Person

Davidson, Bruce Robinson (1924 - 1994)

Born
8 May 1924
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
22 March 1994
Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Agricultural scientist

Summary

Bruce Davidson was one of Australia's most influential agricultural economists. His early research, while with the CSIRO in Canberra and as lecturer and research fellow at the University of Western Australia, related to the agricultural and settlement potential of northern Australia. He came increasingly and vocally to oppose schemes for the agricultural and pastoral development of northern Australia as economically unviable. In particular he opposed the Ord River scheme. These views were in opposition to the political orthodoxy of the time. Davidson published several books expanding on his views, most notably The northern myth: a study of the physical and economic limits to agricultural and pastoral development in tropical Australia (1965, 3rd edition 1972). He retired in 1969 after more than 20 years as Senior lecturer in agricultural economics at the University of Sydney. The University established a prize for proficiency in natural resource economics in Davidson's name.

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Details

Chronology

May 1942
Career event - Enlisted in the Citizen Military Forces
October 1942 - October 1945
Career position - Served with the Royal Australian Air Force
1948
Education - Diploma in Agriculture, Dookie Agricultural College
1952
Education - BAgSc, University of Melbourne
1954
Education - MAgSc, University of Melbourne
1957
Education - PhD, University of London
1957 - 1960
Career position - Lecturer in agricultural economics, Egerton Agricultural College, Kenya
1960 - 1963
Career position - Research Officer, CSIRO, Canberra
1963 - 1965
Career position - Lecturer and research fellow in agricultural economics, John Thompson Agricultural Economics Centre, University of Western Australia
1965 - 1968
Career position - Lecturer in agricultural economics, University of Sydney
1968 - 1989
Career position - Senior lecturer in agricultural economics, University of Sydney 1965-85
1989
Life event - Retired

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Davidson, B. R., Australia wet or dry?: the physical and economic limits to the expansion of irrigation (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1969), 264 pp. Details
  • Davidson, B. R., Australian agriculture in the great depression (Canberra: Australian National University, 1985), 48 pp. Details
  • Davidson, B. R.; and Graham-Taylor, Susan, Lessons from the Ord (St Leonards, N.S.W.: Centre for Independent Studies, 1982), 55 pp. Details
  • Davidson, Bruce, The northern myth: a study of the physical and economic limits to agricultural and pastoral development in tropical Australia (Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 1965), 293 pp. Details
  • Davidson, Bruce Robinson, European farming in Australia: an economic history of Australian farming (Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific, 1981), 437 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Carment, David, 'Davidson, Bruce Robinson (1924-1994), agricultural scientist and agricultural economist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 19 1991-1995 (A-Z), Melanie Nolan, ed. (ANU Press, 2021), pp. 210-212, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davidson-bruce-robinson-18265. Details
  • Davidson, Bruce, 'Developing Nature's Treasures: Agriculture and Mining in Australasia' in The Commonwealth of Science: ANZAAS and the Scientific Enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988, Roy MacLeod, ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 272-291. Details

Journal Articles

  • Batterham, Bob; Mauldon, Roger; and Ockwell, Tony, 'Bruce Robinson Davidson 1924 - 1994', Australian journal of agricultural economics, 38 (1) (1994), 121-4. Details
  • Davidson, Bruce R., 'The History of Agriculture in Temperate Australia', Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 51 (3) (1985), 159-168. Details
  • Shaw, A.G.L.; and Davidson, B., 'History of Farming in Australia', Australian Agricultural Yearbook (1986), 45-50. Details

Resources

See also

  • MacLeod, Roy ed., The Commonwealth of Science: ANZAAS and the Scientific Enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), 433 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 10 May 2022

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