The Farrer Memorial Trust was established in 1911 in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in memory of

William Farrer William James Farrer (3 April 184516 April 1906) was a leading English Australian agronomist and plant breeder. Farrer is best remembered as the originator of the "Federation" strain of wheat, distributed in 1903. His work resulted in significa ...

. Initially established to provide study scholarships to Agricultural Scientists, the Trust became responsible in 1941 for the annual presentation of the Farrer Memorial Oration and awarding the Farrer Medal.

William Farrer and the Farrer Memorial Trust

William Farrer was a surveyor who turned his hand to farming in 1886 near where

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

now stands. Initially he planted grape vines but the conditions were not suitable, so he then decided to plant wheat. Due to weather conditions his first two harvests where damaged by

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...

, which spurred Farrer to develop strains that were resistant to rust. In 1900, he was successful with a variety he named

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

after the imminent

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

. When Farrer died suddenly in 1906 a committee was created to raise funds needed to establish a Memorial Trust. On 16 October 1911, the Trust received the funds with a set of instructions, enabling it to provide research grants and scholarships to further

agricultural science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...

in Australia.

Farrer Medal

In 1935, Frank Gallagher formed a committee to create the Farrer Memorial Oration, to be given by a person with an agricultural background. The first oration was by

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

n farmer and

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

at the Star Theatre,

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

on 3 April 1936, the birthday of William Farrer. At the end of the oration children from the Queanbeyan Intermediate High School presented Lyons with a silver medallion, which is now on display at Adolph Basser Library, Canberra. In 1941, Gallagher handed over the organisation of the Farrer Memorial Oration to the Farrer Memorial Trust.

Recipients

Source
NSW Department of Primary Industries

References

{{reflist Agriculture awards History of agriculture in Australia Australian science and technology awards Awards established in 1936

William Farrer and the Farrer Memorial Trust

Farrer Medal

Recipients

See also

References