PIRSA Oral History Program – State Library reference no. for Somerville Collection OH 675/7

An interview with Peter Barrow by Bernard O’Neil on 30 March, 13 and 20 April 2004 in regards to the history of the Department of Agriculture.

Time Subject Proper names
 Tape 1, Side A 
0:25 Born Adelaide, 1928; living in the suburbs; education; university Mrs McKee; Adelaide; Rose Park; Netherby; Waite Institute; Highgate Public School; Unley High School; Adelaide High School; Professor Prescott
5:10 Agriculture Department cadetship; Agricultural Science degree; working on fruit fly outbreak University of Adelaide; Soil Conservation Branch; [Horticulture Branch]; Tom Miller; Roseworthy College
9:10 Agricultural Science degree and cadetship 
10:40 Experience of farms and farming; practical work at Roseworthy Waite Institute; Bert Kelly; Tarlee; Parrakie; Murray Mallee; Roseworthy College
13:25 Career commences; ex-servicemen in the Department; soil conservation work (surveying, contour-banking, attitudes towards, experiences with farmers) Soil Conservation Branch; Bob Herriot; Bob Baker; Jack Blencowe; Alan Beare; Murray Mallee; Murray Mallee Soil Conservation Board; Gladstone; Jamestown; United States; Tom Playford; Adelaide Hills
25:15 Departmental vehicles; learning to drive; motor bikes; Government Garage Murray Mallee; Herriot; International Harvester Co.; Yorke Peninsula; Gladstone; Pirie St; East Tce; Frome Rd
28:55 Attending Roseworthy College Roseworthy College; Waite Institute; North Tce; Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science
30:50 Time on fieldwork, conferences and meetings Adelaide; Agricultural Bureau
 Tape 1, Side B 
0:20 Soil conservation work; move to Jamestown for work; career move in the Department; Agricultural Bureau meetings Jamestown; Herriot; SA Housing Trust; Barley Improvement Program; Waite Institute; Roseworthy College; Agricultural Bureau
8:40 Barley agronomist career; move to Adelaide; Housing Trust house Jamestown; Adelaide; Northfield; Wattle Park; Netherby
13:00 Barley agronomist career; Barley Improvement Program; malting industry; move from research to administrative work Lex Walker; Len Cook; Waite Institute; Barley Improvement Research Committee; South Australian Barley Research Committee; Victoria; WA; NSW; Carlton United
18:15 Departmental research laboratories; officer-in-charge, Northfield; planning Northfield as the headquarters Adelaide; Northfield; Northfield Mental Hospital; Dairy Research Centre; John Radcliffe; John Feagan; Pig Research Unit; Geoff Strickland; Graham Itzerott; Waite Institute
25.20 Working at Northfield; management training; combining work in Adelaide and Northfield Northfield; Wattle Park; Adelaide; Roseworthy College; Arbury Park, Adelaide Hills; Frank Pearson; Tobruk
 Tape 2, Side A 
0:15 Career review; Commonwealth Extension Services Grant; working in Head Office; Chief Agronomist Northfield; Adelaide; Walker; Arthur Tideman; Gawler Place; Cook; Newton Tiver; Pearson
7:25 Director of Agriculture; restructuring the Department Marshall Irving
11:45 Departmental review Walker; Irving; Farmers’ Federation
15:40 Directors of Agriculture; Acting Directors of Agriculture Strickland; Irving; Walker; Trumble; Jim McColl; Victoria
19.15 Personal interest in Director’s job Walker; McColl; Irving; Trumble
22:00 Departmental review Walker; Irving
24:10 Attitudes in the Department in 1970s; Callaghan Report Public Service Board; Trumble; Allan Callaghan; Irving; Walker; Mr Matthews; Mt Gambier; Adelaide
28:35 Regionalisation McColl
29:55 Cessation of annual reports 
30:55 Changes with new Director; Pest Plants Commission and Pest Animals Group join from the Lands Department McColl
 Tape 3, Side A 
0:20 Overseas experiences – dryland farming; travel experience; Libyan attitudes to foreigners Don Dunstan; Libya; Jebel Akhdar; Benghazi; SA Seed Growers Cooperative; Horwood Bagshaw; John Shearer & Co.; Algeria; Tunisia; India; Rome; Adelaide
10:25 Involved in the original agreement and recruiting the staff; visits to Libya; Western Australian involvement Tom Casey; Libya; Dunstan
13:00 International Grasslands Congress, 1974; overseas work; rural cooperative schemes Casey; Moscow; Dunstan; Russia; England; Canada; United States; France
18:45 Overseas with Minister; meat exports; modernising agricultural practices overseas; projects becoming more formal; problems with projects; retirement mode Casey; SA Meat Corporation; Libya; Tunisia; Algeria; Lebanon; Iraq; Middle East; North Africa; Australian Agricultural Consulting and Management; Tideman; Iran; Pest Plants Commission; McColl; Mrs Barrow; Glyn Webber
28:55 Benefits of overseas projects; Overseas Projects Division formed, becomes Sagric International Libya; Algeria; Iraq; Tideman; Sagric International
31:55 Living in Iraq; Iran–Iraq war Ain Kawa; Erbil; Iraq
 Tape 3, Side B 
0:05 Iran–Iraq war; religious/tribal affinities Iraq; Baghdad
4:30 Life for Australian women in Iraq; salary arrangements; decision to retire, 1986; Animal & Plant Control Commission; expansion of Sagric International’s work Iraq; Sagric International; Pest Plants Commission; Tideman; McColl; Adelaide; Saudi Arabia
11:00 Opinions on overseas work; government support for it; comments on Ministers; attempted sacking by Minister Radcliffe; Dunstan; Algeria; Iraq; Ted Chapman; Kangaroo Island; Brian Chatterton; Lynne Chatterton; Adelaide; McColl; Mrs Barrow
17:40 Comments on Ministers; Pest Plants Commission formed Casey; Gabe Bywaters; Chapman; Pest Plants Commission
19:40 Meetings of Australian Agricultural Council and Standing Committee on Agriculture; relations with assistant; project management and budget programming McColl; Radcliffe; Barry Greer
24:00 Changes to agriculture and the Department’s philosophy under a Labor government, 1960s–1970s Agricultural Bureau; Maitland; Industries Assistance Commission; Casey; Dunstan
29:40 Callaghan Report; regionalisation Callaghan; McColl; Trumble; Radcliffe; Greer; Grasslands Congress; Libya
 Tape 4, Side A 
0:30 Impact of regionalisation; regional arrangements; focus on research and Department losing its way  Callaghan; Adelaide; Radcliffe; SARDI; McColl; Irving; Strickland; Jamestown
13:35 Own involvement in the Callaghan Report; regional work Callaghan
16:30 Relations with Directors; Soldier Settlement Schemes; Acting Directors Callaghan; Strickland; Irving; Public Service Commissioner; Roseworthy College; Lands Department; McColl; Radcliffe; Walker; Greer; Trumble; CSIRO; Waite Institute; Animal & Plant Control Commission; Iraq
31:55 Isolation and retirement from the Department Kim Mayes; Saudi Arabia
 Tape 4, Side B 
0:04 Retirement; superannuation; severed professional contact with Department; Retiree’s Group; part-time work John Bromell; Animal & Pest Control Unit; Saudi Arabia; Mrs Barrow; Miller; Sagric International
4:45 Radcliffe as Director-General; Pest Plants Commission Radcliffe; Callaghan Report; Pest Plants Commission; CSIRO; St Kilda
9:00 Own career moves Miller; Itzerott; Alan McCardle; FAO; Libya
12:10 Career changes Jamestown
14:35 Industry-funded research – barley-breeding program, Australian Wheat Industry Research Scheme, wool scheme, fruit industry Jamestown; Adelaide; Barley Improvement Program; SA Farmers Federation; Victoria; Waite Institute; Webber; Agriculture Department (Victoria)
23:10 Commonwealth Extension Services Grant – origins, use of 
25:55 Principle of the Agriculture Department 
27:45 Linkages with other States and Commonwealth; legislation; meetings; linkages with colleagues; committee member for organising International Grasslands Congress Trumble; McColl; Australian Agricultural Council; Standing Committee on Agriculture; Victorian department; Brisbane