 |
| Sowing wheat with eight horse teams in the 1940s. |
It was Wallis (refer to Chapter 2) who first drew attention to the Wimmera. In 1877 he recommended that 2,300 acres of the North Brighton run, which had only been partially selected, be set aside for a second experimental and training establishment. A tree nursery and plantation were started to test the almost-treeless Wimmera plain's suitability for timber production, and a dam was constructed near the Darlot swamp. In May 1879 the site was formally reserved for an 'Experimental Farm and for preservation and growth of timber'. A survey was carried out two months later, the size of the reservation was amended to 2,386 acres and it was reproclaimed at the corrected area. A further reason made the Longerenong reserve attractive to Wallis as a future site for training. He believed strongly that the 'attractions of a large town' were drawbacks to students learning practical farming and therefore argued that an agricultural college should be located at some distance from any urban centre. Both Dookie and, to a lesser extent Longerenong, fulfilled this requirement admirably although it became a drawback over time.
By the time the railway reached Horsham in 1879 the Wimmera was well-settled. The next frontier with land available for settlement was the Mallee, 'an abominable wilderness' which nevertheless had the potential 'to blossom like a rose' through the 'splendid dream' of irrigation. In 1880, Hugh McColl was elected to the Legislative Assembly seat of Mandurang almost purely as a protagonist of irrigation. He soon found allies, notably J. L. Dow and entrepreneur J. F. Levien (refer also to Chapter 2). In 1883 the Dow brothers were sent by their newspapers to study Californian irrigation methods. Their reports convinced David Syme to promote irrigation as well as selection and protection. Alfred Deakin, a rising politician, also became convinced. On being appointed to the Royal Commission into Water Supply in 1884 he too visited California, accompanied by J. L. Dow, journalist Edward Cunningham and J. D. Derry, engineer to the Wimmera United Water Trust. In the United States the party met Canadian irrigation engineers George and William Chaffey, and Deakin offered them extensive inducements to come to Victoria. Despite opposition to what was seen as a virtual monopoly, they were granted 250,000 acres at 17 shillings per acre at Mildura. These events had considerable implications for agricultural education. Since the Wimmera was the nearest settled area to the new frontier, the Longerenong reserve offered a convenient site for local farmers and Mallee pioneers to learn dry-land farming.
Even before Dookie opened in 1886, Walter Madden, Horsham's local member, raised the issue of preparing the Longerenong reserve for an agricultural college. In the following year Deakin, the Minister for Mines and Water Supply, suggested that part of Longerenong be cultivated under irrigation. The Council of Agricultural Education agreed to demonstrate irrigation if the Water Supply Trust could bring it to the farm.
Demand for places at Dookie was unexpectedly high. When the second session started with 35 students, suggestions were made for expanding it but the Council preferred to keep it small, and to found a second college. Wimmera interests quickly came to the fore. The Wimmera Shire Council pointed to the suitability of the Longerenong reserve; then came a series of letters from Dimboola, Dunmunkle, Stawell and St. Arnaud shires, the Horsham Water Works Trust and the Murtoa Agricultural Society. Finally, in July 1887, Madden succeeded in getting the Council to agree to use the Longerenong site and to make such preliminary arrangements as funds would allow.
Preliminary arrangements for starting Longerenong consisted of sending Dookie Principal R. Pudney (refer to Chapter 3) to make a report during the Dookie vacation. This was followed by a visit from the whole Council. Pudney agreed to become principal of Longerenong and was replaced at Dookie by Thompson, the farm manager.
He found Longerenong a virtually undeveloped plain on a...
'deep loam formation with shallow saucer-like depressions called crab holes through which the heavy rains sank to keep alive the deep rooted native grasses. To my astonishment I found evidence of them at a depth of about 10 feet.'
However, there was no surface water, other than a large dam which filled yearly if the Wimmera River overflowed. A four acre tree nursery had been established to provide seedlings of the Aleppo Pine and a 30 acre paddock was planted with rows of Tasmanian Black Wattle. Other than these, there were only 26 trees on the property. Pudney made arrangements for the design of a college building similar to the one at Dookie. It was approved and was put to tender for £3500.
Pudney left shortly after the first students' arrival and was succeeded by the farm manager, William Brown, a man inclined to take an independent line.
William BrownBrown had been born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1835. He attended school until the age of 17 and was 'thereafter self taught.' He nevertheless became a Justice of the Peace, a railway director, a country commissioner and joined the Masonic Order of Scotland. Up to the age of twenty he worked for his father superintending tree planting in England and Scotland and after this worked as a surveyor and estate manager for large landowners. In 1960, he became factor (land agent) to Colonel Farquharson of Invercauld, Braemar, whose estate was one of the largest in Scotland, covering 135,000 acres and supporting nearly 500 tenants and 30,000 sheep. Whilst in Scotland, Brown published papers on arboriculture and sheep farming and was awarded gold medals by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and the Scottish Arboricultural Society. In 1871 he emigrated to Canada and bought a farm near Orilla in Ontario. In 1874, he became a foundation staff member of the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, and remained until 1888. During this time he gained qualifications as a civil engineer and public land surveyor. A. M. Ross, the University of Guelph historian, described him as Farm Superintendent, though Rose's Cyclopaedia refered to him as Professor of Agriculture and 'head of the Agricultural and Experimental departments of the college.' He was referred to as Professor Brown in the Council of Agricultural Education minutes and by students. |
When Pudney submitted his resignation from Longerenong, Brown was quick to propose a course of action to the Council. The Council was somewhat taken aback at having an employee set conditions and asked Brown to explain what he meant by 'If the Council and I agree about the Headship.' Brown's temerity paid off. When he suggested that he should take on the principalship and outlined the conditions on which he would stay at Longerenong, the Council appointed him at a salary of £350 per year, with three months notice on either side. Mrs Brown was appointed matron with a salary of £60 per year. The Council also agreed that the Browns could use existing household furniture although any additions were to be provided by themselves. Their household provisions were to be supplied by the Council and further extensions to their accommodation were to be considered. Brown set still more conditions before accepting. These were also agreed to. Brown spent a year as principal at Longerenong before moving to Dookie.
Ten applications were received when the vacancy for the principal's position at Longerenong was advertised. None appeared satisfactory so the Education Committee, (consisting of Dr Andrew Plummer, Messrs Graham, J. L. Dow and Martin) agreed to appoint T. K. Dow, one of the Council's foundation members. This somewhat surprising move was endorsed by the Council. It in no way encouraged the Council to relinquish central control. In spite of his experience as a Council member, Dow found himself being reprimanded for purchasing farm implements without consultation.
Thomas Kirkland Dow could not have been appointed principal at a worse time, for the boom was already fading. The paper foundations of land banks and dubious building societies began to falter in 1888 and land values collapsed in 1889, to the accompaniment of industrial strife. Wool and wheat prices dropped and overseas capital dried up amid crises of confidence in bank security. Dow himself had to inform the Council that he had become insolvent in 1892 (refer to Chapter 2).
Dow may well have seen the writing on the wall for the effects of the depression were being compounded by catastrophic drought. Until the drought hit seriously, his period of office had been marked by steady expansion. One interesting event during his time was Longerenong's part in testing a prototype of Hugh McKay's combine harvester. J. P. Wallace, a student in 1892 and later instructor in Carpentry and Mechanics, (though he did not graduate) acted as assistant mechanic to McKay when he tried out the harvester. It needed four horses to pull it and had to be repaired every 500 yards or so, but its importance cannot be overestimated. The production model Sunshine Harvester was developed from the Longerenong tests.
The Council resolved to advertise for a replacement for Dow, but considered only one application, from Marco Guerin, the science master and appointed him in February 1897. Guerin had been appointed at Longerenong in June 1889, after two years in a similar post at Dookie. He held an MA or MSc and was regarded as a firm disciplinarian. Accounts of Longerenong history other than the Centenary version omit Guerin from the list of principals. He served until February 1898, when the College was closed due to the prolonged drought and the few remaining students were transferred to Dookie. Guerin, like his predecessors, made unsuccessful attempts to get irrigation water and also suggested the cultivation of saltbush, which the Council refused to countenance. Much more negotiation had to take place before successful irrigation was established. He later lectured at the Lincoln Agricultural College, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Longerenong remained closed for teaching between 1898 and 1905. The College buildings were allowed to run down but farm operations continued under the farm manager, Niven, who also undertook some small scale education through visits and meetings of local farmers. During this time the Council made increased efforts to overcome the property's vulnerability to drought and to develop effective dry land farming through improved irrigation. The Wimmera Water Trust was approached to organise the supply of water to 100 acres.
A motion to subdivide Longerenong was defeated. The Longerenong issue was left alone for most of 1904, and towards the end of that year, the Council became involved in a proposal to establish a Faculty of Agriculture at the University. Thomas Bent came to office as premier that year, having spent much of the depression in political exile farming in Port Fairy. When the Council again began to explore the possibility of reopening Longerenong, Bent promised £600 per year towards the cost of instruction. The Council proceeded to appoint a principal, selecting G. A. Sinclair, science master of Dookie and instructing him to draw up a syllabus in consultation with Frank Tate, the Director of Education. Initially, George Swinburne, the Minister of Agriculture, refused to ratify the appointment. An appeal to the premier brought a reversal of the decision but Swinburne disclaimed all responsibility in connection with the reopening of the College. Longerenong reopened on 1 November 1905.
Though the management of the colleges may have left much to be desired, Longerenong's closure was probably due to circumstances beyond the Council's control. Evidence about student experience and attitude, suggests that Sir Frederick Derham was right when he pointed out that students' interest was not strong enough to survive bad times.
'As long as the seasons were good and the operations remained interesting, the students remained, but when the long drought came on we could not carry on the place and get good results; the students seemed to get discouraged and the attendance gradually fell away.'
At the turn of the century, Longerenong had been branded a failure by the Fink Commission. By the end of the Second World War, it had gained the patronage of the State premier and included his son among its alumni.
When the College reopened in November 1905, it no longer offered a parallel course to Dookie's. It was only intended 'to fill in the gap between the state school and Dookie, i.e to take students between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years.'
Fees were kept at £15 per year, with 25 shillings for medical cover and £2 for laundry.
Longerenong offered a certificate of competency after two years study. Its course subsequently became complementary to that of Dookie when Dookie's diploma course was extended from two years to three years in 1910, and its two year course was discontinued in 1915. From 1910, successful Longerenong students could transfer to Dookie for a third year of study and qualify for the diploma. Thus began a long tradition of Longerenong growing slowly in Dookie's shadow. This change was related to two significant developments: the establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University in 1905 and a campaign for the introduction of state secondary education.
The Victorian Yearbook for 1906-7 records the condition of Longerenong a year and a half after the reopening. At June 1907, there were 35 resident students and 'several' non-residents from local farms. Accommodation for resident students consisted of 20 single bedrooms, a dormitory of twelve beds and a small room with three beds. There were four bedrooms for single staff and visitors and a dining room with seating for at least one hundred. Staff consisted of principal G. A. Sinclair, farm manager J. D. Martin, and two resident masters, Gibson and Baxter. Visiting lecturers dealt with such subjects as wool classing and veterinary science. Houses were available for the principal and farm manager only.
George SinclairThe new principal had been born in Hobart in 1865 and had trained as a surveyor, working for the Lands Department and in northwest Tasmania. In 1888, he was appointed to Dookie as English and Mathematics master, where he remained until 1905. George Sinclair set about developing Longerenong. More stock was bought, including over 500 wethers, and plans were drawn up for new stables, a matter which received considerable attention from John Weldon Power, president of the Horsham Agricultural Society. A piano was provided, after Sinclair had publicised the need in the Farmer and Grazier, much to the regret of the Council. Fifty acres of hardwood trees were planted for fencing and staff salaries were increased. The principal received £350 plus board and lodging, a return to the 1889 level. |
The farm property was developed as follows. Seven hundred low lying acres, including the Darlot swamp, were prone to flooding and used only for grazing. The Darlot swamp was not allocated to Longerenong until the 1960s but this Yearbook entry suggests that the College had unofficial use of the area at this time. Irrigation was provided for 28 acres of orchards, 5 acres of phylloxera resistant vines, 30 acres of lucerne and 10 acres of summer fodder. There were 500 acres of crops, wheat, oats and barley. Most paddocks were watered from seven storage tanks, fed by channels supplied from the Wimmera Irrigation Trust's Dooen pump. A further 10 acres were used by the Department of Agriculture for experimental work. Stock included 19 draft horses, 20 dairy cows and an Ayrshire bull, 80 pigs, 800 breeding ewes, 25 steers and farm riding hacks. Plants consisted of wheat silos with 100 tons total capacity, and six 'tanks' (dams) for watering paddocks filled from irrigation channels when there was not enough rain. The original College building had been 'thoroughly renovated', after deteriorating during the period of closure. Water was supplied by windmill to the kitchen, lavatories and showers and a septic system had been installed.
In 1911, Sinclair resigned to become agricultural editor of the Australasian. He was appointed to the Council of Agricultural Education in 1917 and remained involved with agricultural education until his death in 1926. The Council appointed W. D. Wilson to succeed him. Wilson immediately put forward proposals for extra dormitories, but less than four months after his arrival at Longerenong, the students sent an official complaint to the Council about his management. Little is recorded about Wilson. The Jubilee Souvenir referred to him as if he was temporarily filling the position which certainly was not the intention when he was appointed. Ivan Tulloh referred to him in similar vein in his memoir of 1964.
The new principal was Albert Drevermann, who had replaced Sinclair as science master at Dookie. Drevermann was offered the position at a salary of £350 per year plus rations, quarters, and the services of a domestic servant. This was slightly more favourable than the conditions offered to Wilson. A bachelor, he lived with his widowed mother and sister who played an active part in providing hospitality for students. During Drevermann's service at Longerenong, the College facilities expanded: a woolshed, dairy and feeding shed, silos and calfhouse, barn, implement and vehicle shed, and stable extensions were constructed, together with residences for the increased number of staff. Twenty more student bedrooms were acquired. Gas and later an electric power plant were added.
Longerenong was closed throughout the period of the Boer War and so missed out on the military fervour it generated. However, following Federation, the need for a Commonwealth defence force rekindled interest in cadets. Just over a year after Longerenong reopened, the Council of Agricultural Education approved a proposal to establish a non-compulsory military corps.
Many graduates enlisted in World War I. Out of a total of 410 who were eligible to enlist 145 joined the AIF, 25 of whom were killed and 12 decorated. Longerenong, like many other institutions, was proud of its patriotic record although, in fact, its rate of enlistment was slightly less than Victoria's overall rate of 38%. This nevertheless has to be seen in the context of the strategic importance of Australian agriculture and the fact that many farms could not spare their young men. In 1916, Drevermann wrote to the Council on the question of enlistment of himself and his staff. At this time he was approaching 40, but he may have felt that his Germanic ancestry called for a loyal gesture to Australia. The Council declined to express an opinion of the duty of staff to enlist or otherwise, but confirmed that it would keep places open for those who did.
In his report of January 1918, Drevermann recorded that the 'great world shortage of foodstuffs' meant that young lads must be encouraged to farming and fitted for it. Practical work was lauded. In 1918 the College had produced an average of 39.5 bushels of wheat from 270 acres. This amounted to 2,400 bags for the pool and 1,500 for distribution as seed. It had 20 acres of oats, 5 acres of barley, with 436 acres fallowed. The fallow was worked to keep it in good order. It produced 120 tons of hay and 100 tons of silage. The 'ambercane' crop was not as big as usual. Sudan grass was lightly grazed by the dairy herd, and the sheep branch was very profitable, with 675 lambs sold at 23 shillings and 6 pence each. The wool clip produced 27 bales, selling for £16-6-0 each. The cows were satisfactory, but there was only moderate demand for pigs. Dairy, Piggery and Poultry Instructors were added to the staff establishment shortly after. The orchard had many old trees; new ones were being planted. A total of 69,000 phylloxera resistant vine cuttings had been grown for Wahgunyah and Burnley government nurseries.
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| Sowing wheat with eight horse teams in the 1940s. |
The half century after Longerenong's reopening saw little in the way of dramatic innovation, except, to some extent, for the introduction of Field Days. As in other aspects of public sector activity where directions had been established before the Great War, (child welfare and state schools, for example) agricultural education saw a certain number of technical improvements, but few substantial changes. Set up as Longerenong was, on a simple organisational model, serving limited ends and largely starved of funds, it was inevitable that this should be the case, even without the intellectual inertia which characterised Victorian political life in the '20s and the stringency of the '30s depression. As the fiftieth anniversary brochure pointed out in 1939, Longerenong exercised a considerable influence on individuals and farm practice during these years, but their 'chief feature' had been 'the hum drum of everyday life.' Farming methods, the knowledge base, curriculum, and routines of farm life, changed little until the late 1950s.
Although they were unadventurous, the 1920s were a prosperous period for Longerenong. Prices and student enrolments were both high, making it possible to report a profit in 1920. Farm profitability, augmented by a little extra money from the 1919 Act, made it possible for additional places to be allocated, taking the maximum number of students to 45 that year and to 50 in 1923. New poultry yards were built and a Moline tractor was purchased in 1922. Fifteen thousand pounds was allocated to agricultural colleges in the 1922 budget. Longerenong's share was used for sanitary improvements and an electrical system powered by an on-site generator. Electric light was particularly welcome, even though the current was weak, for it made it possible to do away with candles and kerosene lamps, which had been a considerable source of worry in the timber College buildings.
The 1923 Closer Settlement (Amendment) Act made provision for the reservation of twenty blocks of land per year, for those holding degrees, diplomas or certificates in agriculture, and gave a three year moratorium on the payment of either deposit or interest. Generous repayment options were offered thereafter with an interest rate of 5%. Graduates remained eligible to apply for land open to general selection under the Closer Settlement Act and still had an advantage over other applicants by reason of their qualification, so the limit of twenty blocks was not as restrictive as it might appear. The scheme made no distinction between Longerenong's certificate of competence and Dookie's diploma, and was featured in the Longerenong prospectus for a number of years. In time the block size was increased to reallocate land from unsuccessful soldier settlement.
Three years after the introduction of the graduate settlement scheme, Drevermann left Longerenong for Dookie and George Woodgate was made acting principal, being confirmed in the position in 1928. He had joined the College in June 1917, as science master.
The onset of the depression in 1929-30 and the introduction of the Premiers' Plan (a deflationary program of reduced government expenditure introduced to appease Australia's overseas creditors) resulted in the passage of a Financial Emergency Act which cut the Council's grant from £30,000 to £24,000. In 1933 the Council sent a deputation to the premier to ask for more money, only to be told that nothing could be done while the budget was unbalanced, and that the government was dependent on the good will of the Commonwealth Bank. The Council in turn told principals to make cuts; for example, a reduction in the level of superphosphate. Woodgate was often praised for his success in keeping expenditure down.
The year 1939 saw extensive preparations for jubilee celebrations, scheduled for October, a more convenient time than March, the actual anniversary of the opening. Due to the outbreak of war the celebration was cancelled, though the new sports oval was opened on sports day and premier Dunstan opened the laboratory on the annual field day in December. He used the occasion to lay stress on the value of rural education and argued that if the College was to succeed in its mission, it needed modern facilities and equipment. Knowing the facts, his government would always supply adequate amounts for agricultural education.
What had Longerenong achieved in its first half century? Woodgate, looking back for the Jubilee Souvenir had little hard data to draw on; demands for organisational analysis and evaluation belonged to a later period. Nevertheless, he was certain that the College had done Victoria valuable service by producing trained graduates, research work, extension activities and improved strains of wheat and livestock.
'In every branch of Agriculture, graduates are setting a standard. B. J. Studley of Narrandera, whose farm is well-nigh famous.; F. B. Langlands, a pioneer in irrigation in the Wimmera; K. R. Hood, wheatgrower; G. A. McCracken, dried fruit grower of Irymple; G. Godfree, poultry farmer at Vermont.'
Other graduates were filling 'distinguished' positions in the public sector. Dr W. A. N. Robertson had headed the Commonwealth Division of Veterinary Hygiene, while H. C. Quodling had been Director of Agriculture in Queensland and manager of the Queensland Rural Bank. Research workers included D. B. Adam of the Waite Institute, D. V. Walters of the Merbein Research Station and A. J. Vasey, who was working on animal health and nutrition. C. J. Vasey was principal of the Agricultural College in Fiji.
Veterinarians were 'legion' among the graduates. The 'Commerce of Agriculture' had also 'attracted many graduates, one being H. S. Barrow, Assistant Manager for Victoria of the International Harvester Company.' Other graduates were community leaders, spending 'time and money in valuable community service' such as shire Councils, farmers' organisations and sporting bodies. Some of their public spirit, Woodgate believed, had been inspired by the ideals put before them in their time in College.
Shortly after its jubilee, Longerenong suffered a catastrophe, which might well have resulted in its demise if a less well disposed government had been in office. The official report states that in the early hours of Sunday 14 January 1940, David Thomson, a student, raised the alarm that the old wooden main building was on fire. The main building, student quarters and other buildings were lost completely.
At 9 a.m on the Sunday morning, George Woodgate held a staff conference to discuss ways of carrying on. Decisions were made quickly and acted on with practically no alteration during the remaining weeks of term. Students were allocated clothes from Langlands' store. Junior students were collected or sent home by train; seniors slept in classrooms. A marquee provided by Mr Culliver, the Horsham caterer, served as a dining hall. On the Monday, breakfast was cooked on the stove which had survived when the kitchen was destroyed. By the evening, carpenters had erected a temporary kitchen around it. Examinations were abandoned and awards made on staff recommendation. The seniors worked the remaining weeks getting in one of the largest harvests on record.
Premier Dunstan did not forget his promise to provide for agricultural education. Within a week, cabinet voted £2,300 for the erection of temporary buildings. In the vacation, the government erected temporary dormitories, dining rooms, kitchen and domestic quarters, which enabled the College to carry on. These were ready on 26 March, the day new students arrived. Returning students arrived back two weeks earlier. Temporary buildings were finally completed in April, and full teaching programs were reinstated. Replacement of the permanent building received government approval and the Chief Architect of the Public Works Department visited in May to inspect the site.
Despite prompt action, the fire caused considerable disruption and fourteen students left without completing the course. To add to the difficulties, George Woodgate was appointed principal of Dookie and left in March 1940. He had showed decisive leadership throughout the fire crisis. Ivan Tulloh was appointed principal of Longerenong, at first on an acting basis and subsequently confirmed. The new building was completed in 1943. Tulloh's responsibilities were increased by a vacation course for land army women (1941) and the relocation of first year students from Dookie in 1942.
Ivan TullohIvan Tulloh, the ninth principal of Longerenong, first came to the College in 1907 on a state scholarship. His father was shire secretary in Portland. On graduating, he was appointed field assistant to the wheat experimentalist J. T. Pridham, and was promoted to field officer in 1913, on Pridham's departure. He enlisted in the AIF in 1914 and served in Gallipoli and France, being wounded twice and receiving a commission. He was repatriated in 1917 and returned to his old post at Longerenong. In 1922, he was appointed farm manager and served 18 years in this position. He was confirmed as principal in 1941 and served until 1955. Tulloh's appointment was by no means plain sailing and needs to be considered in the context of Woodgate's sudden move to Dookie. |
The Council appointed Tulloh from a field of four, although the other three had graduate qualifications, two at master level. One of the unsuccessful candidates was A. R. Hickinbotham, from Roseworthy, who had taught at Longerenong from 1928-30. Tulloh's appointment did not satisfy Minister Hogan, who instructed the Council to...
'readvertise the position widely and invite fresh applications. The principal of an agricultural college should be qualified to teach the subjects being taught at the college as having a knowledge of agriculture and agricultural science.'
This decision embarrassed the Council but it proceeded accordingly. A further 22 applicants were considered and eight interviewed. The Council then requested that the minister himself interview two before a final decision was reached. This time Tulloh was appointed.
The 1944 Act which abolished the Council (refer to Chapter 3) marked the beginning of the end of an era, although the implications were not to be seen until a good many years later. Longerenong had been reopened only as an intermediate farm school and its continued existence had been uncertain at times. By 1944 it had acquired a secure position, owing in no small part to its connection with the closer settlement movement and Woodgate's skill in using Country Party domination of state politics, as well as the calibre of its training. There can be no doubt that it had gradually gained the recognition and approval of many sections of the community, from politicians, farmers and parents.
The new three-storey College building housed the principal's office, general office, kitchen, dining room and billiard room on the ground floor. Each of the two upper floors housed 25 students, one floor for each year. They are remembered as comfortable enough, but very noisy because the floors were not covered. Beside it on the south side stood the Dunstan science laboratory. The surrounding grounds had 'vast lawns', dozens of rose bushes and beds of petunias and other bright flowers. A little distance down the drive was a new swimming pool, excavated by student labour in 1944-5, opposite well-maintained tennis courts. Beyond them lay the other sports fields. Adjacent to the orchard and experimental plots, another building housed another set of students. After closing for lack of numbers in 1935, Longerenong Primary School had reopened in 1941.
Three staff still formed the academic core of the College and were to do so for another decade. Ivan Tulloh, 'a real practising farmer who rejoiced in it,' as Ian McMillan described him, was still principal. John Nattrass, BSc, DipEd, a robust and highly competent Englishman who had been at the College since 1929, was science and sports master. Clem Jepson, formerly of Ivanhoe Grammar School, taught English and bookkeeping and kept a finger in every pie through his position as Housemaster. A series of branch instructors taught agricultural subjects. In the office, registrar Ern Vincent and his assistant Col Peterson carried out College administration, dealt with sales of seed wheat and other produce, and coped with the increasing mass of correspondence which followed the College's transfer to the Department of Agriculture.
Make-do and mend was the order of the day; students were being prepared to operate on low budgets and to be highly self-reliant. Students and staff in the blacksmith's shop, for instance, overhauled a header, binder and hay elevator during the year, made steps for the swimming pool, connected the piping into it, and made 'a special type of copper at the orchard shed for preserving fruit.' Each replacement for outdated equipment, though there were not many, was greeted enthusiastically.
During the next forty years the College passed through three phases. During the first phase its curriculum was extended to provide a three year Diploma in Agriculture but it remained essentially a farm boarding school. In the second phase, which can be dated from the introduction of a Diploma in Agricultural Science in 1966, it acquired some of the characteristics, though not the formal status, of a college of advanced education. In its third phase it associated as an equal partner with Dookie and other State agricultural and horticultural colleges to form the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture.
Inaugural meetings of the Advisory Committee appointed under the 1944 Agricultural Colleges Act, coincided with the presentation of reports of the first comprehensive review of Australian agriculture, carried out by the Commonwealth Rural Reconstruction Commission (refer to box: Reviewing Agriculture).
In June 1949 the Gazette carried amended Regulations to the Agricultural Colleges Act 1944. They introduced the three-year diploma program and made a compromise solution to the vexed, and politically sensitive, question of entry requirements. Provision was made for entry at a minimum age of 15 years with Intermediate Certificate. But applicants who completed Leaving Certificate with passes in Chemistry and one other science subject were to be eligible for direct entry to the second year, provided they had a rudimentary knowledge of farm work or undertook eight weeks practical experience at their college before beginning their course. Other, much older, admission provisions remained. Applicants were required to be 'in sound health and of good physique' and to provide a 'satisfactory testimonial of character.' Once admitted they were on probation for their first term and liable to be asked to leave if they proved 'unfitted for the College life for any cause whatsoever'.
Further longwinded deliberations in the Advisory Committee, resulted in significant revisions to individual units of the curriculum in 1951 but little substantial change took place in other aspects of College life during the next few years.
Other events coincided to usher in a period of expansion. In 1955 Henry Bolte, a farmer from Meredith, began a Liberal caretaker ministry which unexpectedly became the longest in Victoria's history. His Minister of Agriculture was another primary producer, Gilbert Chandler (refer to Chapter 8), who was also destined to be remarkable for political longevity. At departmental level, Woodgate retired from the position of Superintendent of Agricultural Education and Secretary to the Advisory Commission in 1954 and was succeeded by his Senior Inspector of Agricultural Education, Einar Beruldsen. Beruldsen lacked Woodgate's expertise on specifically educational issues, but was an energetic player in political fields. Tulloh retired from Longerenong in the same year. Nattrass acted as principal for a short period before taking Beruldsen's former position as Senior Inspector of Agricultural Education. C. P. (Pym) Cook, a former high school teacher who had lectured in humanities at Dookie before being appointed vice principal of Longerenong in 1955, was appointed principal.
Reviewing AgricultureOne of the most outspoken members of the Commission was Samuel (later Sir Samuel) Wadham, Professor of Agriculture at the University of Melbourne and doyen of agricultural education in the State (refer to Chapter 6). In 1946 he spelled out 13 elements for a national agriculture policy in the Joseph Fisher Lecture entitled 'Necessary Principles for Agricultural Development in Australia.' These included:
Wadham recognised in effect, that the rural sector would have to become increasingly competitive in overseas markets and must be structured and resourced accordingly. |
On 30 April 1957 the Hon. A. K. Bradbury, member for N. E. Province, used a debate in the Legislative Council to describe Victoria's expenditure on agricultural education as 'lamentable' in the light of the nation's dependence on primary exports. Chandler replied saying that the condition of Longerenong and Dookie reflected previous governments' neglect, but the present government had already set aside funds for further accommodations.
Chandler's assurance had a basis in fact. Funds had already been allocated for buildings, and Nattrass had been instructed to liaise with the Public Works Department on plans for a technical block, and dairy and horticultural building at Longerenong. In October 1957 Chandler told the Council that the government intended to spend £420,000 on buildings and equipment at the two colleges over the next four years. Longerenong was to have a new residential wing at a cost of £80,000. The colleges' combined student body was intended to rise from 240 to 370.
In 1962, Pym Cook reported that the college had a new residential wing, an administrative block, a 'splendid' assembly hall and technical buildings which Nattrass had been working on. Other advances included new trucks, a large passenger bus, 'exciting' new machinery, better roads and power supplies, a new summer sports oval, a new orchard and vegetable garden, and 'increased and more highly qualified staff', including a vice-principal's position occupied by Barrie May, BSc, DipEd. A photograph in the Collegian for that year shows 16 teaching staff, including some of the few 'new Australians' who entered the predominantly Anglo-Saxon College community, such as Hungarian poultry demonstrator Geza Kozak and his wife.
Staff and students accustomed to economic stringency were at once excited and somewhat overawed by the sudden wealth. Cook urged students to remember that Longerenong's success must be gauged from the 'manners, attitudes and achievements' of its members, as much as its physical structure.
Two years later Longerenong celebrated its 75th Anniversary. On 15 May 1964 Bolte, Chandler and 'other dignitaries' formally opened the new buildings before an audience of 500 people. Bolte used the occasion to hammer home the argument for increased technical competence in agriculture. Australian markets would be seriously endangered if farmers were not up to date with production methods.
The Martin Committee on the future of tertiary education, identified a trend towards increasing enrolments in technical colleges and universities and recommended that it be encouraged. Demonstrating that countries which had the highest levels of citizens with post-secondary qualifications also had the highest rates of production, it recommended that government expenditure on higher education should be regarded as an investment in future national prosperity. It further recommended that:
The Martin ReportReferring to agricultural education, the Martin Report pointed out that Australian agricultural colleges had not followed the American model from which they originally derived and developed into universities. Further, if they were to make significant contributions to the national economy they should provide higher levels of scientific education for farmers and farm-related professionals. Less emphasis should be placed on practical farmwork and matriculation should be required for admission. Short courses should be developed for practical farmers who did not want to become technologists, and refresher courses should be provided for all who needed to keep abreast of changing knowledge in their fields. |
The outcome was a three year Diploma in Agricultural Science, with a strong science base in the first year. Foreseeing the possibility that the colleges might still enter the Victoria Institute of Colleges, the admission qualification was raised to Leaving Certificate to bring it into line with VIC diploma requirements. The possibility of raising it to Matriculation in 1969 was given serious consideration and was favoured by the Minister, but was not acted on.
In 1967, Longerenong experienced a turnover of senior positions. Principal Pym Cook went to the head office of the Department as Superintendent of Agricultural Education. Ian McMillan BAgrSc, DipEd, former science master at Dookie and the Department's first officer to be raised to the status of senior lecturer, arrived as vice-principal. Tom Kneen, who held similar qualifications and had been principal at Burnley for 21 years, became principal.
Kneen's two years at Longerenong coincided with a severe drought. Only eight inches of rain, the lowest ever recorded, fell at the College weather station. The wheat crop yielded three bushels to the acre and stock had to be sold or agisted. College water supplies were rationed. By an unforeseeable coincidence, the Works Department was completing the last major building extension, a third floor on the east-west dormitory block. In 1969, seventy-four students were admitted, bringing the overall total to a record 131.
Attracting and retaining staff from outside the Department of Agriculture became increasingly difficult, while existing staff, especially some of the older diplomates, had difficulty in responding to academic and social change. Inadequate teaching accommodation - teaching areas had not been developed to keep pace with increased student capacity - added another level of discomfort. High failure rates gave further cause for concern, with approximately half the first year intake failing in chemistry and English. To some extent this seemed to reflect lack of effort on students' part, but it also suggested that the strong scientific orientation of the course was unsuited to students who did not have Matriculation science before entry.
Kneen left to take up the principal's position at Dookie in September 1969. McMillan acted for a few months before being appointed principal of Longerenong. By that time the agricultural colleges were being assaulted from other directions A massive rural recession reduced agriculture's appeal as a career for practitioners, while openings in the Department of Agriculture were limited by the rapid intake of cadets and other graduates in recent years. In addition, the range of educational options had widened to include three universities (including the La Trobe School of Agriculture) as well as a variety of other institutions, affiliated with the Institute of Colleges and offering awards which had national recognition. Admission numbers began to drop and the morale of staff and students plummeted. Although it was not clear until seen in hindsight, agricultural education had lost its position in the educational hierarchy and the phase of rapid linear progress was over.
In 1974 Ian McMillan moved to Dookie and was succeeded by vice-principal Jim Lonsdale, another graduate of the University of Melbourne. Lonsdale was still in office in the centenary year 15 years later and assured of the title of Longerenong's longest serving principal in its first century. Tom Kneen became Chief of the Division of Agricultural Education.
In order to achieve objectives of meeting industry needs, agricultural colleges operated on a coordinated basis with the extension services of the Department of Agriculture and with all levels of State education. Colleges developed as multi-level institutions, with increasing emphasis on post-school, non-tertiary education, including short courses, seminars, and day-release courses for apprentices. Their constituencies were increasingly recognised as including farm owner-operators, farm managers, personnel for service industries, teachers and workers in related fields. A new and expanded ministerial advisory committee was created to enable the Minister to receive advice from a wider range of industry and educational authorities than previously and to enhance service coordination. Each college was to be responsible for developing its own courses. These directions were largely accepted. A year later the Agricultural Colleges (Amendment) Act 1975 abolished the existing Advisory Committee and made provision for the Governor in Council to appoint an 18 member Victorian Advisory Council on Agricultural Education, responsible to the Minister. The nexus between Dookie and Longerenong was broken and all colleges were authorised to develop their own curricula.
Much of 1975 was spent in reviewing Longerenong's educational future. In line with concepts of regionalism and coordination the processes involved staff, students, industry representatives and officers of the Departments of Education and Agriculture. On this occasion, the exercise was not dominated by government determination to produce a specific range of public sector employees and it was possible to consider local and State level needs in the light of good educational practice. These processes suggested that young farm operators and farm workers who had limited educational backgrounds needed basic skills training, which could appropriately be delivered through TAFE courses. In response to these considerations the Diploma in Agricultural Science was replaced with a Diploma in Applied Science in Agriculture, organised by units rather than a yearly basis and laying more stress on management studies and self-directed learning. Forty-eight entrants were admitted in the following year, giving the College a total diploma-level enrolment of 104 students, 17 of them women.
In the meantime, the Victorian Advisory Council for Agricultural Education had appointed a number of sub-committees to examine the various sectors of agricultural education in Victoria, including a colleges' sub-committee under Hugh Beggs. Early in 1978 the sub-committee recommended that the colleges should become a multi-campus system of agricultural education, offering courses ranging from basic skills level to tertiary awards. Administrative control, it recommended, should remain with the Department of Agriculture. This recommendation was largely accepted and Stewart McArthur, Chairman of the Advisory Council, was authorised to discuss the proposal with the Minister, Ian Smith. Smith was attracted to the proposal, particularly when it was suggested that a federated system might receive higher levels of Commonwealth funding through VPSEC and TAFE.
Early in 1982 the matter came to a head, with much lobbying and urgent representations from the Advisory Council. Tom Austin, who had recently replaced Ian Smith as Minister of Agriculture, recognised that substantial questions were still outstanding, but an election was in the offing and a decision had to be made. On 19 March 1982 he opened the McMillan Rural Studies Centre in Gippsland and announced that the multi-campus proposal would go ahead, as an independent college of advanced education under the Minister for Education. His government, however, did not survive to give it a legal existence.
The Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture Bill introduced into Parliament in October 1982 repealed the Agricultural Colleges Act 1958 and made provision for the new body to operate on two levels. As a college of advanced education and as a post-secondary (TAFE) institution (refer to Chapter 11). On 8 March 1983 Longerenong began a new career as a campus of the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture, offering the three-year Diploma and a total of 31 TAFE courses. One hundred full-time and five part-time students were enrolled in the Diploma and over 800 TAFE students undertook TAFE courses during the year.
The establishment of the VCAH exposed Longerenong still further to the turbulence and economic tensions which characterised tertiary and post-secondary education in the 1980s, as well as to changes in knowledge. Both levels of government made demands for planned development, but directions, resource allocations and time lines became increasingly subject to change at short notice. Balances between educational principles, individual campus interests and the pragmatics of survival became harder to negotiate.
In 1986 the opening of a two million dollar TAFE-funded multipurpose teaching complex gave evidence of Longerenong's status as a regional provider. It was then offering a full-time Certificate in Farming (Cropping and Grazing) and an accredited part-time Further Certificate in Farming for practitioners, as well as short courses and apprenticeship courses. The next year, however, it lost the Diploma following a review of VCAH courses. It was replaced by Commonwealth-approved Associate Diplomas in Agricultural Services and Farm Production.
While less than 200 students passed through Longerenong before it closed in 1898, enough information exists to give a general description of them. The student body was totally male and predominantly between 15 and 16 years of age. Contrary to the founders' intentions, they came overwhelmingly from middle-class urban homes rather than the country. Over 60% came from the greater Melbourne area, particularly Brighton, St. Kilda, Kew and Hawthorn. Just under 10% came from Geelong and Ballarat. Less than a quarter came from rural communities in western Victoria, an interesting fact in the light of local agitation for a college in the area.
Samuel Clements, writing as Mark Twain, was impressed by the proportion of city lads when he visited Longerenong in 1895.
'There were forty pupils there - a few of them farmers, relearning their trade, the rest young men mainly from the cities - novices. It seemed a strange thing that an agricultural college should have an attraction for city youths, but such is the fact. They are good stuff, too; they are above the agricultural average in intelligence, and they come without any inherited prejudices in favour of hoary ignorances made sacred by long descent.'
Except in the case of widows' sons, we can only surmise as to the reasons why city boys outnumbered country boys so spectacularly. It must be remembered that the early 1890s were plagued by depression and drought and that struggling farmers had difficulty meeting even the modest fees which were charged. Large landowners presumably thought it irrelevant technically and socially; they sent their sons to the established private schools and made their own arrangements for them to learn to manage properties. Nevertheless, it is difficult not to conclude that the proponents of agricultural education, had seriously overestimated the extent to which farmers would recognise it as relevant for themselves and their children.
As well as bringing a younger age group to Longerenong, the Second World War brought two unexpected groups to spend time there. In 1943, sixteen first year students and a teacher from Dookie arrived at Longerenong, displaced by students from Melbourne Grammar School who had been sent to Dookie when their premises were requisitioned for military purposes. In 1948, Longerenong accepted 19 second year university students undertaking the practical component of their course. In 1947, the University of Melbourne had accepted a record intake of 42, which was too large for Dookie to accommodate for practical work. The group included the future principal, Ian McMillan. Many were returned servicemen, much older than the Longerenong students.
Eighty years later, the 1978 College Educational Profile reported that the College was still providing: the cropping and grazing certificate course for young farmers and farm workers, short courses for farmers and farmers' wives, and seminars for schools, community groups and industry interests. It was also about to launch into providing unit modules for farm apprentices through TAFE. In 1985, an Institutional Profile reported that the College had run 24 short courses with a total of 501 enrolments during the year. By 1988, this had risen to 1,291 enrolments in 43 courses, attracting students as diverse as mohair producers, agricultural apprentices and practising farmers. Twenty-eight students were enrolled in a two year Certificate in Farming also at TAFE level. TAFE courses also reflected contemporary interests and trends with large numbers enrolling in soil structure organic farming and pea marketing.
Women were first admitted to Longerenong as full-time students in 1972. It is surprising that it took so long for this to happen considering the discussion that the issue had received over the previous 80 years. In 1915, applications were received from Alice McCleary of Scotland and a Miss Hooper of South Yarra. The Council approved the acceptance of female students, in principle, but asked Hugh Pye for a report on accommodation. The outcome was that Miss Hooper failed to gain admission. Miss McCleary was apparently not heard from further. Shortly afterwards, an approach was made by the Australian Women's National League. The Council confirmed its decision to admit women to Dookie, though once again it did not eventuate.
In 1919 the YWCA of Great Britain enquired about the possibility of training women for life on farms and the Council of Agricultural Education received a deputation from them on the subject. The following year, Sinclair followed up his initiative of 1918 and urged that the government appoint a 'trained lady organiser', at a salary of £250 per year, to organise a Branch of Domestic Arts and Hygiene to demonstrate at Dookie, Longerenong and convenient country centres. The Director of Education agreed to a conference on the issue, but nothing eventuated.
One group of women did train at Longerenong during the Second World War. In August 1941 a two week course was provided for members of the Women's Land Army during the College vacation. The initiative came from Mrs A. C. Bennett, Victorian President of the Country Women's Association, who lived at Dimboola. Mrs Woodgate had held office with the local CWA through the 1930s and her vice president was the wife of David Anderson, Longerenong's first dux. Three out of the first five women were awarded the diploma and six out of the nine who started in 1973. This was the same pass rate as men. The admission of women marked one of the final stages of Longerenong's progression from a school to a tertiary college.
Curriculum at Longerenong needs to be considered with respect to three overlapping areas. Firstly there is the formal teaching of agriculture and related subjects, in the classroom and through practical work on the farm and tours of observation. Secondly, there are activities, both formal and informal, consciously offered to develop character and widen students' general education. At various times these included sport, debating, socials, religious activities and the examples offered by staff. Finally there are a host of activities which might be referred to as an informal or hidden curriculum; rituals, and disciplinary procedures administered by staff and by students themselves.
Until the College closed in 1897, its syllabus was much the same as Dookie's. The original syllabus for Dookie, drawn up by Pudney and Council of Agricultural Education secretary David Martin, was revised in 1890 after the Council determined that 'conformity of timetables and class work be secured in all colleges.' Students were divided into two groups which alternated between classroom and practical farm work. Three days a week were spent on theoretical studies and also some evenings. The theoretical component, largely derived from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, included agriculture, chemistry, botany, entomology and zoology, geology, English, bookkeeping, natural philosophy (physics), surveying, geometry, mensuration (areas and volumes of various figures) and arithmetic. A visiting veterinary surgeon gave monthly lectures. Practical work covered all areas of farm work.
When Longerenong reopened in 1905 it offered a two year course leading to a Certificate of Competency, which gave exemption from the first year of the Dookie course. When the Dookie course was increased to three years in 1910, the Longerenong course gave exemption from the first two years. This curriculum continued to be taught on the day in - day out method, alternating practical work with classroom work. It was not without critics, especially as American colleges had moved from the integrated system to an internship model like law and medicine, with a period of supervised practical experience at the conclusion of the theoretical course.
The curriculum structure adopted in 1905 remained essentially unaltered until a three year diploma was introduced in 1949 but changed from year to year in detail. The system of alternating academic and practical work continued to draw criticism. In 1927, George Woodgate defended it against criticism by Dr Richardson, Director of the Waite Institute. Richardson had written on the agricultural colleges of the United States, where the 'universal opinion is that students' time is too valuable to spend it in acquiring manual dexterity and skill in manipulative farming functions'. Woodgate argued that Richardson, would have 'our institutions. purveyors of scientific knowledge and not in any sense vocational schools.' Woodgate was strongly of the view that the course should remain vocational and should give equal weight to principles and practice. One of the reasons for the failure of agricultural high schools, he thought, was that they gave the impression that farming was being 'played with.'
There was, in fact, an element of conflict between the educational and profit making aims of the College, although it was solved to some extent in practice, by separating the farm and College accounts. In some years the farm was able to cover College costs: with much pride Woodgate had informed readers in 1922 that the College was paying its way, with a margin of over £500 on farm and College operations. However, profitability was determined by drought and prices, neither of which were within College control. Students took part in every aspect of the work no matter how boring or arduous. They harvested and bagged wheat, filling each 3 bushel bag as tight as a drum. Hay was stacked, silos filled, and the seed wheat was painstakingly 'rogued' by hand. Virtually everything was hauled by horse or human muscle.
The three year Longerenong Diploma introduced in 1949 divided subjects into three broad groups, each of which ran, with variations, in each year. Group A, agriculture and animal husbandry, included general farm practice and management, crops and cropping, soil management, horticulture, fruit-growing, blacksmithing, building, carpentry, land-utilisation, saddlery and farm records. Animal husbandry included cattle management and dairying, pig and sheep husbandry, (including shearing and woolclassing), poultry management and veterinary science. Group B subjects included chemistry, physics, botany, entomology, zoology, plant pathology, and bacteriology. Group C included mathematics and surveying bookkeeping, social studies and rural economics.
A longstanding agreement which restricted formal research to the university continued in force but provision was made for College students to carry out small research-type projects. In 1949, the first group of third year students reported being 'particularly pleased' at being able to examine 'the feeding of farm animals and birds', rather than merely learning and regurgitating classroom information. English was taught to Matriculation standard, to enable diplomates to enter the School of Agriculture at the University of Melbourne, with exemption in the second year of the course for the Bachelor of Agricultural Science.
Largely in the interests of economy, provision was made for academically advanced applicants to complete the course in two years. They were required to be at least 17 years of age, to have passed the Leaving Certificate in mathematics and at least one science subject, and to spend eight weeks carrying out practical work on the College farm before finally starting the course.
The curriculum of the Diploma of Agricultural Science (1966-75) reflected the policy pressures on its designers. It retained, in updated form, much of the content of the former Diploma, but extended its scientific, engineering and economics base and reduced the amount of farm practice in favour of a more extensive program of tours. Timetables were heavy; first year students were required to undertake 890 fifty minute periods in the classroom over the year; second years were to do 840 and third years 800 periods in the classroom plus 45 periods on project work. Second and third years were also expected to do 50 periods of educational tours. Farm practice was set at three days per fortnight in the first year and two and a half days subsequently. The working week remained at five and a half days.
The curriculum of the new Diploma (1976-86) was designed to provide flexible options for students whose careers could be expected to embrace permutations of private and public sector employment in industry, farm management and agricultural technology. Leaving certificate remained the prerequisite for entry, although most students entered after completing year 12. The aim of the course was to give students an understanding of agriculture as the interrelationship between practical skills and scientific, technical, commercial and sociological factors. It was also to assist them to develop rational decision-making skills in the light of that understanding and to foster effective communication skills. Students were required to complete 24 semester units of full-time study in four disciplines: Business Management, Plant Production, Animal Production, and Agricultural Engineering. The first year contained a common core, but considerable opportunity to specialise was given by the provision of elective units in years 2 and 3.
During their second and third years, students were required to direct their own learning to some extent, using information systems and staff guidance in much the same way as they should expect to do in their working lives. Farm practice was reduced to three days per month in the first year and two days in the second and third years, with a working week of five days only.
Agricultural education, like other aspects of education, has been increasingly challenged from the mid 1970s onwards by strident and often conflicting demands for relevance, excellence and flexibility within shifting organisational and financial constraints. Consequently, Longerenong has faced the dual problem of maintaining core courses as a State level facility while developing a role as a regional resource through the provision of targeted short courses. In this unsettled environment, curriculum development has ceased to be a matter of deciding on an appropriate body of knowledge, and teaching it by established methods, to a more or less accepting and homogeneous body of students. It has become a complex and continuous process, requiring assessment of state and regional educational needs at widely disparate academic levels, relating them to changing knowledge, developing resources of skill and equipment, and marketing the outcome to appropriate groups.
Once it became a major TAFE provider, Longerenong rapidly developed other certificate courses for part-time students in the region. Horse husbandry and poultry, were added as well as apprenticeship modules. Vocational short courses were offered in such diverse subjects as mohair production, shearing instruction, hydroponics and farm chemical handling.
The Diploma of Applied Science in Agriculture was discontinued in 1986 and first and second year students in that year were given the opportunity to transfer to a new Bachelor of Applied Science in Agriculture. Fourteen continued with the Diploma and the last student graduated from this course (of VCAH) in the centenary year, 1989. A total of 416 had enrolled in it since 1976 and 246 had graduated. The Diploma was replaced by the Bachelor of Applied Science and two Associate Diplomas commenced.
Like boarding schools, and other closed institutions, Longerenong developed a range of norms and rituals. These were concerned with initiation and discipline but also included such issues as complaints about food which recurred throughout its history. Generation after generation of Longerenong students were preoccupied with food. It is clear that the food supplied to students in the early years of Longerenong left much to be desired.
It is not clear when ceremonies of initiation started at Longerenong, but they were certainly in existence before the Great War. Jack Coles (1918) reported that his intake was not faced with initiation as the juniors were too big and strong for the seniors. The rituals revived soon after. The Longerenong Collegian for July 1923 reported an initiation which involved singing four verses of an original song or enduring a cold bath, fully clothed. Discipline, including the question of conflict between students and authority, appeared as an issue of concern in the earliest years.
Besides the students and the senior teaching staff, the Longerenong community also included farm staff and the children of residential staff. Growing up at Longerenong was remembered with pleasure by children from the 1920s to the 1970s. The children of George Woodgate and Ivan Tulloh grew up at Longerenong. The Tullohs comprised Ivo, Norman (later Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University- refer to Chapter 6) and Alex and the Woodgates John (Jack), Margaret and Bartlett. The Woodgates started school at the one room school at Dooen and were driven by the College saddler in a buggy. They were accompanied by Peter Dent, son of the housemaster, who arrived in 1927 at the age of 11, and Jack Byrnes, son of Bill Byrnes the teamster and later tractor driver. Jack Woodgate often rode his bike which eased the crowding for the others. In 1928, the former dairy manager's residence was turned into a school on the Longerenong property and the children went there with a handful from neighbouring farms. The Tullohs, Ivo and Norman, (born 1920 and 1923 respectively) were educated by their mother until the school opened. Farm children, including the neighbouring Bodey families, rode ponies to school and kept them in an adjacent paddock through the day. Margaret Woodgate lived close enough to walk, but she still rode her pony.
The number of staff houses reached a peak of 31 in 1969. Their occupants totalled 120-130, including about 20 children in school, and included all 17 teaching staff. Meat, milk, eggs, vegetables and fruit were still delivered to the door. There was a strong sense of community and nearly everyone who lived on the property made lasting friendships. However, as in many small communities, people were not always totally open, and care had to be taken to avoid misunderstandings. Academic staff usually, though not in every case, maintained some degree of after hours contact with students. Some farm and kitchen staff did likewise. The assumption that most staff would live on the property collapsed in the early 1970s. Higher pay levels enabled most families to afford at least one car, while government policy, at both State and Commonwealth levels, largely did away with the financial advantages of living in employer-owned housing. Most staff took up residence in Horsham. The insularity of the college community, lack of access to community resources, including cultural activities, had its own impact on staff and the college.
During the 1970s a few houses were rented to students. They found shared housing less expensive than dormitory living, but it was not continued. By 1989, only 16 houses remained on the campus. They accommodated the principal, two farm managers, three lecturers, and some farm staff.
In 1990, a new principal, Max Coster formerly vice-principal of Glenormiston College was appointed as acting principal; and confirmed as principal in 1991. Jim Lonsdale transferred to the VCAH's commercial services company as general manager.
This period saw a rebuilding of ties with the State Department of Agriculture. This in turn culminated in the establishment, in 1994, of the Joint Centre for Crop Improvement, a venture involving the Department of Agriculture's Victorian Institute for Dryland Agriculture (VIDA), the then Department of Agriculture of the University of Melbourne and Longerenong College. Within two years the Centre had 36 postgraduate students.
The re-establishment of normal working relations with the Department of Agriculture has been productive in other areas, with department staff lecturing at Longerenong and college staff collaborating in joint extension and research projects, such as the work of Rob Norton, deputy principal.
A staunch supporter of Longerenong College has been Heather Mitchell, the first female president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, and Vice-President of the National Farmers Federation. Among other interests, she and her husband Lester ran a rural supply service in the Hopetoun district. To commemorate her husband's keen support for young rural people, Heather initiated a scholarship for students moving from diploma to degree level studies at Longerenong. This generous donation was in addition to her work as patron for a fund which raised $170,000 for a Visiting Fellow Fund to contribute to the academic life of the college. The Wimmera Rural Training Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of Tom Harmsworth, helped Longerenong expand its offering of courses into the broader rural community and has been a valuable advocate in the agricultural education committees in Melbourne.
Several long term staff retired in the early 1990s - Deputy Principal Edwards, Peter Grenfell, and Tony Muntz. Colin Edwards was employed as a lecturer in plant science, and was deputy principal through the 1980s to 1992, when Rob Norton took over the role. The number of staff employed on the College farm reduced from around 15 in the 1980s to four in 1996, with all enterprise managers having tertiary qualifications. The piggery, at the point of closure in 1990, was made viable through the lifting of sow numbers from 30 to 110. This established the college as the main TAFE pig training centre for the state - the role it played from the 1930s through to the 1950s.
Cropping on the college farm reflected changes in cropping in the Wimmera, such as minimum tillage, conservation farming systems, and the production of six to eight crops per year, including such crops as chick peas, wheat, barley, field peas, canola, faba beans, lentils and lucerne.
New tenants at the college since 1989 include the Country Fire Authority through its training centre and the Wimmera Institute for TAFE until 1995 when its agriculture program was transferred to Longerenong College. In 1995, the College's neighbour, the Wimmera Machinery Field Days Committee, bought the site on which they had conducted the field days for many years. They have since installed an in-ground irrigation system for the whole of the site, and completed a two-storey administration building, along with other improvements.
Through the 1990s Longerenong has changed its courses to provide a service to students from all ages and backgrounds, while focusing on dryland agriculture and related industries. The two year certificate and diploma courses started in the mid 1980s. They were complemented by a farm trades apprenticeship and one-year traineeship. Part-time courses at off-campus centres were introduced in rural office practice, rural business management, and horticulture. Longerenong trained apprentices have won the VFF farm apprentice of the year award in three of the last ten years. The external study production unit grew from servicing 15 students in 1990 to over 500 in 1997. Post-graduate studies also grew, with the introduction of a post-graduate diploma in agricultural management and extension, a graduate certificate in agricultural extension, and a Masters of Applied Science in agriculture concentrating on research in the areas of farming systems and agronomy.
In 1992 the off-campus centre at Kerang shifted to Birchip, where the agriculture was similar to the dryland farming systems serviced by the college. The Birchip centre with a part-time coordinator has continued to grow steadily and now services over 500 students annually. A major event conducted through this centre has been the North West Womens' Expo which annually attracts 220 women to Birchip and 150 to Walpeup. Another centre was opened at Kyneton to service the production horticulture and dryland grazing industries in the central Victoria regions. The centre has grown steadily and services about 200 students annually.
International students arrived at the college from Sri Lanka, Botswana, East Timor, China, South Africa and United Kingdom and staff have been seconded to work on international projects in the Pacific islands, South Africa, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The location of Longerenong in the heart of the cropping region has confirmed its role in agricultural education in south-eastern Australia, and in conjunction with the Joint Centre for Crop Improvement, has seen the further development of research and post-graduate students at Longerenong.
