Biographical entry Wadham, Samuel MacMahon (1891 - 1972)

Summary

Samuel MacMahon Wadham was Professor of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, 1926-57. President of the Royal Society of Victoria 1937-38. He wrote and broadcast on aspects of farming and was a well-known and popular figure in farming
communities.

Details

Born London, 1891. Studied botany at Cambridge before volunteering to serve during World War I. Research student, British Ministry of Agriculture. Senior demonstrator, Botany Department, Cambridge. In 1926 he and his wife Dorothy came to Melbourne, where he had been appointed Professor of Agriculture. Member, Federal Dairy Investigation Committee, 1929; the Royal Commission on the Wheat Industry, 1934; Commonwealth Nutrition Committee, 1937; Rural Reconstruction Committee. 1943-1946; Commonwealth Migration Planning Council, 1949-1960 and the Commonwealth Committee for Tertiary Education, 1963-65). He was also a member of the Council of CSIRO. President, Royal Society of Victoria 1937-38. President, ANZAAS 1961. Retired in 1956, remaining active in various organisations. Died in 1972.

Related entries

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Samuel MacMahon Wadham - Records, 1925 - 1972; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Humphreys, L.R., Wadham: Scientist for Land and People, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2000, 240 pp. Details
• Wadham, S. M., Australian Farming 1788-1965, F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967, 156 pp. Details
• Wadham, Sir Samual, Selected addresses / with a biographical study by G. Blainey, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1956, 91 pp. Details
• Wadham, Sir Samuel MacMahon, Science, The Pattern of Australian Culture, A. L. McLeod, Oxford University Press; Cornell University Press, Melbourne; Ithaca, 1963. Details

Book Sections

• Humphreys, L. R., 'Wadham, Sir Samuel McMahon (1891-1972), Professor of Agriculture', in John Ritchie and Diane Langmore (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 16, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2002, pp. 456-459. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160549b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Leeper, G. W. (ed.), Sir Samuel Wadham, Melbourne, 1956. Details

Journal Articles

• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, '150 Years, 150 Stories: Samuel McMahon Wadham', Uni News, vol. 12, no. 14, 2003, p. 4. Details
• Wadham, Sir Samuel, 'The Extension to the Agricultural School. [Historical Review of the University of Melbourne School.]', Melbourne University Gazette, vol. 11, 1955, pp. 82-83. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Wadham, Samuel', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-636604. Details
• University of Melbourne Archives, 'Samuel M Wadham Collection', 1996, http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives/collections/wadham/. Details

See also

• Ashton, D. H.; Ducker, S. C., 'John Stewart Turner 1908-1991', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 9, no. 3, 1993, pp. 278-290. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9930930278.htm. Details
• Birch, L.C.; Browning, T. O., 'Herbert George Andrewartha 1907-1992', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 9, no. 3, 1993, pp. 258-268. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9930930259.htm. Details
• Clarebrough, L. M.; Head, A. K., 'Walter Boas 1904-1982', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 6, no. 4, 1987, pp. 507-517. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9870640507.htm. Details
• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories: brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2003, 168 pp. Details
• Stephens, C.G. and Quirk, J.P., 'James Arthur Prescott 1890-1987', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 7, no. 3, 1988, pp. 299-313. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9880730299.htm. Details