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RAY OWEN HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE NEW Article Supplied by Helen Skehan 2021 The Royal Agricultural Society of Western
Australia honours The late politician and agricultural
scientist, Ray Owen, has been honoured by AGRICULTURE &
PRIMARY PRODUCTION In
1918 Ray Owen won a scholarship to Narrogin School of Agriculture at the age of
13 years. He boarded there 1919-1920. Those 2 years gave him a valuable
grounding in all facets of agriculture. |
RAY OWEN #1 |
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Ray’s oral history of his experiences there were transcribed, and were used by
Maurice White in writing the history of the College, and are now stored in the
College Archives, a valuable acquisition available for future reference. (Maurice
White - Narrogin School of Agriculture –
Nearly 100 years p.18) He
attended UWA 1922-1923 having won a scholarship from Narrogin. After graduating
with a Diploma in Agriculture he was employed by the Department of Agriculture
from 1924 - 1944 attaining the position of Assistant Superintendent of
Horticulture. While employed in the General Division of the Department Ray
realised he would be unable to progress to the higher paid and more satisfying
jobs unless he was in the Professional Division, so in 1933 he returned to UWA
to complete his degree. Working part-time, then taking unpaid leave, he
graduated in 1935 with a BSc (Agric). His ability in horticultural subjects was
recognized, and from1935 until 1941 he lectured in Horticulture at the
University. On
March 22, 1933 Ray Owen married Flora Hewison, daughter of Helen and William
Hewison. Helen Hewison was the Pickering Brook Postmistress, and she and Bill
ran the local store. In
his early positions as an Inspector, and later an Advisor, in the Department,
Ray worked in most fruit growing areas of the State, including Collie,
Bridgetown, Mt Barker, Manjimup, Gosnells and the Foothills. His job entailed
visiting orchards, Fremantle Port, the Perth Markets, and retail premises to
ensure fruit was not disease affected, and was of a suitable standard. In 1940
the Department employed 12 orchard, market and fruit inspectors operating at
the ports, markets and orchards. They administered seven Acts of Parliament.
(E.N. Fitzpatrick, p.64). During his years at the Department Ray was stationed
at Collie and at Bridgetown, and sent to various areas, particularly to deal
with outbreaks of Apple Scab and Codlin moth.
He was stationed at Gosnells for several years, before a transfer to his
own district of Kalamunda. Although Mediterranean fruit fly was already a
problem in West Australia, the State was largely free of these other
destructive pests and diseases. Ray was at the forefront of protecting what had
become a valuable industry for WA. An article by E.N.Fitzpatrick in his book, In response to need, a history of the
Western Australia Department of Agriculture 1894 – 2004 referred to the
various outbreaks of pests and diseases in the 1930s and the success in eradicating
them “with great savings to the industry.” (pp.59-60). Ray also instructed growers in spraying regimes, pruning, budding
and grafting techniques, as well as fertilization regimes for improving the
soil. He was an advocate for “green manure”, the modern technique of growing
crops of lupins, peas etc then ploughing them into the soil to produce
“natural” nitrogen and other chemicals, rather than artificial manures. He also
promoted modern orchard management techniques. His work helped bring professional
standards into the industry. Ray
was manpowered during WW2, as his qualifications were deemed to be important
for the war effort. He was sent to the CSIRO in Sydney to attend a course in
dehydration and canning, and appointed as an Inspector of Canned and Dehydrated
Fruit and Vegetables for the Commonwealth Department of Commerce. Under an
agreement between Australia and USA, Australia undertook to be responsible for
providing food for the troops of both nations when stationed in this area.
(Mentioned by Fitzpatrick, p.64) Some of the processes developed during this
period were taken up commercially post-war. While
employed by the Agriculture Department, and later when developing his own
orchard, Ray presented Field Days for practical demonstrations of all aspects
of horticulture, as well as bringing in experts in the field to educate growers
on new techniques such as mowing ground cover between rows of trees rather than
ploughing it in, soil preservation, and new products and machinery. Ray
worked his way up through the Department, and his years of work were recognized
as he eventually attained the position of Assistant Superintendent of
Horticulture in 1940. However, in 1944 he was asked to stand for the WA
Parliament as an Independent in the seat of Swan, and in accepting the
challenge he had to resign from the Department. Ray
Owen won the election, and took his seat on April 24, 1944. He was defeated at
the next election in 1947, and returned to developing his orchard, living in
Kalamunda so their children, Clive, Helen and Ken could attend school. Ray
referred to his property as a “fruit salad” orchard, growing stone fruit and
varieties of citrus as well as apples and pears. For a cash crop he grew peas,
potatoes, carrots for seed, and for a while, daffodils. Ray
re-entered Parliament on March 25, 1950, as the Country Party Member for
Darling Range and served in this capacity for 12 years. On March 31, 1962 he
was defeated by the narrowest margins - one vote - that was subsequently
confirmed at a by-election resulting from a disputed poll. He unsuccessfully
contested the seat of Darling Range in 1965, returning to running his orchard,
and fulfilling other commitments in the district. During
his time in Parliament Ray served as the Secretary of the Country Party 1956 -
57. He was a Member of the Standing Orders Committee 1959 - 1962 and the Joint
Select Committee inquiring into the Metropolitan (Perth) Transport Trust Bill
in 1957. In
a Condolence Motion moved after Ray’s death, the then Premier, Dr G.I Gallop
made these comments: Raymond left behind a major body of work on
administration and planning of horticulture and agriculture in Western
Australia, which was his great strength. He is well remembered for his tireless
work in helping to establish and guide industry committees and working groups
in agriculture and horticulture ...became widely acknowledged for his work and
administrative abilities across the horticultural industry in Western
Australia. During
the Condolence Motion, Ray was also acknowledged for his tireless efforts to
have Kalamunda serviced by a reticulated water supply, which was finally turned
on in November 1954. Ray
had an inventive frame of mind, and using techniques and skills developed at
Narrogin, such as blacksmithing, he made tools and equipment, some of entirely
new design, others for use when those on the market were too expensive. Many of
these were demonstrated at Field Days, while some were published in
Agricultural journals such as the “Western Mail” so interested parties could
adapt them for their own use. At a time when commercially manufactured cement
and terracotta drain pipes were unavailable for purchase, and drains on his own
orchard were lined with boxed timber, Ray designed and displayed at Field Days a
method and equipment for manufacturing drainage pipes using cement and gravel.
These were used extensively throughout the family orchard, and were
demonstrated at Field Days. In
1975 growers of pome fruit were struggling, as an oversupply of apples meant
prices were low, and small or second-grade fruit could not be sold. Orchardists
had been advised to dump apples rejected during the packing process, an
unsatisfactory solution that could cause trouble with fruit fly and other
pests. After doing research into the use of apples as feed for stock, Ray
devised a machine, a jerry-built “apple basher” that in the first fortnight
made good use of 42 tonnes of reject apples, which were transported up to his
York farm in a truck fitted with a standard wheat bin, then reduced into
quarters and “mash” by the “apple-basher” attached to the side of the truck.
This contraption was driven around the paddocks with apple mixture dropped
along the way for the cattle to eat. So successful was the experiment Ray was
able to take rejected apples from other growers and some hundreds of tonnes
were subsequently used as supplementary feed, thus reducing waste. In the early
trials he used apple peelings collected from juice processors. While
heavily involved with many other organisations working for the fruit industry,
Ray was instrumental in the formation of the Export Stone-Fruit Pool to
investigate and develop the export market for stone-fruit, particularly to
Singapore and the UK, a new venture to improve the financial situation for WA
stone-fruit growers by setting high standards for the fruit to be exported, and
finding new markets overseas. He was a founding member of the Export
Stone-Fruit Growers’ Association. A
keen advocate of research and development in horticulture, Ray worked with the
industry and the Department to enable the gifting of the land for the
Stoneville Research Station in 1955, which provided valuable assistance to
growers, developing new varieties and techniques thus helping grow the industry
that was looking to expand in both local and overseas markets. He was given the
honour of being present in 1966 when the Minister for Agriculture formally
opened the Station. Ray
Owen published articles in horticulture magazines such as Agricultural Journal including research on minor elements in citrus. |
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KEN (Painter) & HELEN SKEHAN UNVEILING PAINTING OF RAY OWEN #2 |
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RURAL COMMUNITY Ray was a horticulturist at heart, and Horticultural
Shows featured heavily among his many interests, with the Kalamunda Show and
the Royal Show taking precedence. Ray spoke on his decades-long
involvement with the Kalamunda Horticultural Show during an interview with Oral
Historian Ann Williams in 1990, and these notes are taken from the transcribed
copy. Ray’s parents had exhibited for
several years with some success, and when they retired, he decided to carry on
the family tradition. Ray was given full access to his father’s orchard that
provided him with many varieties to make a selection from, including stone
fruit, apples and pears, and Valencia oranges. As he put it: I’d put in the whole of the weekend getting
this fruit ready and then on the Monday would exhibit it down at the Show. I
won quite a few prizes: had an agreement with my parents that any trophies,
they would take the trophy and I would take the cash prizes. Ray went on to describe his
involvement with the Royal Agricultural Show. In the late 1930s, while still
working for the Department of Agriculture he was judging the fruit part of the
District Displays. Impressed with the success of these displays, which he
believed were among the biggest attractions at the Show, he persuaded the
committee of the Kalamunda Show to mount their own displays as an added
attraction. Reluctant to agree, because of the work involved, the committee
finally agreed – on the understanding that Ray undertake to do the
organisation. As President of the Central Darling Range Fruit Growers’
Association he was able to bring in the other Associations in the district –
Maida Vale- Forrestfield, Pickering Brook-Karragullen and Kalamunda-Lesmurdie-
with each forming a committee, resulting in a very successful District Display
that proved to be a great attraction for visitors. Using his position as the
MLA for the Swan/Darling Range electorates Ray was able to persuade various
Ministers and other Members to make the trip up to the Hills to open the Show.
He also helped attract various groups to provide attractions – a plough-horse
gallop, and what was to become one of the biggest draw-cards, log-chop
competitions. For many years Ray continued to
organise the local entry in the Royal Show’s District Display, driving around
all the fruit-growing areas in the district collecting fruit, flowers and other
products to fully represent the Hills district he was so proud of. A letter Ray
wrote to The Swan Express, published
on November 23, 1950 noted his involvement with the Perth Royal Show and the
local district Shows: I have been a regular visitor and active worker and
supporter of these district shows from Kelmscott to Mundaring, for twelve or
more years, and have also actively assisted in the fruit and vegetable display
at the Royal Shows both during the pre-war and post-war periods. |
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HELEN SKEHAN, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GOVERNOR KIM BEASLEY AC & PRESIDENT OF RASWA DAVID THOMAS #3 |
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CONTRIBUTION TO LOCAL
GOVERNMENT Ray
was elected as a member of the Darling Range Roads Board in 1947 and continued
to serve until 1961, including a long period as Chairman, 1949 - 1961. This
Local Government area was declared a Shire in 1961, and Ray continued to serve
as a Councilor and as President 1961 -1965. Ray’s
success as a Member of the Roads Board is outlined in John Slee and Bill Shaw’s
book “Cala Munda A Home in the Forest”
pp.204-209. Referring to Ray they wrote: ...it was he who led the board into a more expansive - and expensive -
style. Owen was one of the new style community leaders after the war who
realised that things had to change, and change would need money which had to be
borrowed.” With other like-minded members, Ray was able to convince
ratepayers to accept the need to borrow money, giving them a beautiful park on
what had been a dairy, known as the Dairy Block, now Stirk Park, at the
entrance to the town; helping retain Stirk Cottage, home to one of the early
settlers which is now in the care of the Kalamunda and Districts Historical
Society. The Board was able to do so without huge increases in rates. Another
of Ray’s successful projects was to have Hartfield Park in Forrestfield
gazetted as an A-Class Reserve, and subsequently to persuade the Government to
extend the electricity supply to enable the Pony Club to be based there. In
1966 Ray Owen’s service to the District was recognised when he was appointed
the first Freeman of the Shire of Kalamunda. In
tribute to Ray Owen’s distinguished service to Kalamunda and districts the
Shire named the Ray Owen Reserve and Recreation Centre in Lesmurdie in his
honour, and Raymond Street was also named for him. Ray
was a JP for more than 30 years, and during this time readily made himself
available to citizens of the District. He was often called on by the local
Yugoslav and Italian families who had taken up land and developed orchards and
businesses in the district; he sometimes assisted men making application for
families to immigrate to Australia to join their husbands and fathers, even
helping with official applications for proxy weddings. Many of these families
became life-long friends of the Owen family. |
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RAY OWEN'S HALL OF FAME CERTIFICATE #4 |
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INVOLVEMENT IN ORGANISATIONS, ASSOCIATIONS & INDUSTRY
BODIES 1918 Won a scholarship to the Narrogin School of Agriculture and attended
there between 1919 and 1920 receiving a further scholarship to attend the
University of Western Australia. ·
1922-3 Obtained his Diploma In
Agriculture from UWA. ·
1933-4 Obtained his Bachelor of
Science in Agriculture at UWA. ·
1935 to 1944 Lectured on
Agriculture at UWA. ·
1936 Foundation member of the Institute
of Agriculture. Made a Life Member in 1985 ·
1922-1944 Was employed with the
Department of Agriculture rising to Assistant Superintendent of Horticulture.
During the period 1942-1944 was also the Inspector with the Commonwealth
Commerce Department for canned Fruit & Vegetables. ·
1944-1947 Was the Member of the
Legislative Assembly for the Swan Electorate. ·
1950-1962 Member of the
Legislative Assembly for Darling Range ·
1956-1957 Secretary of the
Parliamentary Country Party. ·
1957 Served on the Committee
Inquiring into the Metropolitan Perth Transport Trust Bill. ·
1933-1939 Member South Suburban
Fruit Growers Association. ·
1940 Member of Central Darling
Range Fruit Growers. ·
1940-1946 Member of the
Kalamunda Horticultural Society. ·
1944-1968 Chairman, WAFGA Central
Citrus Council. ·
1947-1975 Chairman, WAFGA
Summer Fruit Council. ·
1945-1970 Member, WAFA
Management Committee. ·
1950 –Member of the St John Ambulance Committee at Kalamunda,
that worked to have an ambulance stationed in Kalamunda, and to raise funds to
pay for an Ambulance Centre. ·
Member
of the Kalamunda Progress Association. ·
1967-1970 President of the
Western Australian Fruit Growers Association. ·
1948-1970 WA delegate to the Australian National
Australian Citrus Growers’ Association. Served as President of the National
body 1951/52 & 1956/57. The only WA delegate to achieve this honour. ·
1954-1965 Member on the Board
of Directors of Producers Markets Co-Op. ·
1965-76 Instrumental in the
formation of the Export Stone Fruit Growers Association and served as the
President and member of the export stone fruit pool. ·
1947-1961 Member of the Darling
Range Road Board. Chairman 1949 to 1961. ·
1961 to 1965 President of the Kalamunda
Shire Council.
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FAMILY
HISTORY Raymond
Cecil Owen was born on March 1, 1905, at Monument Hill, Upper Canning, later
named Pickering Brook. In the 1960s the area was made part of the Carmel
district. While the district is now included in the Metropolitan area as
outer-suburban land, for most of Ray’s career it was rural, and the family
always classed themselves as country people. Electricity was not connected
until 1953, and the valley where the orchard was developed, and family still
live is not connected to the water-supply. In
1893, Ray’s grandfather, Edward Owen, and his father, Oliver, took up land in
Upper Canning that was cleared and developed into an orchard property
–“Rosedale”. Oliver and Nellie had six children, with Ray the second youngest.
Like his siblings, Ray was educated at Heidelberg - later changed to Carmel -
Primary School. A good student, Ray was awarded a scholarship in 1918, which he
took up at the Farm School, Narrogin School of Agriculture in 1919. He
travelled down sitting on the pillion of brother Les’s motor-cycle, with Oliver
in the sidecar. This was an arduous 8-hour trip. Ray enjoyed his time at Narrogin, and did well, particularly in blacksmithing, with his teacher suggesting he could make that his trade. The boys alternated a day in the classroom with a day on farm-work, providing the students, and Ray, with knowledge of all aspects of farming, practical and theoretical, particularly with stock. To read the full family history click here. |
LES, RAY & OLIVER ABOUT TO LEAVE TO GO TO NARROGIN #5 |
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PETER & HELEN SKEHAN, CLIVE & AUDREY OWEN, KEN & PAM OWEN WITH PAINTING OF RAY OWEN # |
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION While
Ray had worked for many years to help his Father, he wanted his own property,
and in 1934 he arranged to buy the property that Edward had passed to his
daughter Edith. It included a cement brick home built by Edward that he and
Mary ran as a Guest House. Edith agreed to sell it to Ray with him paying her
in instalments. He developed the property while still working full time. No
longer living in Perth, Ray would sometimes use the train, but eventually was
able to buy a car. He worked with the Yugoslav and Italian immigrants employed
by his Father, and grew vegetables to bring in money to pay for the property,
and to develop it. At one stage he would start early with his workman (who
shared the profits from the venture) gathering cauliflowers, take them to
Market in his Father’s truck, return home, change, then catch the train, or
drive to Perth for his job. In this way he was able to work towards ownership
of his orchard. Ray had a good relationship with all his workers, and was
always willing to help them, and to mentor them in any way he could. Ray
loved his Hills Districts with a passion, particularly the flora and fauna. He
had a prodigious memory, and was often sought out to answer questions relating
to the history of the area. His daughter taped many hours of his oral history,
and these have been digitized for future reference. Under the Foothills Connection Project the Shire
of Kalamunda contracted Ms Ann Williams to record oral histories, and her tapes
of interviews with Ray have been transcribed into a 170-page document. She was
able to tape a priceless record of the Kalamunda Shire, and of the Owen family.
The tapes and the written record of those interviews have been sent to the
Battye Library, and are also stored with the Kalamunda and Districts Historical
Society. With
three sons all interested in working the land, Ray realised the orchard would
not provide a living for them all. Beginning in 1953 he eventually purchased
and cleared 1800 acres of a bush block for farmland on the West Talbot Road in
the York district. All three sons, Clive, Ken and Eric helped clear, fence and
develop the land, putting in dams and building a shearing shed with an attached
living quarters, along with stockyards, hay sheds etc. This was developed into
an attractive farm, running sheep and cattle with areas set aside for crops.
Clive and his son, Steve now manages the farm, which is jointly owned by the
brothers. Following the death of Ray’s older older brother who inherited and
ran his father’s orchard, he was able to repurchase some of the original blocks
which he passed to his sons thus extending the orchard. Developing
and running his own orchard and farming property gave Ray Owen a good
understanding of all aspects of agriculture, including local and overseas
markets, including the need for research, and for giving support to
orchardists, vegetable growers and farmers. All his
life Ray was a practical man, always prepared to undertake what some would see
as menial tasks. His attitude always was to knuckle down and get the job done.
He had an enquiring mind, and read widely. If a tool or an implement to do the
job were not available, Ray would put his mind to work and would make what he
needed, or what was too expensive to buy. Details and photographs of some of
his ideas and inventions were published in the “Power Farming” magazine, and in the local journal The Western Mail (later to become The Countryman) for anyone interested in making use of Ray’s ideas.
Ray was always happy to demonstrate his ‘inventions’ at Field Days and other
get-togethers with fellow orchardists and farmers. In the
early years, Oliver Owen purchased a Clayton and Shuttleworth horse-drawn steam
engine to use in milling local timber for making fruit cases, and boards for
use on the property. Over the years the old machine fell into disrepair, and in
later years Ray undertook its restoration. This became a true labour of love,
as information had to be gathered from wide areas. Using his own technical
skills, including boiler-making, which he had learned something of at Narrogin,
and seeking out plans of the machine held in the archives, |
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RAY OWEN RESTORING THE CLAYTON & SHUTTLEWORTH STEAM ENGINE #6 |
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Ray was able to
bring the old lady to life. The family was on hand to see her get up steam, and
a delighted Ray looked forward to showing her to a wider audience.
Unfortunately he was not allowed to do this, as regulations required that work
on the boiler had to be done by a qualified boilermaker, which would have been
an expensive proposition. Determined to have his beloved machine building up
steam to delight new generations, Ray and the family contacted the Avondale
Research Station in Beverley, and they were very pleased to take her on loan,
where it was an outstanding exhibit, able to get up steam on Open Days to
enthrall visitors. A testament to the skills, hard work and determination of
Ray Owen, it is still on display in Beverley. FOOTNOTE: To read the full Owen family history click here |
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Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information, we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.
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References: Article: Helen SKehan Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6 Helen Skehan
Copyright 2008 - 2021 Gordon Freegard |
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