Charles Walter Harper (27 January 1880 – 1 July 1956) was an Australian

agriculturalist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

who was prominent in the

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

movement in

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 ...

. He was one of the founders of

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

, serving as its chairman from 1921 to 1953, and also helped establish what is now

CBH Group The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at ...

Early life

Harper was born in

Guildford, Western Australia Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, 12 km northeast of the city centre within the City of Swan. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the Swan River Colony. It is one of only three towns in the ...

, the son of Fanny (née de Burgh) and Charles Harper. His father was a landowner, newspaper proprietor, and member of parliament. Harper was the oldest of six sons and four daughters; two of his younger brothers would be killed in the Gallipoli Campaign.ANZAC Spirit coin set includes moving family letter about brothers killed at Gallipoli
/ref> He attended

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to be ...

and

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an independent Anglican coeducational primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Guildford, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Initial ...

, and then moved to the U.S. for a period to study fruit-growing industry in California. After finishing his education, Harper took over his father's estate at Woodbridge. He married Margaret Drummond in 1910; they had six children together.

Career

Cricket

He played three

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

matches for

in 1908/09. He made a high score of 11

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

and took two

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

Wesfarmers

Harper was active in the Farmers' and Settlers' Association, and at a 1913 meeting successfully proposed a motion for the creation of Westralian Farmers Limited (now known as

). He became a director of the new company – organised as a cooperative – and in 1921 replaced

Matthew Padbury Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

as chairman of the board. His tenure would last until 1953, when he finally retired at the age of 73. As chairman, Harper oversaw and encouraged the diversification that would eventually become Wesfarmers' hallmark. The company's 1927 foray into

superphosphate Triple superphosphate is a component of fertilizer that primarily consists of monocalcium phosphate, Ca(H2PO4)2. Triple superphosphate is obtained by treating phosphate rock with phosphoric acid. Traditional routes for extraction of phosphate roc ...

s (a joint venture now known as

CSBP CSBP Limited is an Australian fertiliser and chemical company based in Kwinana, Western Australia. It is a subsidiary of WesCEF, which in turn is part of the industrials division of the Wesfarmers conglomerate. Current operations CSBP produce ...

) was a pet project, as it was based on soil research that he himself had done years earlier in conjunction with William Grasby. A "frugal, abstemious, reserved man", Harper requested only £600 a year for most of his tenure, and his personal conservatism was often reflected in the way the company operated.

Other

In 1919, Harper became the inaugural chairman of the Cooperative Federation of Western Australia. He was also a trustee of the

Cooperative Wheat Pool of Western Australia Cooperative Wheat Pool of Western Australia, commonly known as the Wheat Pool of Western Australia, is a cooperative of wheat growers in Western Australia. The cooperative was formed in 1922 and one of the inaugural trustees was Charles Walter Harp ...

and an officeholder in the Fruit Growers' Association. Harper helped establish

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a ...

(CBH) in the early 1930s, which was initially aligned with Wesfarmers but later became independent. Within a few decades it had become "Australia's cheapest and most efficient grain-handling authority". Harper was not involved with party politics, but governments regularly employed him in an advisory capacity. In 1924, he chaired a state royal commission into the

Group Settlement Scheme The Group Settlement Scheme was an assisted migration scheme which operated in Western Australia from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier James Mitchell and followed on from the Soldier Settlement Scheme immediately after World War ...

, writing the committee's report himself. He was also a member of the 1934 federal royal commission into the wheat, flour, and bread industries.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Walter 1880 births 1956 deaths Australian orchardists Australian cooperative organizers People educated at Guildford Grammar School People educated at Hale School Wesfarmers people Western Australia cricketers Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia