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Prominent People

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This section lists industry people who have made a significant contribution to the achievements and success of agriculture in South Australia and Australia. Where information is available from a readily available source a link is provided to access the information.

C

Custance, John Daniel 1842 - 1923

Professor of Agriculture. In June 1881 John Custance was recruited and appointed as the Professor of Agriculture in the SA Department of Lands. He played a key role in the establishment of Roseworthy Agricultural College, which opened in February 1885. Custance developed the lecture program for students, and interacted widely with the farming community introducing the use of superphosphate to Australian farmers. Following a dispute with the Secretary of the Dept. of Lands in December 1886, he was suspended and returned to England. In 1906, Custance returned to SA managing properties ar Georgetown and Angaston.

Image: http://pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory

D

Darling, John 1852 - 1914

Merchant and politician. He took over management of his father's grain business in 1897 and expanded Australian exports. Active in numerous industry organisations, John Darling served in the SA Parliament from 1896 to 1905, and was a director of BHP and chairman of its board from 1907 until his death in 1914.

Image: SLSA Image PRG280-1-14-39 1910

Darling, John 1831 - 1905

Merchant and grain exporter. Purchased Bowen's grain and flour trading business in Adelaide, exporting to Victoria. After Victoria became self sufficient in grain, he focussed on exporting grain and flour to London and European ports. By 1890 he owned interests in flour milling and shipping and had become the largest shipper of wheat from Australia. Through the 1870s and 1880s, he represented various seats in the Legislative Council.

Image: SLSA Image B48261 1885

Davenport, Sir Samuel 1818 - 1906

Landowner and parliamentarian. Samuel Davenport owned and managed a series of farming properties but was best known as an ardent promoter of new agricultural enterprises in South Australia, and published several pamphlets dealing with cultivation of olives and manufacture of olive oil, silk and tobacco. With his great interest in new industries he was elected president of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society. In 1851, he represented the colony as executive commissioner at the Great Exhibition in London, followed by involvement in a series of national and international exhibitions over the next 37 years. He was knighted in 1884.

Image: SLSA Image B56222

Duffield, Walter 1816 - 1882

Miller, pastoralist and politician. Duffield arrived in South Australia in December 1839. In 1847 he moved to Gawler, where he bought the Victoria steam flour-mill. He acquired other mills around the State and began to build up Para Para estate, winning prizes for his hams, wines and orchard produce. He later acquired over a thousand square miles (2590 km²) of pastoral leases. Duffield represented Barossa in the House of Assembly and was the State Treasurer.

Image: SLSA B11141 c1865

Duncan, Sir Walter Gordon 1885 - 1963

Pastoralist and politician. After working on a series of family pastoral properties, Walter Duncan became part-owner of several properties, and a director of several large pastoral companies. He was a member of the Legislative Council for 44 years, and its President between 1944 and 1962. Duncan emerged as a major figure in the State's commercial, agricultural and political life. He was a director of BHP between 1922 and 1962, and following inspection of steel mills in India, influenced the industrial development of Whyalla. He had a long association with the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia, and as president oversaw the move from North Terrace to the Wayville showgrounds in 1924-25. An exhibition hall bearing his name was opened at the Wayville showgrounds in 1962.

Image: Image: SLSA B9197 1939

Dunn, John 1802 - 1894

Miller. John Dunn immigrated to South Australia in 1840 and gradually built up a large livestock feed and flour milling business. By his retirement in 1889, the business Dunn & Co had eleven mills and was annually exporting 20,000 tons of flour to Britain, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Africa, and had some 400 employees. A number of family members participated in Dunn & Co including sons John Dunn junior (1830-1892) and William Henry Dunn, son-in-law W. Hill (d.1885) and brother-in-law G. Shorney (d.1891). The company expanded building five mills in northern centres, one in the south-east linking these along railway lines to the firm's private wharves. The firm's prosperity enabled the family to pursue political careers.

Image: SLSA B 8235/1/5V

Dutton, Henry 1848 - 1914

Pastoralist. Henry Dutton was a well known pastoralist who owned the large Anlaby Estate north east of Kapunda, and was associated with another sheep station at North Booboorowie.

Image: http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/dutton-henry-336

E

Elder, Sir Thomas 1818 - 1897

Pastoralist and philanthropist. With his brother George, he established Elder & Co. with his main investments and trade in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. He took shares in flour mills, financed farmers and wool growers, and became agent and retailer for goods of all kinds. In 1863 Elder and Robert Barr Smith formed the famous firm Elder Smith & Co. and returned their attention to the pastoral and farming markets, becoming unrivalled leaders in the field. They built up a huge pastoral empire which encompassed many thousands of square miles.

Image: SLSA Image B34518 1885

F

Finnis, Harold Jack 1889 - 1980

Administrator. Harold Finnis entered the SA public service as a junior clerk in 1905. In 1911 he moved from the Produce Department to the Agriculture Department, and in 1915 became assistant secretary of the Advisory Board of Agriculture, librarian and editor of the Journal of Agriculture. In 1925, Finnis was appointed secretary of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, a position he held until 1955, gradually upgrading the grounds, buildings and scope of Royal Adelaide Shows. He also played a key role in numerous state organisations including Adelaide Rotary Club, Library Board of SA, head of commissioners of National Parks, and was a governor of Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

Image: ANU Press

Fornachon, John Charles Macleod 1905 - 1968

Wine microbiologist. John Fornachon studied viticulture and oenology at Roseworthy Agricultural College. In 1934 he began research into diseases of wine and wine spoilage for the Wine Overseas Marketing Board (later the Australian Wine Board), with the project being subsequently administered by CSIR at Waite Agricultural Research Institute. A further major research project was examination of flor yeasts and led to improved sherry quality. The Australian Wine Research Institute was opened at Urrbrae in 1955 with Fornichon being the Director of Research until his death in 1968. In addition to wine judging and lecturing, John Fornichon was involved in numerous international wine research organisations.

Image: trove.nla.gov.au: Chronicle Thursday 18 August 1938 p 40

G

Gilbert, Joseph 1800 - 1881

Pastoralist and vigneron. Gilbert arrived in South Australia in 1839 and settled in the Lyndoch Valley where he farmed sheep ordered from Van Diemen's Land. The property was later named Pewsey Vale. He soon won repute for his fine wool and careful breeding and purchased other land throughout the State. He planted his first vines in 1847 and before long his wine and cellars won fame. The suburb of Gilberton is named after him.

Image: SLSA: B 6912/L4

Goyder, George Woodroffe 1826 - 1898

Surveyor and conservationist. Surveyor-General (1861 – 1894) and conservationist. Chairman of the Railways Commission 1874-75, and of the Forest Board 1875-83, and a keen proponent of water conservation. An able administrator and considered the most efficient public servant in the colony at the time. In the 1860s Goyder assessed pastoral properties and his line of travel, which amounted to nearly 5,000 kilometres on horseback, marked off a line indicating the limit of reliable annual rainfall. It separated lands suitable for agriculture from those suitable for pastoral use. Although disregarded by the Government, in less than ten years he was proved right. .

Image: SLSA Image B72791/5

Gramp, Johann 1819 - 1903

Vigneron. Johann Gramp arrived at Kangaroo Island in October 1837 before moving to a small German settlement at Hope Valley, where he farmed for several years. In 1846 Gramp purchased 83 acres of land at Jacob's Creek in the Barossa Valley and bought further land making his first wine in 1850. He gradually increased the size of his vineyard exhibited regularly in local wine shows, winning numerous awards. Gramp died at his Rowland Flat home in 1903.

Image: SLSA website: Extract from Heritage of innovation : Orlando wines, 1847-1997; p. 20

H

Hall, Charles 1850 - 1919

Pastoralist. Hall was born at Strathalbyn in 1850 began farming at Appila in the early 1870s. He later extended his farming operations into the pastoral areas and increased the carrying capacity of those holdings enormously.

Image: trove.nla.gov.au: Observer Saturday 30 August 1919 p 14

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