Morgan, William Longworth (1904 - 1968)

Summary

William Morgan completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Sydney University (1927) and then went on to work as an entomologist for the New South Wales Department of Agriculture. He soon became a recognised authority on those insects which attacked local vegetables and crops (e.g. cabbage moth, pumpkin beetle, tomato mite, etc.). By studying the lifecycle of the bean fly, Morgan was able to come up with a nicotine-sulphate white oil solution to effectively treat infestations. During World War II, the Commonwealth Government put Morgan in charge of the contract vegetable production industry to ensure a constant supply during the war years. In 1947 Morgan resigned from his government post and established Ace Farm Supplies Pty. Ltd. in Sydney - a supplier of seeds, equipment, tools and pest control chemicals. In 1995 he set up Root Nodule Pty. Ltd, one of Australia's first commercial producers of legume inoculants.

Details

Chronology

c. 1927

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc) completed at the University of Sydney

1937 - 1938

Career position - Bean fly treatment regime discovered

1947

Career position - Resigned from the Department of Agriculture and established Ace Farm Supplies Pty. Ltd.

1955

Career position - Formed the Root Nodule Pty. Ltd. company

Published resources

Books

• Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary. William Longworth Morgan, (1904-1968) [including a list of his publications]', Journal of the Entomological Society of Australia (New South Wales Branch), 5 (1968), 60-61. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q55068661. Details
• 'Morgan, William Longworth (1904-1968)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476097. Details