WHAT'S NEW!

SA Agriculture in 1876 July 08

Roadblocks–YAMBA! June 08

One Hundred Years on the Land book 15 February 08

Experiemental Farm 15 February 08

Booborowie Experimental Farm 15 January 08

Hart Field Day 15 January 08

Overseas projects- South Australia and Iraq Agriculture 5 November 07

Department of Agriculture- Annual Progress Report (1886) 7 November 07

View the obituaries September 07

Early colonists in South Australia were keen to expand into the vast lands of South Australia for food and fibre production for their own use out of necessity but also for trade. Cereals, especially wheat, grew well on newly cleared land, sheep were brought in from neighbouring colonies and horticultural crops, including many varieties of fruits and vegetable and vines, were established as favourable land was cleared.

All was well until the 1870s when declining soil fertility and drought threatened these fledgling industries. The government set up a commission in 1875 to develop ways of providing technical and agricultural education for the colonists. The commission recommended the formation of a Department of Agriculture, but this was not acted upon until the turn of the century. In the meantime a Professor of Agriculture was appointed and Roseworthy Agricultural College opened its doors in 1885.

Droughts in 1885 and 1886 accelerated the formation of an Agricultural Bureau system controlled by a Central Bureau. This bureau became the forerunner of the Department of Agriculture.

This site recounts the roles played by the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Bureaus, learning institutions and other government agencies through historical documents, manuscripts, personal accounts and transcripts in the development of the agricultural industries and the role of government in South Australia through to the present day.

Many people have contributed information to the site so far and we would like to thank those involved as well as encourage new users of the site to make a contribution. Please use the link at the top right hand corner of the page to have your say.

Historical photographs
The History of Agriculture site links to a collection of over 4000 historical images which can be searched and downloaded from the Agricultural History of South Australia Photo Database

Also, more than 200 of these images have been included in the chronological toolbars at the top of this page.

How to use this site
This site can be navigated efficiently in several different ways.

Firstly, the navigation on the left breaks the site into logical sections, which all have sub level navigation which lead to relevant information. Note that various pages will have information added as it is collected and prepared.

Alternative navigation uses the chronology breakdown using defined eras along the top of the web site. Clicking any one of these links will lead to list of four links: Highlights, Photographs, Key people and Legislation. By default Highlights will open in the main pane, showing a list of key dates and information leading to documents and other information about that particular era. Clicking links in this list will lead to relevant documents. The other three headings are shown in the left-hand navigation.

For quick entry about any subject relating to agriculture in South Australia, type a topic in the Search pane and hit Go. Information on this topic will be listed in the main pane.
The You are here navigation path located under the Chronology bar at the top of the page will help you keep track of where you are in relation to the site’s Home Page.

To move around within the site use a combination of these navigation features as desired.