidale, New South Wales: School of Rural Science, University of New England. Pp.548. 193 Frank Larkins (2016) Personal Communication. 194 Nigel Wood (2016) Personal Communication. 195 Jeff Topp (2016) Personal Communication. 196 David Penington to Evan Walker, 22 December 1989, UMR 18-186-2, Part 2. 197 S. Macintyre et al. (2006) note that “the lengthy and complex negotiation of these issues is recorded in the University files, UMR E.2.5.1, and those of the State Director of Policy and Planning, VPRS 11418/P0001 units 13.” 198 Dennis Greenland (1992) Review of Agricultural and Related Education Consequent upon the Merger of VCAH and the University of Melbourne. Unpublished report. 199 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 200 Simon M. Livingstone (n.d.) Marcus Oldham College Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Inquiry into Rural Skills Training and Research. 201 John Freebairn (2016) Personal Communication. 202 Nick Uren (2016) Personal Communication. 203 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 204 Robert White (2016) Reflections on the Faculty from 1992 to 2003. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-the-faculty-from-1992-to-2003-robert-white/ 205 Robert White (2016) Reflections on the Faculty from 1992 to 2003. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-the-faculty-from-1992-to-2003-robert-white/ 206 University of Melbourne (1993) Working Party on Agriculture and Related Education. Unpublished manuscript. 207 Robert White (2016) Reflections on the Faculty from 1992 to 2003. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-the-faculty-from-1992-to-2003-robert-white/


208 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 209 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 210 Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andrew Brett (2016) Life after Dawkins: The University of Melbourne in the Unified National System of Higher Education 1988 – 96. Melbourne University Publishing. 211 Sir Edward Woodward (2005) One Brief Interval: A Memoir by Sir Edward Woodward. Miegunyah Press. Pp310. 212 Lindsay Falvey (2002) A Faculty’s Fate: Hindsight of Introspection - Unreliable reminiscences of the Faculty known as the Institute of Land and Food Resources from 1995 to 2000. Univ. Melbourne Archives. Pp171. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307877890_A_Faculty's_Fate_Hindsight_of_Introspection 213 Lindsay Falvey (2012) Glimpses Through a Glass Dimly: Recollections of Derek Tribe.Pp17. Page 14. http://derektribelindsayfalvey.yolasite.com/resources/Glimpses%20Through%20a%20Glass%20Dimly.pdf 214 Kwong Lee Dow (2006) KLD Summary of the Period May 1999 to end 2004. https://oafslive.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/kwongs-notes-for-faculty-history.pdf 215 Lindsay Falvey and Barrie Bardsley (1997) Land and Food: Agricultural and Related Education in the Victorian Colleges and the University of Melbourne. Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne. Pp266. Online also. 216 Lindsay Falvey (1996) Food and/or Environment. University of Melbourne. 3 April 1996. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268075725_Food_andor_Environment 217 Lindsay Falvey (1996) Food & Environment Education: Agricultural Education in Natural Resource Management. The Crawford Fund and the Institute for International Development. Pp280. 218 Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andrew Brett (2016) Life after Dawkins: The University of Melbourne in the Unified National System of Higher Education 1988 – 96. Melbourne University Publishing. 219 Minutes of Meetings of the Society of Old Agriculture Fellows, University House, University of Melbourne. 18 May, 2016; 3 August, 2016; 20 September, 2016; 8 November, 2016. 220 Adrian Egan (2016) Email dated December 13, 2016. 221 Richard Davis (2009) The Unbalancing of Australian Universities.


http://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/dissent/documents/sau/Davis.pdf Pp83. 222 Confucius (6th Century BCE) Analects Chapter XIV:36. 223 Accession 102/63. University of Melbourne Archives http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/imu/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=5122 224 A sample of press clippings, coordinated card and letter campaigns etc are contained in the University of Melbourne Archives, https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/67566?show=full 225 Sir Edward Woodward (2005) One Brief Interval: A Memoir by Sir Edward Woodward. Miegunyah Press. Pp310. 226 Lindsay Falvey (2016) Notes for the Faculty History: Lindsay Falvey. https://oafs.live/essays/notes-for-the-faculty-history-lindsay-falvey/ 227 Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andrew Brett (2016) Life after Dawkins: The University of Melbourne in the Unified National System of Higher Education 1988 – 96. Melbourne University Publishing. 228 Robert White (2016) Reflections on the Faculty from 1992 to 2003. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-the-faculty-from-1992-to-2003-robert-white/ 229 Lindsay Falvey (2016) Notes for the Faculty History: Lindsay Falvey. https://oafs.live/essays/notes-for-the-faculty-history-lindsay-falvey/ 230 Lindsay Falvey (2016) Notes for the Faculty History: Lindsay Falvey. https://oafs.live/essays/notes-for-the-faculty-history-lindsay-falvey/ 231 Sir Edward Woodward (2005) One Brief Interval: A Memoir by Sir Edward Woodward. Miegunyah Press. Pp310. 232 Stuart Macintyre, Gwilym Croucher and Andrew Brett (2016) Life after Dawkins: The University of Melbourne in the Unified National System of Higher Education 1988 – 96. Melbourne University Publishing. 233 Lindsay Falvey (1999) Decanal Declamation: On the Occasion of the Dean’s Departure from the Institute of Land and Food Resources of the University of Melbourne, May, 1999. https://www.researchgate.net/...Decanal_Declamation/.../543d4df90cf2d6934ebb642c 234 Lindsay Falvey (2002) A Faculty’s Fate: Hindsight of Introspection - Unreliable reminiscences of the Faculty known as the Institute of Land and Food Resources from 1995 to 2000. Univ. Melbourne Archives. Pp171. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307877890_A_Faculty's_Fate_Hindsight_of_Introspection 235 Sir Edward Woodward (2005) One Brief Interval: A Memoir by Sir Edward Woodward. Miegunyah Press. Pp310. 236 Sir Edward Woodward (2005) One Brief Interval: A Memoir by Sir Edward Woodward. Miegunyah Press. Pp310. 237 Bill Malcolm (2009) Obituary, Bob Richardson, 21/11/1944 – 21/7/2008. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 53: 457–459.


238 Janet Beard (2016) Personal Communication. 239 Kwong Lee Dow (2006) KLD Summary of the Period May 1999 to end 2004. https://oafslive.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/kwongs-notes-for-faculty-history.pdf 240 Richardson (2002) File note: Gilbert, Marshman, Richardson Meeting on 27 May 2002. 241 Letter: Richardson to Alan Gilbert, 17 May 2002. 242 Email Gilbert to Richardson, 17 July 2002. 243 Letter, Richardson to Gilbert, 29 May 2003. 244 Letters between Kwong Lee Dow and Richardson dated 26 April and 11 May, 2004. 245 Letter, Gilbert to Richardson, 11 December 2002. 246 Email, Gilbert to Richardson, 30 January 2003. 247 Memorandum: Richardson to Vice Chancellor and others, Notes of Meeting 24-05-04 on University Future Strategies on ILFR Structure. 26 May, 2004. 248 Handwritten notes by Richardson filed with personal files, apparently from 2003. 249 Craig Pearson (2004) Comments: Impressions of the Performance of the Institute of Land and Food Resources. September, 2004. 250 Planning and Budget Committee (2004) A Restructuring Proposal for Land and Food Resources. 5 October, 2004. 251 Memorandum, Richardson to Kwong Lee Dow and Ian Marshman. 25 October, 2004. 252 Memorandum, Richardson to Kwong Lee Dow and Ian Marshman. 29 October, 2004. 253 Letter from the Victoria Farmers’ Federation, Dimboola Branch to Richardson. 15 October 2004. Similarly toned letters repeating the language arrived from other personalities in an apparently coordinated campaign. 254 University Council Paper (2004) Faculty of Land and Food Resources. Kwong Lee Dow and Ian Marshman, 8 November, 2004. 255 PhillipsKPA (2004) The University of Melbourne: Assistance with Financial Strategy Development for the Institute of Land and Food. November Draft. 256 Richardson (2004) Handwritten notes about the PhillipsKPA report. 1 December, 2004. 257 Email from Richardson to Frank Larkins, 8 December 2004. 258 PhillipsKPA (2004) The University of Melbourne: Assistance with Financial Strategy Development for the Institute of Land and Food. December Draft.


259 Richardson to Vice Chancellor (2004) Letter of Resignation. 8 November, 2004. 260 Minutes of the Special Board Meeting of 11 November 2004. Faculty of Land and Food Resources. 261 Melbourne Update (2004) University Looks for a Clear Way Forward for Agriculture and Related Education. Vol 3, 20 October. 262 Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (2004) Proposal for the Future Development and Coordination of Agriculture, Production Horticulture and Food Processing Vocational Education & Training in Victoria. 26 October. 263 F. M. Cornford (1908) Microcosmographia Academica: Being A Guide for the Young Academic Politician. Cambridge. 264 Wimmera Mail Times, Wednesday November 17, 2004. Page 7. 265 The Australian, Wednesday November 10 or 11, 2004. Page 29. 266 Weekly Times, Wednesday November 17, 2004. Page 3. 267 Bill Malcolm (2009) Obituary, Bob Richardson, 21/11/1944 – 21/7/2008. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 53: 457–459. 268 Frank Larkins (2106) Reflections on Agriculture and Related Disciplines. Former Deputy Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Institute of Land and Food Resources in 2005. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-agriculture-and-related-disciplines-by-professor-emeritus-frank-larkins/ 269 Malcolm Hickey (2017) Email dated January 20, 2017. 270 Malcolm Hickey (2017) Email dated January 20, 2017. 271 Frank Larkins (2106) Reflections on Agriculture and Related Disciplines. Former Deputy Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Institute of Land and Food Resources in 2005. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-agriculture-and-related-disciplines-by-professor-emeritus-frank-larkins/ 272 Glyn Davis (2005) Email to All Staff; Message from the Vice Chancellor. June 7. 273 Frank Larkins (2106) Reflections on Agriculture and Related Disciplines. Former Deputy Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Institute of Land and Food Resources in 2005. https://oafs.live/reflections-on-agriculture-and-related-disciplines-by-professor-emeritus-frank-larkins/ 274 Ron Slocombe (2016) Notes Prepared as a Source for Faculty History. https://oafs.live/ron-slocombes-comments-on-his-time-as-dean/ 275 Ron Slocombe (2016) Notes Prepared as a Source for Faculty History. https://oafs.live/ron-slocombes-comments-on-his-time-as-dean/ 276 Ron Slocombe (2016) Notes Prepared as a Source for Faculty History. https://oafs.live/ron-slocombes-comments-on-his-time-as-dean/ 277 Mike Stephens (2012) Daring to be Different: Marcus Oldham College – Celebrating 50 Years 1962-2012.Stephens. Pp236.


278 Lindsay Falvey (1997) Industry launch of the Institute of Land and Food

Resources, 1 July 1997 at the Hyatt on Collins, Melbourne. 279 Kwong Lee Dow (2006) KLD Summary of the Period May 1999 to end 2004. Notes prepared as a source for the Faculty History. https://oafslive.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/kwongs-notes-for-faculty-history.pdf 280 Snow Barlow (2017) Email dated January 17, 2017 281 MUSSE (2011) Dean Re-appointed. Melbourne University Staff / Student E-news. August 11 / 66. 282 Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_School_of_Land_and_Environment 283 Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2011) Submission to Inquiry into Agricultural Education and Training for the Education and Training Committee, Victoria. 30 September, 2011. 284 Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Selected Higher Education Statistics http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Pages/default.aspx quoted in P. McSweeney, and J. Rayner (2011) Developments in Australian agricultural and related education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 33:4, 415-425. 285 Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2011) Submission to Inquiry into Agricultural Education and Training for the Education and Training Committee, Victoria. 30 September, 2011. 286 Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2011) Submission to Inquiry into Agricultural Education and Training for the Education and Training Committee, Victoria. 30 September, 2011. 287 Snow Barlow (2016) Personal Communication. 288 P. McSweeney and J. Rayner (2011) Developments in Australian Agricultural and Related Education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 33:4, 415-425. 289 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011 290 P. McSweeney and J. Rayner (2011) Developments in Australian Agricultural and Related Education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 33:4, 415-425. 291 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011 292 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011 293 Australia Post 2002 45-cent postage stamp honouring Nancy Millis. 294 MUSSE (2011) MSLE celebrates 125 years of Dookie Campus. Melbourne University Staff / Student E-news. November 11 / 73. 295 Farewell Dinner for Professor David Chapman Upper, East Dining Room, University House, Tuesday April 27, 2010


296 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011. 297 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011. 298 Report Commissioned by the Provost Office (2008) quoted in MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011. 299 Beacon Consulting (2010) Marketing Healthcheck Report to MSLE. 300 Right-hand image courtesy of Teresa Tjia 301 MSLE Business Plan 2011-2015. May 11, 2011. 302 Teresa Tjia (2017) Email of 12 February 2017. 303 Report of the Panel for Strategic and Performance Review 2010. University of Melbourne. 304 Teresa Tjia (2017) Email of 15 February 2017. 305 Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2011) Submission to Inquiry into Agricultural Education and Training for the Education and Training Committee, Victoria. 30 September. 306 http://www.agribio.com.au/what-we-do/scientists/a-culture-of-collaboration 307 Professor Mike Goddard, a 50 percent appointment between the Faculty and the State Department since 1998. 308 J. E. Pratley (2008). Workforce Planning in Agriculture: Agricultural Education and Capacity Building at the Crossroads. Farm Policy Journal. 5(3): 27- 41. 309 University of Melbourne Provost’s Office (2008) quoted in Melbourne School of Land and Environment (2011) Submission to Inquiry into Agricultural Education and Training for the Education and Training Committee, Victoria. 30 September. 310 Bill Malcolm (2010). Agriculture and Agricultural Science: Where Have All the Young People Gone? Agricultural Science 22:3 November, 35-39. 311 MSLE Annual Business Plan Update 2012-2013. 312 MSLE Annual Business Plan Update 2012-2013. 313 MSLE Annual Business Plan Update 2012-2013. 314 Snow Barlow (2016) Personal Communication. 315 Review of Biological Sciences (2013) Report to the Vice-Chancellor and to the Provost, by David Siddle, George Stewart and Liz Jazwinska, 28 October 2013. 316 Review of Biological Sciences (2013) Report to the Vice-Chancellor and to the Provost, by David Siddle, George Stewart and Liz Jazwinska, 28 October 2013. 317 University Executive document, Biological Sciences MSLE Recommendations – Summary of Issues Raised in Consultation. (n.d. 2014). 318 University Executive document, Biological Sciences MSLE Recommendations – Summary of Issues Raised in Consultation. (n.d. 2014).


319 Ken Hinchcliff (2016) Personal Communication. 320 Kwong Lee Dow (2017) Email dated January 18, 2017. 321 3101 University of Melbourne Magazine 21 May 2014. http://mag.alumni.unimelb.edu.au/2014/05/21/welcome-professor-rick-roush-dean-melbourne-school-of-land-and-environment/ 1/3 322 3101 University of Melbourne Magazine 21 May 2014. http://mag.alumni.unimelb.edu.au/2014/05/21/welcome-professor-rick-roush-dean-melbourne-school-of-land-and-environment/ 1/3 323 Will Higginbotham (2014) Bachelor of Agriculture, MSLE Merge to Create New Faculty. Friday, 2 May. http://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/farrago-author/will-higginbotham/ 324 Jim Pratley (2012) Professional Agriculture: A Case of Supply and Demand. Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture. Australian Farm Institute, Occasional Paper 12.01. 325 Roush Named New Dean of College of Agricultural Sciences. Penn State News, July 2, 2014. 326 QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 - Agriculture & Forestry. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2016/agriculture-forestry#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=pe 327 Ken Hinchcliff (2016) Personal Communication. 328 John Fazakerley (2016) Proposed Changes to Faculty Structure and Leadership: Discussion Paper. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, October 2016. 329 Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences Alumni and Friends Magazine (2016). Page 2. 330 https://www.ft.com/content/8af77ab4-e442-11e4-9039-00144feab7de 331 ATSE (2017) Information provided by the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering, Australia. ATSE Fellows include: Snow Barlow, Adrian Egan, Lindsay Falvey, Ian Ferguson, Frank Larkins, Tom McMahon, Tim Reeves, Derek Tribe, Norman Tulloh and others that may be of have been associated with the Faculty. 332 B.R. Davidson (1981) European Farming in Australia: An Economic History of Australian Farming. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Pp437. 333 Images courtesy of Jeff Topp. 334 N.C. Uren (1974) Generalists Versus Specialists. Unpublished manuscript. 335 Jim Pratley and Cameron Archer (2016) Education and Agriculture in Australia – A Journey of Contradiction. In Boundless Plains to Share: Australia’s Agribusiness Partnership with Asia – Century 21. One Mandate Group. http://www.boundlesstoshare.com/


336 Samuel Wadham (1927) The Point of View of the Agricultural Student. Inaugural Professorial Lecture 16 March 1927, quoted in L.R. Humphreys (2000) Wadham: Scientist for Land and People. Melbourne University Press. PP225. Page 58. 337 Adrian Egan (2016) The Forces that Played on the Faculty, 1985 to 1995. https://oafs.live/essays/the-forces-that-played-on-the-faculty-1985-to-1995-adrian-egan/ 338 Lindsay Falvey (2011) Re-Cultivating Agricultural Science, or What I’ve Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life. Institute for International Development. Pp139. Online also. 339 W. Breen and J. Salmond (1989) Building La Trobe University: Reflections on the First 25 Years 1964-1989. La Trobe University Press. Pp205. 340 K. Campbell, K. (1983) Educational Institutions. Chapter 18 in Australian Agriculture. 341 L. Falvey and B. Bardsley (1995) An Integrated Agricultural Research Education and Outreach System for Victoria. Agricultural Science (September-October): 35-38. 342 J.S. Hall (1972) Developments in Formal Agricultural Education: A Selective Review. Agricultural Progress 47: 9-16. 343 J.S. Hall (1972) Developments in Formal Agricultural Education: A Selective Review. Agricultural Progress 47:9-16. 344 E.D. Eddy (1956) Colleges of Our Land and Time. Harper & Brothers, New York, Pp.269. 345 Kwong Lee Dow (2016) Personal Communication. 346 Society of Old Agriculture Fellows discussions, through 2016. oafs.live 347 Simon M Livingstone (n.d.) Marcus Oldham College Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Inquiry into Rural Skills Training and Research. 348 Neil Inall (2012) Marcus Stuck with its Knitting. Address at the Celebration of the Launch of the History of Marcus Oldham College. 15 September, 2012. 349 Jim Pratley and Cameron Archer (2016) Education and Agriculture in Australia – A Journey of Contradiction. Boundless Plains to Share: Australia’s Agribusiness Partnership with Asia – Century 21. One Mandate Group. http://www.boundlesstoshare.com/ 350 Australian Academy of Science (2016) Agriculture Decadal Plan. Australian Decadal Plan. 351 ACARA http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/curriculum.htm quoted in P. McSweeney and J. Rayner (2011). Developments in Australian


Agricultural and Related Education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 33:4, 415-425. 352 Australian Academy of Science (2016) Agriculture Decadal Plan. Australian Decadal Plan. 353 Lindsay Falvey (2017) Agriscience Tames an Alien Land. In Boundless Plains to Share: Australia’s Agribusiness Partnership with Asia – Century 21. http://www.boundlesstoshare.com/agriscience.html 354 Jim Pratley (2013) Review into Agricultural Education and Training in New South Wales. NSW Government. 355 AAS (2016) Agriculture Decadal Plan. Australian Decadal Plan. 356 Alan Bell et al. (2015) External Review of Faculty Research, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, May 2015. 357 Robert White (2016) Personal Communication. 358 Estimate from figures derived from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, presented in P. McSweeney and J. Rayner (2011) Developments in Australian Agricultural and Related Education. Journal Higher Education Policy and Management. 33:415-425. 359 Carolyn Rasmussen presentation to the Past Players dinner, University House, University of Melbourne, November 22, 2016.


IndexAAgribio,164AgriculturalHighSchool,12,16,32,43AIDAB,81Aitken,52,63Ajlouni,146Alsace,12AnimalWelfareScienceCentre,121Archer,6,9Asia,73,81,113,157,167,188,9AusAID,81AustralianCentreforInternationalAgriculturalResearch,82,167

AustralianFelix,30AustralianUniversitiesInternationalDevelopmentProgram,81Australian-AsianUniversitiesCooperationScheme 73,81Australian-AsianUniversitiesCooperativeProgram,85B Bardsley,91,106,117,118,9Barlow,126,133,144,146,153,154,157,167Barry,25,26Beard,116,123,128,146,147Beilharziii,63,75,77,78,87,176Beruldsen,66Bhalla,119,146,147,157,167Birks,46Blackwood,52Botany39,40,43,45,58,148,189Boussingault,12BoydOrr,76Bren,133Brinsmead,128Britz,123,126Brown,36,37


Burnley,4,21,23,37,38,39,56,57,66,88,92,93,106,117,132,133,134,143,144,148,166,184

C Calgene,86Cambridge,12,19,25,26,40,46,48,49,50,139,188Cameron,6,40,51,9Carnegie,107CGIAR,76,117Chapman,133,146,161CharanChantalakhana,117CharlesSturtUniversity,5,155,156,172Chen,146,154,156,157,167Cherryiii,29,30,31,35,39,41,42,43,85,176Chinneriii,58,75,77,78,86,176Chisholm,107ChristianBonte-Friedheim,117Cirencester,13,14,17Clarke,91ColomboPlan,73Connor,85,97,99,126Cook,5,66Cornell,17,46Coster,117Cousens,126,133Creswick,58,86,99,133,134,141,142,143,144,148,160,166Croke,90Cronin,38CSIRO,50,51CTEC,viii,94D Dalling,86Davis,143,148,157Dawkins,100,102,109,186Dawkins,100,186DeakinUniversity,149


Dookie,4,18,19,20,23,29,31,32,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,53,54,55,56,57,65,66,88,89,90,92,93,97,104,106,110,117,127,132,133,134,135,136,139,142,143,144,145,146,147,153,155,156,157,158,159,160,164,165,166,171,173,178,9

Douglas,76Dow,17,19Drevermann,45,46,53Drew,133Dunkin,63Dunshea,146,156,167E Edinburgh,12Eganiii,85,97,99,104,105,108,110,120,126,145,176Emerald,5Ewart,35,43,58,176F Falvey,113,115,116,118,119,120,121,123,124,125,126,131,138,140,145,149,175,176,9

FAO,117Farrer,5,37Fazakerley,173Ferguson,58,75,77,78,86,126,145,176Fink,20,35,36,37,38,39Forestry,2,21,58,77,87,99,109,110,111,114,126,133,141,144,167,175,176

Forster,62,63,64,66,67,68,70,72,75,81,98,151,175,176Freebairn,107G Gamble,44,46GattonAgriculturalCollege,178Gignon,12Gilbert,52,57,66,92,93,106,117,120,125,129,131,132,133,134,136,140,142,143

GilbertChandler,57,66,92,93,106,117,133,134,136,142,143


Glenormiston,5,67,90,91,93,104,106,117,133,135,136,142,143,185

Goddard,123,126Gray,117Guerin,36H Halloran,63Hawkins,63,69,76,85He,168Henty,7Hickey,117,118,123,124,126,128,141,149,168Hinchcliff,171,173Hohenheim,12I IDPLimited,81Inall,186InternationalLivestockResearchInstitute ,76,127IsmaelSerageldin,116J Jessep,56KKeenan,144Kimpton,56Kneen,57,66,90,9LLaTrobe,5,31,69,71,79,83,84,85,97,99,101,102,103,104,107,109,116,127,131,149,156,164,178,184

Laby,35,43,176LandGrantCollege,54,104LandGrantColleges,12,13,19,28,54,98,104,109,115,185Langford,157Larkins,120,131,137,140,141,142,143,145,150,176LeeDowi,43,113,115,127,128,138,176Leeper,52,64,75,85,183Leury,173Littlejohn,66,92


Lloyd,63,75Longerenong,4,7,20,23,29,31,35,36,37,39,40,45,53,55,56,57,66,67,77,88,89,90,93,97,103,104,106,108,117,123,124,133,135,136,142,143,144

Longreach,5Lonsdale,90Luff,90,94,102,106Luffmann,38MMacFarland,48Maclean,133Manners,117MarcusOldham,5,19,56,67,91,106,116,127,149,185MartinCommittee,61MasseyUniversity,57McClymont,84,102McCollReview,99,100,102,103,104,109McConnell,92,106McKinnonProject,188McLennan,56McMillan,5,90,91,93,103,106,117,133,135,136,142,143,144

Mechanics’Institutes,4MelbourneModel,144,145,147,151,153,154,159,161,183Millis,160Monash,52,70,121,131Moore,117,133,144MountDerrimut,65,68,77,86,97,98,104,109Mullaney,92Muresk,5MurrayCommittee,63NNeilson,38OOAFS,i,viii,118


OldAgriculture,44,54,55,59,68,69,73,77,83,95,162,173,189,190

Osborne,35,39,42,43,45,47,175,176Oxford,12,19,26,27,188PPadua,12Parbery,75,77,78,145,176Pausacker,116Pearce,63Penington,94,113,125Pescott,38Pittman,53Pollard,90,117,126,133Potter,63,98,108Pratley,6,172,9Prescott,56Presser,63Provan,54,57,66Pudney,36Pugsley,63Pye,37,43RRae,56Raff,52Read,133Reid,84,107,184Richardson,35,43,44,45,47,51,129,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,140,142,143,145,175,176

Robb,160Robinson,59,62Roseworthy,4,13,46Rothamsted,13Roush,150,151,153,154,157,158,159,161,163,166,167,171,172,173,175,176

Rowett,13RoyalAgriculturalSociety,15


Rutherglen,31,35Ryan,92,117,139SSinclair,45Singh,119,144,154,156,157,167Slocombe,131,137,143,144,145,147,149,150,176Smith,12,59,63,65,93Stevens,92Stork,146Strathfieldsaye,80Stubbs,75,77,78,79,85,86,92,176Swinburne,30,39,48SystemGarden,26,27,28,45,95,162,189TTate,31,32,40Taylor,168Thompson,37,39Tjia,154,158,163Tocal,5Topp,118,160Tribe,62,63,64,75,76,77,78,81,85,98,113,127,176Tulloh,42,56,63,64,75,77,78,81,145,176Twain,7,36,9UUren,85VVagg,133vanStevenick,107Vasey,52Vatsaloo,116VCAH8,93,94,96,97,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,107,108,109,110,111,113,114,115,116,117,118,120,122,125,127,132,134,139,140,142,151,185,9

Veterinary,2,9,31,40,45,47,67,80,97,105,110,143,147,149,150,164,166,168,170,171,173,175,176,187

Vinden,148


WWadham,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,55,56,58,59,60,61,62,64,67,68,69,72,75,76,84,114,164,175,176,183

Waite,13,45,97Wallace,8,30,31Wallis,8,17,18,19,21,23,28Warner,168Watson,63Weickhardt,65White,97,100,104,105,109,110,111,119,145,150,176Williams,63Wilson,27,45,63Wine,134,155,159,164Women,20,24,44,56,58,87,88,89,90,92,123,160Wood,94,123Woodgate,54,56Woodruff,47Woodward,123,125WoolInternational,131Wrigley,133YYanco,5

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Beard, LFRWMHNWSBFLKLDJTJ

Title:

Agricultural Education in Victoria & the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Melbourne

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2017-08-10

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Beard, L. F. R. W. M. H. N. W. S. B. F. L. K. L. D. J. T. J. (2017). Agricultural Education in

Victoria & the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Melbourne. lindsay falvey - Old Agriculture

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