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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.

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Polden, Errol James 1918 - 2021

Errol provided strong leadership of the South Australian poultry (egg production particularly) industry for over half a decade. Following early experience as an egg producer, Errol joined the poultry team at the Parafield Research Centre to the north of Adelaide. His role within the Department of Agriculture was as a Poultry Advisor with responsibility for much of the State.

Prescott, James Arthur 1890 - 1987

Agricultural chemist. Prescott was appointed to the chair of agricultural chemistry at the newly established Waite Agricultural Research Institute in 1924 and travelled widely to familiarise himself with Australian soils to interpret the effect that climate, vegetation and other factors had on soils. He drew a map of the major soil zones of the continent. This work established him as the leading authority on soil science in Australia. In 1929 Prescott was appointed part-time chief of the CSIR division of soils, with headquarters at the Waite Institute and from 1938 was also director of the Waite Institute, where he administered research and education in a wider field of agricultural science. In 1956-70 he was a council-member of the Australian Wine Research Institute.

Image: University of Adelaide Library, 2440/47818

R

Richardson, Arnold Edwin Victor 1883 - 1949

Agricultural scientist. Educated at Roseworthy Agricultural College, he later joined the State Department of Agriculture where he bred the successful wheat variety, Gallipoli. Foundation professor of agriculture and first director of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute of the University of Adelaide from 1924, Richardson investigated the development of pastures and the economics of farm management in Australia. In the early 1930s, he won the confidence of farmers, pastoralists, industrialists, agricultural scientists and governments, and took up the appointment of deputy chief executive officer Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) directing research and development in Australian primary production. From 1946 till his retirement in 1949 he was chief executive officer of CSIR. His vision and energy were responsible for establishing the Waite Agricultural Research Institute as the leading agricultural research centre of the Commonwealth.

Image: SLSA B 61585 1945

S

Sluczanowski, Philip 1952 - 1994

Mathematician and modeller. Philip was employed as a senior research officer at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Department of Fisheries from 1979), working on the population dynamics where he inventively applied optimal control theory to generate models of fisheries. He was also an early advocate of integrating fisheries data with computer-based interactive graphics packages. His modelling tools continue to be used for teaching fisheries population dynamics in universities around the world.

Image: SARDI

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