Cultivating Careers

When the NSW Government established the system of Experiment Farms, the aim was to turn out practical farmers in order to improve agricultural capacity. To achieve this, the Bathurst Experiment Farm School was established in 1897 and would train over 850 students until the school closed in 1941.

This register of students enrolled at the Farm’s school 1928–1940 provides a rare insight into the range of backgrounds, future employment of, and certificates awarded to the students. Many students came from a farming background, some came straight from school, and more than ninety per cent were employed in some aspect of the agricultural sector on graduation. One former student advertised for a position on a station citing his studies at Bathurst Experiment Farm. Ex-servicemen were also trained at the Farm School as part of the WWI Soldier Settlement Scheme along with a number of young Englishmen through the Big Brother Settlement Scheme.

The school at Bathurst Experiment Farm offered certificate courses of up to two years duration combining practical field work and lectures in various branches of agriculture, stock-raising, bookkeeping and business methods, along with carpentry and blacksmithing. Fees in the 1930s were £10 for each six months in the first year, reducing to £7/10 shillings in the second year. These fees included food and lodging in student accommodation on the Farm which could house thirty-two students.

The Bathurst Experiment Farm School had a broad educational role which encompassed teaching agricultural students from local High Schools, presenting Field Days for farmers, and training agricultural professionals. These groups together with the students recorded in this register embody the Bathurst Experiment Farm’s role in applying science and education to agriculture.