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INTERVIEW LOG SHEET
PIRSA Oral History Programme –State Library reference no. for Somerville Collection OH 675/17.
An interview conducted by Bernard O’Neil with Bob Fawcett of Klemzig, South Australia in regards to the
history of the Department of Agriculture on 14 December 2004.
Time Subject Proper names
Tape 1, Side A
0.25
Born 1927 and educated in Kapunda; family farm;
developing interest in botany; scholarship; employed
interstate; postgraduate studies in Ag. Science; move
interstate again
Roseworthy College; George Hazel; CSIRO,
Primary Industry Division; Canberra;
Southern Tablelands; Jim Quirk; Adelaide
University; Waite Institute; Harold Jenkins;
Narrabri, NSW
6:00
Research – nutritional work on wheat cropping, soil
experiments, stubble retention
Tamworth; Narrabri; Sydney University;
Wheat Research Institutes; Dick Jackson;
NSW; ICI
9:30 Interest in research Narrabri
11:00
Family farm sold; parents’ retirement; family history; work
overseas; postgraduate supervision; joining Department of
Agriculture, 1975; continuing research interests in soil
conservation
Kapunda; NSW; Thailand; University of
Sydney; CSIRO; Central Region Research
Centre; Chainat; Colombo Plan; Allan
Beare; Sydney; Northfield; Helen Fawcett;
Narrabri
18:40
Job interview; work interests – nutrition, land management,
tillage, stubble retention, herbicides
Beare; Sydney; Canberra; Northfield;
Adelaide; Lameroo; South East; Shearers
20:50
Colleagues in soil conservation research; Department’s
research role
Reg French; Jeff Schultz; State Wheat
Committee; Wheat Research Council;
Northfield
23:20 Visiting farms; experimental plots; district agronomists Fred Maynard; Lameroo; John Hannay
25:00 Regionalisation Northfield
26:25
Liaison with staff; field days; tillage workshop; agricultural
shows; research results; workshop publications
Agricultural Bureaux; CSIRO; Albert
Rovira; Victoria; Horsham Research
Institute; Northfield
Tape 1, Side B
0:05 Distributing the results; workshops; Journal of Agriculture CSIRO; Peter King
5:00 Land management system Rovira
9:20 Liaison across the Department Halbury; Maynard; Lameroo
10:25 Work in own independent ‘empire’
11:35 Recollections of working at Northfield; research funds Northfield; Waite
14:45 Contact with interstate colleagues; conferences; trust funds Narrabri; Wheatgrowers Association
17:50 Collaborative work CSIRO
19:05
Importance of stubble retention work; environment
movement – surface cover, herbicides, farming techniques
Northfield
25:25 Theoretical vs practical farming Northfield; Chris Rudd; Mid North; Thailand
27:55
Retirement in 1992; career highlights – Landcare Awards
and Banksia Awards, total land management
Narrabri; Canberra
Tape 2, Side A
0:05
Individual contributions to particular work programs;
diversity of land systems; limits on research areas
Schultz; Tarlee; French; Noel Pederson;
Brian Dubois; Dave Malinda; King; Minnipa;
Struan
6:10 Reg French and Soil Conservation Branch; trust funds French; Jim ?; Pederson; ?
8:50 Relations in Department and head office Rovira
10:30
Fisheries merger; Departmental get togethers; Northfield
activities
Northfield
12.15
Visits by senior staff or Minister; work and professional
associations; developments in the professional field
Public Service Association; Institute of
Agricultural Science
17:10 Changes to working life
18:25
Modern technology but still the need for practical work;
decreasing rural populations
Wanbi Research Centre; Murray Mallee
20:10 Brief reflection on working life and family
NSW; sons; England; United States of
America; Wakefield electorate; Edinburgh,
SA