THERE are now 32 inductees in the Royal Agricultural Society’ of Western Australia’s Agricultural Hall of Fame.
The latest five to join the 27 other great agricultural achievers were selected based on their outstanding contributions to the development of agriculture and primary industry in Western Australia.
The five are George Burvill, Diana Cullen, Basil (Eric) Ripp, John Thomson and Thomas Wilding.
Four of the recipients were inducted into the hall of fame posthumously. Mr Ripp is the only one of the five still alive.
Mr Burvill was nominated by the Department of Agriculture for his contribution to WA agriculture and his significant impact on farming.
As one of WA’s best known scientists he had an unequalled knowledge of the State’s soils, climates and agriculture.
Most significant was his soil surveys of various parts of the State that led to their being opened up for farming.
In 1944 he carried out the soil survey that was the basis for planning for the Ord River Irrigation project.
During that survey Mr Burvill named the main soil type there Cununurra clay. The town Kununurra is named after that soil type.
Mrs Cullen was nominated by her daughter Vanya Cullen for her work as a leading pioneer of the Margaret River wine industry and a passionate advocate of ultimate quality.
She was an innovator in the vineyard and winery as well as in her original profession of physiotherapy.
Mrs Cullen was also a keen conservationist who was determined that the Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin region be kept in as pristine a state as possible.
In 1969 she lobbied and was successful in persuading the State Government to make the region a conservation zone, thus saving it from previously planned bauxite mining.
Mr Thomson was nominated by Wesfarmers Limited chairman Trevor Eastwood.
He was best known as general manager of the company that began life as the Westralian Farmers Ltd, became the Westralian Farmers Cooperative and finally, in 1984, joined the Australian Stock Exchange as Wesfarmers.
Mr Thomson joined Wesfarmers as a wheat inspector and, in 1922, was appointed manager of the WA Wheat Pool that operated a marketing scheme on a voluntary basis.
He also conceived the idea of setting WA’s first radio station 6WF as an aid to providing information to farmers on crop prices.
Mr Thomson helped introduce bulk grain storage to WA and also developed a major shipping operation for Wesfarmers.
He also oversaw the creation of a Potato Pool and the rapid development of the company’s livestock trading business.
Mr Wilding, nominated by Peter Dempster, was primarily responsible for developing the Mokine Estate, which is about 12 miles from Northam.
Mr Wilding founded Mokine Merino stud and Mokine stud of Jersey cattle. In one year they won 300 first prizes at the Royal and other WA shows.
He established many practices in cultivation and livestock breeding that have been endorsed by modern scientific research.
Mr Ripp was nominated by Tom Dixon, largely for his work in single-handedly revolutionising controlled atmosphere storage and the fumigation system in grain storage that remains in place today.
He worked for Cooperative Bulk Handling for more than 30 years.
Mr Ripp was also the first person to come up with the concept for the need for an Australian Grain Institute.