William Catton Grasby (2 October 1859 – 26 October 1930) was an Australian agricultural journalist and educationist. Grasby was born at

Balhannah Balhannah is a town in the Adelaide Hills about 30 km southeast of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It was established in 1839 as a farming community by James Turnbull Thomson, who built the first hotel. The town soon grew to inc ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

-born farmer William Grasby and Frances, ''née'' Catton. He was educated at home, and from the age of thirteen was a pupil-teacher. He travelled to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1881 and returned to Australia to teach in primary schools, founding the

Payneham Payneham is an eastern suburb of Adelaide in the City of Norwood Payneham St Peters. It is part of a string of suburbs in Adelaide's east with a high proportion of Adelaide's Italian-Australian and French-Australian residents, many of whom can be ...

Boys' Field Club in 1887 and advocating reform in educational policies in South Australia. In 1891 he published ''Teaching in Three Continents'', the result of two years' study of education in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and Europe. He summarised his proposals in ''Our Public Schools'', a

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

that advocated

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

s, practical education, abolition of school fees, results-based wages for teachers and extended educational training. He edited the ''Educator'' (1893–94) for the duration of its publication. In 1892 he was appointed director of agronomy and manual training at Way College in

Unley Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullar ...

. From 1894 he taught at Roseworthy Agricultural College and was a member of the Central Bureau of Agriculture. He married

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

n Quaker Hannah Propsting on 13 October 1896. In 1897 he returned to teach at Way College and continued his involvement in agricultural circles. He established the journal ''Australian Garden and Field'' in 1896, which he edited until 1904. In 1887 and 1890 he had contested elections for the

South Australian Parliament The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are held ...

; in 1903 he stood for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

without success. In 1904 Grasby moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, being appointed agricultural editor of the ''Western Mail'' and the '' West Australian'' and writing highly popular weekly columns. He continued to teach agriculture, holding classes at Perth Technical School and Guildford Grammar School. His 1912 publication ''Principles of Australian Agriculture'' was an important textbook, and his strong support for

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

for Western Australia led to his appointment to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

's first senate in 1912. In 1911 he was involved in founding the Kindergarten Union. He and Charles Harper together developed the first wheat varieties to be grown exclusively in Western Australia. An early conservationist, he decried the hunting of animals for scientific collections. He retired from public life in 1928 and died at East Guildford in 1930 of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

and

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasby, William 1859 births 1930 deaths Australian educational theorists