Farrer, William James (1845 - 1906)

Summary

William Farrer was an experimental wheat breeder whose work was central to the success of wheat-growing in Australia. Through a series of cross-breeding experiments, he developed varieties which were disease-resistant, high-yielding, and hardy in Australian conditions. Throughout, he corresponded with wheat breeders overseas, and collaborated with colleagues Nathan Cobb and F. B. Guthrie, respectively pathologist and chemist with the New South Wales Department of Agriculture. Farrer's most notable achievement was the "Federation" wheat, released to farmers in 1903. This variety resulted in the extension of wheat-growing areas, especially in New South Wales, and Australia becoming a world leader in wheat exports. Between 1910 and 1925 "Federation" was the leading wheat variety in Australia; in 1914, of the 29 varieties recommended for growing in New South Wales, 22 had been developed by Farrer. His varieties were early-maturing, and so escaped the on-set of rust and smut diseases. Farrer advocated large-scale ringbarking of eucalypts, arguing it would quadruple the carrying capacity of undeveloped bushland. The Farrer Memorial Medal, awarded annually since 1936, recognises distinguished service to agricultural science in Australia in the fields of research, education or administration. The recipient is invited to deliver the Farrer Memorial Oration.

Details

Farrer's grave behind his house at Lambrigg is marked with a granite column erected by the Commonwealth Government and there is a bronze bust of him at Queanbeyan, New South Wales. Commemorated by the Farrer Memorial medal for outstanding service to agricultural science in research, administration and education; the Farrer Memorial research scholarship awarded for postgraduate research in agriculture; currency; stamps; various schools; streets; a suburb of Canberra; a flour-mill; and several institutions.

Chronology

1868

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), Pembroke College, University of Cambridge

1870

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1870 - 1875

Career position - Tutor, George Campbell's sheep station, Duntroon (Canberra), New South Wales

1875

Education - Qualified as surveyor

1875 - 1886

Career position - Surveyor, New South Wales Department of Lands, in the Dubbo, Nyngan, Cobar and Cooma districts

1886

Life event - Settled at Lambrigg, a property belonging to his wife Henrietta, on the Murrumbidgee River, N.S.W.

1889

Career event - Began conducting experiments on cross-breeding wheat

1898 - ?

Career position - Wheat experimentalist, New South Wales Department of Mines and Agriculture

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• William James Farrer - Records, 1891 - 1905, A3143; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• William James Farrer - Records, 1894 - 1906, A2078; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• William James Farrer - Records, 1867 - 1906; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• William James Farrer - Records, 1898 - 1905, MS 33; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• William James Farrer - Records, 1901 - 1902, MS 2856; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room

• William James Farrer - Records, 1885 - 1906, 5/3249.1; State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room. Details
• William James Farrer - Records, 1885 - 1906, 5/3249.2; State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• Farrer, William, Grass and sheep-farming: a paper, speculative and suggestive (Sydney: William Maddock, 1873), 88 pp. Details
• Guthrie, F. B., William J. Farrer and the results of his work (Sydney: Government Printer, 1922), 26 pp. Details
• Russell, Archer, William James Farrer: a Biography (Melbourne: Cheshire, 1949), 226 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Hou, Yong Kang, 'William James Farrer, 1845-1906' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
• Wrigley, C. W., 'Farrer, William James (1845-1906), wheat breeder' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 471-473. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080498b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Campbell, Walter S., 'William James Farrer', Royal Australian Historical Society, 19 (1933), 269-285. Details
• Cawte, Mary, 'William Farrer and the Australian Response to Mendelism', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (1) (1984), 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9840610045. Details
• Evans, L. T., 'Respones to challenge: William Farrer and the making of wheat', Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 46 (1) (1980), 3-13. Details
• Farrer, W., 'The making and improvements of wheats for Australian conditions', Agricultural gazette of New South Wales, 9 (1898), 131-68, 241-60. Details
• Farrer, W. J., 'Federation variety of wheat', Agricultural gazette of New South Wales, 13 (1903), 977. Details
• Guthrie, F. B., 'William Farrer', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales (1960), 533-538. Details
• Ryley, Malcolm and Park, Robert F., 'Stem rust of wheat in colonial Australia and the development of the plant pathology profession', Historical records of Australian science, 35 (2) (2024), 83-97, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23005. Details
• Skelton, C. P., 'The Methods of the Late W. J. Farrer with Some Results of His Work', Sydney Government Printer (1925). Details
• Wenholz, W., 'William Farrer. Australia's Greatest Benefactor', The Australian Quarterly (1930), 91-100. Details
• Wrigley, C. W., 'W. J. Farrer and F. B. Guthrie: the Unique Breeder-Chemist Combination That Pioneered Quality Wheats for Australia', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 4 (1) (1979), 7-25. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9790410007.htm. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/39748617. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1458972. Details
• 'Farrer, William (1845-1906)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-607414. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_f.html. Details
• Macindoe, S. L., 'Wheat quality since Farrer: 1906 to 1975', Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 42 (1976), 28-33. Details
• McIntosh, R. A., 'The genetics of wheat and wheat rusts since Farrer', Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 42 (1976), 203-16. Details
• McIntosh, R. A., 'From Farrer to the Australian cereal rust control program', Australian journal of agricultural research, 58 (6) (2007), 550-57. https://doi.org/10.1071/AR07148. Details
• Moyal, A. M., Scientists in Nineteenth Century Australia: a Documentary History (Melbourne: Cassell Australia, 1976). Details
• Palmer, Vance, National portraits (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1960), 230 pp. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• Wrigley, C. M.; and Rathjen, A., 'Wheat breeding in Australia' in Plants and Man in Australia, Carr, D. J. and Carr, S. G. M., eds (Sydney: Academic Press, 1981), pp. 96-135. Details
• Wrigley, J.; and Fagg, M., Eucalypts: a Celebration (Crows Nest Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010), 344 pp. Wrigley and Fagg refer to Farrer's endorsement of the ringbarking of eucalypts on p. 93. Details