Lumen Winter 2015 - Flipbook - Page 4
Letters to the editor
Dear Editor,
I write to say how interesting I found the summer 2015 edition of Lumen.
I left South Australia about eight years ago after graduating in agricultural
sciences, working in Victoria, Tasmania and overseas, so my connection
is through your magazine and periodic alumni gatherings.
Of specific interest in the latest edition was the item “Roseworthy takes
up the fight”. My uncle John Omagh Robinson enlisted from Roseworthy
in 1915. He grew up a few doors from the south parklands and had
the task of milking the family cow that grazed there. At Roseworthy
he focused on dairying and my grandfather later financed a dairy farm
for him at Meadows. John brought to the district early knowledge and
advocacy of sub-clover and superphosphate, then the use of the trace
element molybdenum in fertilisers on pastures. This was a world first.
My parents bought a nearby farm where I was born and raised. I have
early memories of my father and John scratching around in the pastures
looking at seeding, and I then grew up with knowledge and skills of all of
the operations of pasture growing and grazing.
In my teens a friend took me to stay with his uncle: Roseworthy graduate
Lt Colonel David Fulton, shown with some soldiers in Syria below the
Vice Chancellor’s message in the summer 2015 Lumen.
I too attended Roseworthy and the sub-clover annual pasture complex
of southern Australia has also formed an important part of my work. I
have two Masters and a Doctorate, medals, an AM and was DirectorGeneral of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. I have worked
on most continents for the World Bank and Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and helped set up the
Australian rural research and development bodies.
I am indebted to many, not least the Roseworthy diplomates who
introduced me to what I call ‘practical scientific knowledge’.
Yours sincerely, Dr David F Smith AM (BA AgSc 1951, M AgSc 1961)
Thank you for your letter David and
the history of your uncle attending Roseworthy
and your career successes. We are very proud
of our alumni and their contributions to society.
Our prize for this edition is a copy of ‘There and
Back with a Dinkum’ by W.R.G Colman edited
by Dr Claire Woods and Paul Skrebels.
We want to hear from you! Letters to the editor are
now a regular section of Lumen magazine. You
can submit your letter online or by mail. Letters to
the editor must include: full name, address (not for
publication), degree and year of graduation where
applicable, daytime phone number and/or email
address. The best letter will be sent a prize.
2 Lumen | Winter 2015
Address your letters to:
The Editor Lumen,
University Engagement
Level 1, 230 North Terrace,
Adelaide, SA 5005
And the
survey
says:
Email: alumni@adelaide.edu.au
Space permits only a selection
of letters to be published.
Letters may be edited so
please keep them concise.
2/3rds
of respondents attended
an event at the University
in the past two years
