The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government 1901-1926

By George Currie and John Graham

March 16th, 1966, marked the jubilee of Commonwealth sponsored scientific research in Australia. In 1916 the Commonwealth Government set up an Advisory Council of Science and Industry. This was the culmination of an interest in scientific research which went back to the very beginning of federation and had been expressed by active attempts to bring science to the aid of agriculture.

This book is an account of the developments which led up to the formation of the Advisory Council by the Hughes Government in 1916. It carries the story on to 1926, when a later Prime Minister, Mr S. M. Bruce, introduced the Bill to found the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. In those days there were vivid contrasts in the views of scientists, politicians and men of affairs as to how science could most effectively influence the nation's future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
• Release date: Jun 1, 1966
• ISBN: 9780643106222

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THE ORIGINS OF CSIRO

1901 – 1926

W. M. HUGHES

THE

ORIGINS

OF

CSIRO

Science

and the Commonwealth Government

1901-1926

SIR GEORGE CURRIE

Former Research Scientist, CSIR, 1929-39

JOHN GRAHAM

Officer-in-charge, Head Office Records, CSIRO

COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

RESEARCH ORGANIZATION

Melbourne, 1966

First published 1966

Printed and bound in Australia by

Melbourne University Press, Carlton N.3, Victoria

Dewey Decimal Classification Number 607.294

Registered in Australia for transmission by post as a book

FOREWORD

March 16th, 1966, marked the jubilee of Commonwealth sponsored scientific research in Australia. In 1916 the Commonwealth Government set up an Advisory Council of Science and Industry. This was the culmination of an interest in scientific research which went back to the very beginning of federation and had been expressed by active attempts to bring science to the aid of agriculture.

The Prime Minister, Mr W. M. Hughes, saw clearly that the help of science was needed to develop his country in the future. Following the precedent of the British Government a year earlier, he persuaded his Government to set up a scientific research organization.

In a characteristic speech, in which he first announced Commonwealth interest in the matter, he said that science should act as a beacon to industry and guide its feet through mazes of experiments. It would ‘cure the diseases of the body economic and be its striking and producing power’.

This book is an account of the developments which led up to the formation of the Advisory Council by the Hughes Government in 1916. It carries the story on to 1926, when a later Prime Minister, Mr S. M. Bruce, introduced the Bill to found the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. In those days there were vivid contrasts in the views of scientists, politicians and men of affairs as to how science could most effectively influence the nation’s future.

In a speech which preceded the introduction of the 1926 Bill, Mr Bruce said—‘The Government regards this question as probably one of the greatest importance that we are faced with today. We are prepared to find the necessary financial assistance to carry it into effect’. His Government fulfilled this promise and a great scientific enterprise called the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was launched. Its present day successor is CSIRO.

This book is not an account of scientific achievement. It is the story of a dramatic period in the history of Australia when scientists and men of vision convinced the political leaders of their day that scientific discovery could render valuable service to their developing country.

It is a record, too, of the political vicissitudes through which this grand conception passed before the leaders of the Government could bring it to practical fruition in the Acts of Parliament of 1920 and 1926.

That their faith and hope have been in a large measure fulfilled is due to their skill in designing an organization in which Australian scientists could give of their best in research. The Act of 1926 established a pattern of organization for a government research institution, masterly in conception and workable in practice. It is a model which other countries have admired and copied.

The Executive of CSIRO is grateful to Sir George Currie and to Mr John Graham for their accurate and very readable account of the period. The publication of this book is a fitting contribution to the celebration of the jubilee of national science in Australia.

Sir Frederick White, K.B.E., F.R.S.,

Chairman, CSIRO.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable assistance given by the many organizations and individuals who gave access to their records, supplied photographs and information and who gave useful criticism and helpful suggestions in the preparation of the material for this book for publication. They wish particularly to express their appreciation to:

The Rt Hon. Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, P.C., C.H., M.C.; His Excellency the Rt Hon. Lord Casey, P.C., G.C.M.G., C.H., D.S.O., M.C., K.StJ.; Sir Frederick White, K.B.E.; Professor Kerr Grant; Professor J. La Nauze; Professor W. A. Osborne; Professor R. S. Parker; Professor D. H. Pike; Sir Robert Watt (since deceased); Mr Guy B. Gresford, CSIRO; Mr W. F. Evans, CSIRO; Mr L. R. Benjamin, ex CSIRO; Mr W. Hartley, CSIRO; Mr G. K. Johnson, CSIRO; Mr G. Lightfoot, Retired CSIRO (since deceased); Mr F. Strahan, Archivist, University of Melbourne; Mr L. F. Fitzhardinge; Dr Howard P. Harrison; Mr H. J. Gibbney; Lady Bassett; Lady Mawson; Mrs A. Gellady; Miss K. Gepp; Miss F. Hagelthorn; National Library of Australia, The National Librarian, Mr H. L. White, and Staff; Commonwealth Archives Office, Mr I. McLean and Staff; Public Record Office, London; Premier’s Department, N.S.W.; Premier’s Department, Victoria, particularly Mr J. Rossiter; State Library of Victoria, particularly the Staff of the Newspaper and Periodicals Room; CSIRO Library, particularly Miss B. Doubleday and Miss M. J. Elliott; CSIRO Publishing Section, particularly Mr T. Hunter and Mr K. Gardiner.

CONTENTS

Foreword: by Sir Frederick White, K.B.E., Chairman, CSIRO

Acknowledgments

1 THE BEGINNINGS, 1901-1915

The Federal Government showed some interest in the application of science to agriculture from the first year of federation. Bills to establish a Bureau of Agriculture were introduced in 1909 and again in 1913 but failed to become law.

2 HAGELTHORN AND HUGHES, 1915-1916

The exigencies of war impelled the Imperial Government to set up, in July 1915, an organization for scientific research in Britain to serve the nation during and after the war. When news of this reached Australia later in the year, moves initiated in Melbourne lead to the announcement by the Prime Minister, W. M. Hughes, that a similar scheme would be established in Australia under the auspices of the Commonwealth Government.

3 THE ADVISORY COUNCIL FORMED, 1916

Formation of an Advisory Council of Science and Industry. A widely representative conference was called in January by the Prime Minister to discuss a National Laboratory to be established by the Commonwealth Government. It was decided as a first step to set up an Advisory Council of Science and Industry, to be replaced as soon as legislation could be passed by an Institute of Science and Industry. W. M. Hughes left in January to visit Great Britain taking with him Gerald Light-foot to report on research institutions in Great Britain and the United States.

4 THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AT WORK, 1916-1918

The Advisory Council of Science and Industry, through its Executive Committee, went vigorously to work making a census of problems to be dealt with and of scientists and facilities available to handle them. In July 1917 there was a stormy session with the Prime Minister. In April 1918 Dr F. M. Gellatly was appointed director of the proposed Institute of Science and Industry.

5 GELLATLY TO KNIBBS, 1918-1920

Gellatly worked with the Advisory Council as member during 1918 and became chairman January 1919. He worked for the Bill to establish the Institute but died suddenly in September of that year. Professor Masson resigned from the Executive and from the Council when he learnt that the Bill had been altered in ways he believed vital. The Institute of Science and Industry Act 1920 passed into law on 14 September 1920.

6 THE COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 1920-1925

The Institute was established with George Knibbs as the single director but adequate funds were not forthcoming and the organization failed to develop as had been hoped. In 1925 S. M. Bruce, having decided to reorganize the Institute, convened a conference in May to make recommendations and invited Sir Frank Heath, head of the D.S.I.R. in Great Britain, to advise his Government on the best form of reorganization.

7 THE CONFERENCE OF 1925 TO THE PASSING OF THE 1926 ACT

The new Bill to amend the Institute of Science and Industry Act 1920 was prepared after the reports from the conference of 1925 and a report from Sir Frank Heath had been studied by the newly appointed Executive Committee: G. A. Julius, W. J. Newbigin and Professor A. C. D. Rivett. The Bill passed all stages in the House within a month and was assented to 23 June 1926. This Act established the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The first meeting of the Council was opened by the Prime Minister, S. M. Bruce, on 22 June 1926.

Appendices

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

W. M. Hughes

L. E. Groom, G. F. Pearce

W. A. Osborne, F. W. Hagelthorn

D. O. Masson

T. R. Lyle

A. B. Piddington, G. D. Delprat

E. A. Mann, R. D. Watt

S. S. Cameron, A. E. V. Richardson, W. R. Grimwade

G. Lightfoot, F. M. Gellatly, G. H. Knibbs

S. M. Bruce

H. W. Gepp, F. Heath, R. V. Wilson

G. A. Julius, W. J. Newbigin, A. C. D. Rivett

1

THE BEGINNINGS 1901-1915

Even before the Federal Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia had been established in 1901 some candidates seeking election had advocated the establishment of a Federal Department of Agriculture or a Federal Bureau of Agriculture. Such advocacy had come from, among others, Alfred Deakin, Isaac Isaacs, John Quick and W. H. Groom, member for Darling Downs, who was regarded as the father of the first Commonwealth Parliament. Groom, who was a fervent advocate of research in agriculture, died in 1901 early in the life of the first Parliament, and his son Littleton Groom, who was to be a distinguished Minister in later governments, followed him as member for the Darling Downs and followed him also in advocating Federal interest in scientific research aimed particularly at assisting agriculture. It was the son who championed the Bureau of Agriculture Bills of 1909 and 1913 which, as will be seen later, were progenitors of the Institute of Science and Industry Act of 1920.

Only six weeks after the first Federal Parliament assembled in 1901, Sir John Quick, the member for Bendigo, moved:

That in the opinion of this House a national department of agriculture and productive industries on the same lines as that of the United States of America ought to be organized and maintained in connection with the Government of the Commonwealth.

Eighteen years later Littleton Groom, during the debate on the Institute of Science and Industry Bill, recalled those signs of earlier Commonwealth interest in such matters when he said:

Sir John Quick moved that particular motion in the House in 1901 on June 28th and other Members advocated the same idea. They included the Honorable Member for Indi, now Mr Justice Isaacs. My own father advocated it on the platform before it came into the House and other Members expressed the same view. On 3 November 1904, the following motion was carried: ‘That in the opinion of this House in order to promote the primary industries of Australia a Federal Department of Agriculture ought to be established at an early date’. That proposal later on received the support of the Reid-McLean Government. The Deakin Government in 1907 prepared a Bill, and a special memorandum was drafted setting out its purposes. This memorandum was issued on 31 May 1907.¹ On 31 March 1908, at Gympie (in Queensland) the Right Honorable Andrew Fisher in his policy speech expressed the opinion that we needed an agricultural bureau for the investigation of various matters and the dissemination of information concerning them. The Bill came before the House in 1909 and again in 1913.

In the earlier period under discussion it was Groom, then Attorney-General in the Deakin Ministry, who presented by Command in 1908 his memorandum concerning the establishment of an Australian Bureau of Agriculture. This 7-page document set out (1) the objects of the Bureau, (2) the organization and work of the Departments of Agriculture in the States, (3) matters dealt with elsewhere by a Department of Agriculture with respect to which the Commonwealth has already legislated, (4) the scope of an Australian Bureau of Agriculture, and (5) the Constitutional powers of the Commonwealth to establish a Bureau of Agriculture.

Among the arguments advanced for establishing such a bureau was the one quoted in para. 7 of the document which, under the heading ‘Prevention of Diseases and Pests’ stated inter alia:

As most of the diseases and pests affecting stock and plants are found in several States it would appear that scientific research could more profitably be controlled by a central authority.

Following up his memorandum of 1908 Groom, now Minister for External Affairs in the ‘fusion’ government, presented to Parliament on 20 July 1909 a Bill for an Act relating to an Australian Bureau of Agriculture. Probably through pressure of other Bills this one was withdrawn, but was brought up again in precisely the same form and presented to the Senate by Senator E. D. Millen on 30 September of the same year. Parliament was prorogued before the Bill had reached its second reading so it lapsed.

Although the Bill had lapsed, Groom’s interest in research in agriculture had not; later in 1909, instead of pursuing the matter through Parliament with a new Bill, his interest took another tack. As Minister for External Affairs he sent a letter to Lord Pentland, the Secretary of State for Scotland, inviting a group of noted Scottish agriculturalists to visit Australia to report on agricultural developments and opportunity.

The reputation of this Scottish Commission was well known to many because it had previously reported on agriculture in Denmark, Ireland and Canada, but it is not possible to say whether the Minister sent the invitation from his personal knowledge of their earlier activities or whether some adviser suggested this step to him. In any case it is clear that Groom’s special interest in agricultural development, which he inherited from his father and which he possibly regarded as a sacred trust from him, caused him to send the invitation in order to promote the ideas of his Bureau of Agriculture Bill which had so far failed to become law. He would reason no doubt that a group so eminent as the Scottish Commissioners and so knowledgeable in science could hardly fail to arouse great interest in the problems of agricultural development in Australia and would be most likely to strengthen his own case by any recommendations they might make on agricultural research.

The Scottish Commissioners, all twelve of them, were highly qualified men; most of them owned and operated farms, and most of them had considerable scientific knowledge. Six of the twelve had been on the mission to Denmark in 1904, six on the mission to Ireland in 1906 and eleven on the mission to Canada in 1908. The chairman, Sir T. Carlaw Martin, an economist and editor of a leading Scottish newspaper, had been on all three missions and, in addition, in 1903 had by invitation inquired into and reported on branches of commerce associated with agriculture in the United States of America.

The invitation was accepted and the Commissioners arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, on 20 September 1910. They spent 118 days in Australia, visiting most parts of the country, meeting a great many leading men in other fields as well as agriculture, and above all seeing agricultural development for themselves. As they were practical men with such wide knowledge of agriculture in other lands, their statements and comments in Australia got the good hearing Groom had hoped for from public and Press alike. The significance of their visit for the purposes of this history is not only that they were invited by Groom, and that their progress and comments throughout different parts of Australia had received such wide publicity, but also that they produced a substantial report when they returned to Scotland, a report which was quoted frequently in Parliament during the debate on the 1913 Bureau of Agriculture Bill and later in the debate on the 1918-1920 Bills relating to an Institute of Science and Industry.²

In view of later events in which he played a leading role it is necessary to note at this point that the then acting Prime Minister, W. M. Hughes, commenting on this report in May 1911, said:

The report of the Commission coincides with the opinion repeatedly expressed by the Commonwealth Government and it is in accordance with facts. Obviously joint control means ineffective, uneconomical and unsatisfactory performance. What is true of private concerns is also true of the State. While there are many matters which the States most satisfactorily carry out there are cases in which the Commonwealth can do better.³

One of the sections of the report to which Hughes was obviously referring at the time was reported in the press as follows:

The great amount of research and experimental work done by the States excited the surprised admiration of the Commission. It appeared to us, however, (says the report) that a considerable amount of overlapping was going on and that in general there was a want of co-ordination and cooperation; that the policy of allowing each State to attempt to attack the solution of each agricultural problem by itself was not the most economical. There are many problems which are common to the whole of Australia or to the greater part of it, and it would appear that time and money would be saved by placing some of the work of research in the hands of a Federal department. For example, every State is afflicted with various stock diseases. In Queensland it is ‘tick fever’ in another ‘dry bible’ and in another there is ‘coast disease’ and so on. A strong and well-equipped Federal department would seem more likely to cope with such diseases than the weaker and less well-equipped State departments. The prickly pear, again, is not a State monopoly, but may through time spread over most of the country, and here again is an argument for Federal control, which would not absorb or limit the energies of the State departments, but concern itself with a broader and a wider field.⁴

On 9 July 1913 a Bureau of Agriculture Bill exactly the same as the one of 1909 was introduced in the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister, Joseph Cook, and in the debates the report of the ‘Scottish Commissioners’⁵ was used freely by the Bill’s supporters. In his second reading speech in September Cook spoke of the magnificent work of William Farrer who, on his farm at Lambrigg in New South Wales, had bred many improved varieties of wheat which gave spectacularly increased yields; a splendid example of the tremendous value of science to agriculture. Groom speaking to the Bill said:

We propose to establish a bureau whose primary object will be research and the scientific investigation of the diseases which affect our animal and plant life.

Speakers opposing the Bill in 1913 argued that the proposed bureau would overlap or even duplicate the work already being done by the State Departments of Agriculture and that it was doubtful if the Constitution permitted such a development.

Although doubt about the Constitutional powers of the Commonwealth to legislate in this field was brought up in argument, the memorandum of 1908 by Groom had dealt fully with those powers, which he believed to be adequate to meet the situation. When his memorandum had been before Parliament, although some doubts were expressed by one member with legal training, there was in fact very little serious question by members, of the validity of his arguments.

As always, extreme views were expressed by some members. The member for Capricornia, W. G. Higgs, opposing the Bill of 1913, expressed his concern about duplicating the work of the State departments, and then for generous measure condemned the Bill as ‘socialistic, even communistic’. At the other extreme the member for the Riverina, F. B. S. Falkiner, a strong supporter of the Bill, commented ‘so far, the State institutions have done very little for agriculture’. George Swinburne, who had been a State Minister for Agriculture in Victoria, supported the Bill and suggested there should be no real difficulty about co-operation between the States and the Commonwealth provided the Commonwealth did the research work and the States ran the advisory work. This suggestion could not have endeared him to scientific officers in the State departments any more than the statement by Falkiner, since within the limits set by available funds and staff they had done a great deal of valuable work.

One member R. Patten of Hume, speaking in favour of the Bill quoted the fine record of the Agricultural Bureau in America and hazarded the opinion that great wealth had resulted from the application of science to agriculture through the work of that bureau. He said that every million dollars spent on research returned ten millions in extra production.

The Bill was read a third time on 18 December 1913 in the Lower House and passed on to the Senate on the same day. There it was read a first time, but since Parliament was prorogued that day the Bill lapsed again and fell into the limbo of things only part forgotten.

However, reports by two Commissions kept alive the idea that the Commonwealth might play a useful role in research. One of them was the Dominions Royal Commission of 1913 which made a general investigation of the trade and commerce of the Empire and reported thereon to the Imperial Government; the other the Interstate Commission which commented, in its report of October 1915, on the desirability of the Federal Government interesting itself in scientific research to help solve some of the problems of industry.

There were ten commissioners in the Dominions Royal Commission, six of them from the United Kingdom, one from Canada, one from Australia, one from New Zealand and one from Newfoundland. Sir Edgar Vincent was the chairman and Sir Rider Haggard, the well-known author, a prominent member. The Australian member of the Commission was Donald Campbell, of South Australia.

Although that Commission had little effect upon the train of events relating to the development of scientific research in the Commonwealth certain features of the investigation hold some interest for this narrative. While travelling in Australia in 1913 members of the Commission spoke of the need for co-operation with the Old Country in research, and in evidence taken in London in January 1914 a special study was made of possible closer relationships between the Dominions and the Colonies within the Imperial Institute in London, especially research in agriculture and mining. Campbell, expressed considerable interest in the possibility of closer association with Great Britain in scientific research and, while evidence was being given by the Director of the Imperial Institute, Campbell said:

The idea I want to put before you is, that it might be possible if the Dominions could focus all that work into one institution similar to your own and have these institutions—your own and the Dominions’ institutions co-operating—working along the same lines of investigation, carrying out the same methods of work, and being in close touch with regard to information that had been gathered on the spot; do you not think that would very largely extend the usefulness of the Imperial Institute, as well as enhance the interest and spread a knowledge of its aims in the different Dominions? That practically comes, does it not, to some system of giving very much closer cooperation? The answer was; certainly something of that kind would be extremely useful.

As a result of discussions between the commissioners and the Imperial Institute a scheme for co-ordination of work in the Dominions and the work in the Imperial Institute was submitted by the managing committee of the Imperial Institute on 24 June 1914 to the Commission under the title ‘Outlines of a scheme for co-ordination of the work of the Imperial Institute with that of bodies doing similar work in the self-governing Dominions’. Nothing came of the plan, possibly because war broke out soon after it was submitted, but it did show that the general idea of centralizing research within one institution in each of the Dominions in order to co-operate the better with Great Britain had some currency at the time.

Of somewhat greater significance however, was the report of the Australian Interstate Commission in October 1915.⁶ This report was written in answer to a request by the Minister for Customs, Frank G. Tudor, ‘That the Commission should furnish for the information of Parliament a report of new industries which, in its opinion could with advantage, be now established in the Commonwealth’. In the course of its report to Parliament the Commission said:

The systematic application of scientific research and scientific knowledge to the development of all forms of practical industry has long been an outstanding feature of the modern industrial world, and is fostered as a matter of prime importance by the Government of Germany and other progressive industrial countries. In Australia there has been hitherto no co-ordinated effort in this direction, but the discovery of new methods of utilizing raw materials obtainable here has been left in part to the voluntary effort of enthusiasts connected with the universities or technical colleges, and, in part, to the work of private individuals or companies, who believe that they see some particular opening for new undertaking by the study of some special scientific process. Thus, e.g. we found during the Tariff investigations that work upon these lines had been done in regard to the making of tanning extract to a new process for patent leather, to the treatment of