Roseworthy Railway Station. All that is left of the old railway station with its three platforms. This was a junction station with a line going to Kapunda and Eudunda and another north to Burra.
Roseworthy.
Just outside of the town is the Roseworthy Agricultural College established in 1883. The railway from Adelaide reached the district in 1860. In 1869 the line was pushed northwards from here to the great copper mine at Burra. There are virtually no old buildings left in the town which once had an early Methodist Church, the hotel was totally rebuilt, the old railway station and the old school were demolished. The oldest public building in town is the Soldiers War memorial Hall.
•Origins are in declining wheat yields from the bread basket of Australia- SA; and the governments concerns to be experimental and in the forefront of scientific thinking. SA was almost radical in those times of 1880s- later the communists village settlement on the Murray River; the early 1880s a period of droughts; agriculture beyond Goyder’s line and agriculture in a mess- farmers walking off the land, lots of criticisms of the government.
•Albert Molineux. Despite his French name he was English. In 1875 he produced the first edition of a farming and gardening magazine called Garden and Field. From the start of Garden and Field he argued for a professor of Agriculture and a government department of Agriculture. The government listened. The first Minister of Agriculture was appointed in 1876 with a Central Board of farmers to advise him; the government began planning for Roseworthy College in 1880/81 although it did not open until 1885, but Professor Custance arrived and began work in 1883.
•Next in 1887 Albert Molineux proposed Agricultural Bureaux to help farmers modernise and user better methods for dairying and for cereal crops, and for the use of insecticides on fruit trees and vines in the Barossa and the use of fertilisers. i.e he wanted farmers to use the latest scientific methods for farming. Again the government listened. In February 1888 they established the Agricultural Bureaux. They were to be run from the Central Agricultural Board which advised the minister. Local branches were to be established to get the new scientific ideas out to the farmers. In the first year branches were established at: Burra, Gumeracha, Millicent, Mannum, Nurioopta and Stansbury. Soon there were over 120 branches across the state. Around 100 still operate after 120 years. Trevor will talk to you before dessert about the offshoot for women. In 1888 the Bureaux started advocating the use of superphosphate for wheat crops.
•Professor John Custance appointed 1882 to found the college and revive sagging fortunes of agriculture. He was the first professor of Agriculture in SA. He was a researcher and teacher. He experimented with new crops, new varieties of wheat and manures and above all else superphosphate. This was the first agricultural college in Australia. He experimented with guano from Sth America and in 1883 the Adelaide Chemical Works opened at Torrensville to produce super phosphate for wheat farmers. Wheat returns generally doubled with the application of super. More manufacturer of super established including Wallaroo Fertiliser Works and super was gradually adopted around all the wheat belts of Australia. Custance was suspended in 1886 because he had insulted the head for the Crown Lands Department! He returned to England but came back out to SA in 1906 and lived her until he died in 1923.
•The wonderful blue stone main building was completed in 1883 and the first 25 students began studies in 1885. The college was based on practical experience and had a full scale farm (the govt bought Olive Hill Farm at Roseworthy for the College) including dairy herds, cattle, sheep and cereals. It did not become part of the University of Adelaide as originally planned and remained a separate entity. The first links with the University of Adelaide were established in 1905 when wine making and other courses were accepted By Uni of Adelaide as subjects towards a B.Sc. It was eventually merged into the University in 1991.
•In 1887 William Lowrie was appointed as principal. He began a series of experiential government farms across the state to find new crops and new fertilisers and scientific breeding of livestock etc. The main farms were at: Millicent; Eudunda, Clare; Maitland; Gladstone and tiny Black Rock near Orroroo. He was also the one who popularised superphosphate with the farmers and showed them the direct benefits in the crop yields they would get. He left suddenly too after fights with the government about funding and resources for Roseworthy College. What changes? He resigned in 1902 and moved to Canterbury in New Zealand. He also eventually returned to SA and lived at Echunga until he died in 1933.
•Professor Arthur Perkins was another important early college principal. He was appointed in 1904 and became the new head of the newly established Department of Agriculture for the government as well. He had established the first wine making course at the college in 1895. He placed an emphasis on viticulture and his quarantines on plant imports to SA helped the state avoid a major phylloxera out breaks in the early 1900s.
•During the 1920s and 1930s the college expanded its programs and forged closer links with the science programs at the University of Adelaide. It by the awarded the Diploma of agriculture, another in Dairying and another in Oenology or winemaking (established 1936- the first in Australia.) In 1974 the college became a College of Advanced Education and in 1991 it merged with the University of Adelaide. It now also conducts the veterinary science program for the university which only began in SA for the first time a couple of years ago.
•A later principal, Reg Ninnes also forged a link between the college and the state highs schools in the 1920s. Principal Ninnes set up the agricultural science program at Clare High school in 1927 the first in the state of SA. The others set up at that time were Kadina and Balaklava( and Urrbrae of course.) For almost 30 years he was responsible for agricultural programs in state high schools across the state, including the one devoted solely to agriculture at Urrbrae. Urrbrae Agricultural High School was gifted to the Education department by wealthy pastoralist Peter Waite in 1913. But the high school did not begin until after Peter Waite’s death in 1922. Classes started in 1926.
•Mr Peter Waite in his letter to the premier in 1913 offering land for an agricultural high school. He wrote:
• with comparatively little scientific training our agriculturalists and pastoralists have placed our wheat, wool and fruits in the highest estimation of the world;
•our sheep have been brought to perfection such that they are sought not only by all the sisters states but by South Africa;
•our agricultural machinery has been found good enough for even the Americans to copy;
•and our farming methods have been accepted by the other states as the most up-to-date and practical for Australian conditions.”
Roseworthy Railway Station. All that is left of the old railway station with its three platforms. This was a junction station with a line going to Kapunda and Eudunda and another north to Burra.
Roseworthy.
Just outside of the town is the Roseworthy Agricultural College established in 1883. The railway from Adelaide reached the district in 1860. In 1869 the line was pushed northwards from here to the great copper mine at Burra. There are virtually no old buildings left in the town which once had an early Methodist Church, the hotel was totally rebuilt, the old railway station and the old school were demolished. The oldest public building in town is the Soldiers War memorial Hall.
•Origins are in declining wheat yields from the bread basket of Australia- SA; and the governments concerns to be experimental and in the forefront of scientific thinking. SA was almost radical in those times of 1880s- later the communists village settlement on the Murray River; the early 1880s a period of droughts; agriculture beyond Goyder’s line and agriculture in a mess- farmers walking off the land, lots of criticisms of the government.
•Albert Molineux. Despite his French name he was English. In 1875 he produced the first edition of a farming and gardening magazine called Garden and Field. From the start of Garden and Field he argued for a professor of Agriculture and a government department of Agriculture. The government listened. The first Minister of Agriculture was appointed in 1876 with a Central Board of farmers to advise him; the government began planning for Roseworthy College in 1880/81 although it did not open until 1885, but Professor Custance arrived and began work in 1883.
•Next in 1887 Albert Molineux proposed Agricultural Bureaux to help farmers modernise and user better methods for dairying and for cereal crops, and for the use of insecticides on fruit trees and vines in the Barossa and the use of fertilisers. i.e he wanted farmers to use the latest scientific methods for farming. Again the government listened. In February 1888 they established the Agricultural Bureaux. They were to be run from the Central Agricultural Board which advised the minister. Local branches were to be established to get the new scientific ideas out to the farmers. In the first year branches were established at: Burra, Gumeracha, Millicent, Mannum, Nurioopta and Stansbury. Soon there were over 120 branches across the state. Around 100 still operate after 120 years. Trevor will talk to you before dessert about the offshoot for women. In 1888 the Bureaux started advocating the use of superphosphate for wheat crops.
•Professor John Custance appointed 1882 to found the college and revive sagging fortunes of agriculture. He was the first professor of Agriculture in SA. He was a researcher and teacher. He experimented with new crops, new varieties of wheat and manures and above all else superphosphate. This was the first agricultural college in Australia. He experimented with guano from Sth America and in 1883 the Adelaide Chemical Works opened at Torrensville to produce super phosphate for wheat farmers. Wheat returns generally doubled with the application of super. More manufacturer of super established including Wallaroo Fertiliser Works and super was gradually adopted around all the wheat belts of Australia. Custance was suspended in 1886 because he had insulted the head for the Crown Lands Department! He returned to England but came back out to SA in 1906 and lived her until he died in 1923.
•The wonderful blue stone main building was completed in 1883 and the first 25 students began studies in 1885. The college was based on practical experience and had a full scale farm (the govt bought Olive Hill Farm at Roseworthy for the College) including dairy herds, cattle, sheep and cereals. It did not become part of the University of Adelaide as originally planned and remained a separate entity. The first links with the University of Adelaide were established in 1905 when wine making and other courses were accepted By Uni of Adelaide as subjects towards a B.Sc. It was eventually merged into the University in 1991.
•In 1887 William Lowrie was appointed as principal. He began a series of experiential government farms across the state to find new crops and new fertilisers and scientific breeding of livestock etc. The main farms were at: Millicent; Eudunda, Clare; Maitland; Gladstone and tiny Black Rock near Orroroo. He was also the one who popularised superphosphate with the farmers and showed them the direct benefits in the crop yields they would get. He left suddenly too after fights with the government about funding and resources for Roseworthy College. What changes? He resigned in 1902 and moved to Canterbury in New Zealand. He also eventually returned to SA and lived at Echunga until he died in 1933.
•Professor Arthur Perkins was another important early college principal. He was appointed in 1904 and became the new head of the newly established Department of Agriculture for the government as well. He had established the first wine making course at the college in 1895. He placed an emphasis on viticulture and his quarantines on plant imports to SA helped the state avoid a major phylloxera out breaks in the early 1900s.
•During the 1920s and 1930s the college expanded its programs and forged closer links with the science programs at the University of Adelaide. It by the awarded the Diploma of agriculture, another in Dairying and another in Oenology or winemaking (established 1936- the first in Australia.) In 1974 the college became a College of Advanced Education and in 1991 it merged with the University of Adelaide. It now also conducts the veterinary science program for the university which only began in SA for the first time a couple of years ago.
•A later principal, Reg Ninnes also forged a link between the college and the state highs schools in the 1920s. Principal Ninnes set up the agricultural science program at Clare High school in 1927 the first in the state of SA. The others set up at that time were Kadina and Balaklava( and Urrbrae of course.) For almost 30 years he was responsible for agricultural programs in state high schools across the state, including the one devoted solely to agriculture at Urrbrae. Urrbrae Agricultural High School was gifted to the Education department by wealthy pastoralist Peter Waite in 1913. But the high school did not begin until after Peter Waite’s death in 1922. Classes started in 1926.
•Mr Peter Waite in his letter to the premier in 1913 offering land for an agricultural high school. He wrote:
• with comparatively little scientific training our agriculturalists and pastoralists have placed our wheat, wool and fruits in the highest estimation of the world;
•our sheep have been brought to perfection such that they are sought not only by all the sisters states but by South Africa;
•our agricultural machinery has been found good enough for even the Americans to copy;
•and our farming methods have been accepted by the other states as the most up-to-date and practical for Australian conditions.”