Person
Kerr, Henry William (Bill) (1901 - 1993)
- Born
- 18 May 1901
Randwick, New South Wales, Australia - Died
- 9 July 1993
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - Occupation
- Food technologist, Soil expert and Sugar technologist
Summary
Bill Kerr was a sugar technologist who became Director of the Queensland Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations in 1933 and later of the Sugar Research Institute. His research interests lay mainly in soil chemistry. While at the Bureau he introduced field fertility trials and soil experiments, with rigorous statistical analysis of the results. The Bureau was probably Australia's first agricultural organisation to adopt randomised design and analysis of experiments as the norm. In addition Kerr also sought to improve yield in the industry by instigating an outreach program to inform growers of cultivation methods and the benefit of fertilizers. Part of the program was the publication of the Cane growers' quarterly bulletin from 1933. Among his publications was The Queensland cane growers' handbook (1939) written with A. F. Bell. Kerr was a co-founder, and later President, of the Queensland Society of Sugar Cane Technologists. During WWII he was seconded to the Commonwealth Department of Supply and Shipping as chief food technologist responsible for supervising the production of foodstuffs for the armed forces. In retirement, as a sugar industry consultant, Kerr was involved in overseas sugar production programs, including in Iran, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Jamaica.
Details
Chronology
- 1917 - ?
- Career position - Junior Assistant, Agricultural Chemical Laboratory, Brisbane
- 1924
- Award - Awarded 4-year scholarship for overseas study by Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, Queensland
- 1924
- Education - BSc, University of Queensland
- 1926
- Education - MSc, University of Queensland
- 1927
- Education - PhD, University of Wisconsin, Amdison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
- 1928 - 1929
- Career position - Chief chemist, Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, Queensland
- 1929 - 1933
- Career position - Head, Division of Soils and Agriculture, Queensland Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations
- 1933 - 1945
- Career position - Director, Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations
- 1939
- Career position - President, Queensland Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
- 1943 - 1944
- Career event - Seconded to Commonwealth Department of Supply and Shipping as chief food technologist responsible for supervising factories producing foodstuffs for the armed forces
- 1947 - 1949
- Career position - Industrial chemist, Beecham Group Ltd
- 1949 - 1961
- Career position - Director, Sugar Research Institute, Mackay, Queensland
- 1961 - 1979
- Award - Life Member, Queensland Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
- 1979 - 1993
- Award - Life Member, Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Kerr, H. W.; and Bell, A. F., The Queensland cane growers' handbook (Brisbane: Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, 1939), 199 pp. Details
- Reid, Jane Ferrier, The long view: the history of the Sugar Research Institute 1949 - 1999 (Mackay, Qld: Sugar Research Institute, 1999), 253 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Griggs, Peter D., 'Kerr, Henry William (Bill) (1901 - 1993), sugar technologist and research institute director' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 19 1991-1995 (A-Z), Nolan, Melanie, ed. (Canberra: ANU Press, 2021), pp. 468-9. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kerr-henry-william-bill-19022. Details
Journal Articles
- Kerr, John D., 'Introduction of statistical design and analysis by the Queensland Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations', Australian Journal of Statistics, 30 (B) (1988), 44-53. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 18 August 2022, Last modified: 30 August 2022