P000875 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Gavan McCarthy and Helen Cohn updated 2026-02-02 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000875b.htm person Watt Robert Dickie Kt AACR2 23 April 1881 10 April 1965 Place of Birth Knocklandside, Ayrshire, Scotland Place of Death Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Agricultural scientist University Administrator Robert Watt was widely influential in agricultural and broader scientific matters in Australia in the first half of the 20th-century. In 1910 he was appointed the inaugural Professor of Agriculture at the University of Sydney. Over the next 35 years he built the considerable reputation of the faculty in teaching and research. In this he was ably assisted by Walter Waterhouse, appointed as lecturer in 1921 and successor to Watt as Professor. Watt was a Member of the Australian National Research Council for 35 years and of the New South Wales Committee of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research from 1926 to 1941. Organisations of which he served as President included the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science. In retirement Watt researched Australian agricultural history and published The romance of the Australian land industries (1955). 1903 1903 Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Glasgow, Scotland 1905 1905 Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Glasgow, Scotland 1905 1907 Award - Carnegie Research Scholarship, Rothamsted Experiment Station, United Kingdom 1908 1908 Career position - Chief Chemist, Transvaal Department of Agriculture 1910 1946 Career position - Foundation Professor of Agriculture, University of Sydney 1914 1914 Career position - Local Secretary for Sydney, Section M (Agriculture), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting 1915 1946 Career position - Trustee, Public Library of New South Wales 1916 1919 Career position - Member, Advisory Council of Science and Industry 1919 1954 Career position - Foundation Councillor (Agriculture), Australian National Research Council 1920 1926 Career position - Member, Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry 1920 1946 Career position - Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Sydney 1922 1922 Career position - Chair, Murray Lands Advisory Committee, New South Wales 1924 1924 Career position - President, Section K (Agriculture and Forestry), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 1925 1925 Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales 1926 1941 Career position - Chair, New South Wales State Committee, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1934 1935 Career position - Fellow of the Senate, University of Sydney 1935 1935 Career position - President, New South Wales Branch, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1935 1965 Award - Life Member, Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales 1937 Career event - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) 1939 1940 Career position - President, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 1946 1946 Life event - Retired 1950 1950 Award - Farrer Memorial Medal, Farrer Memorial Trust 1960 1960 Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) 1960 1965 Award - Fellow, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, Commonwealth of Australia (1920 - 1926)

Member, Provisional General Advisory Council 1920 - 1926

 Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Commonwealth of Australia (1916 - 1920)

Member, Executive Committee 1916 - 1920; Chairman, Executive Committee 1918 - 1920; Honorary Secretary, State Committee New South Wales 1916 - 1920

 Australian National Research Council (ANRC) (1919 - 1955)

Foundation Member (Agriculture) 1919 - 1954

 Royal Society of New South Wales (1866 - )

President 1925

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (1888 - 1930)

President, Section K (Agriculture and Forestry) 1924

 Australian Institute of Agricultural Science (1935 - 1996)

President 1939 - 1940; President, New South Wales Branch 1935; Fellow 1960 - 1965

 Farrer Memorial Medal (1936 - )

Awarded the Medal 1950

 The University of Sydney (1850 - )

Professor of Agriculture, 1910 - 1946; Dean, Faculty of Agriculture 1920 - 1946; Fellow of the Senate 1934 - 1935

 Waterhouse, Walter Lawry (1887 - 1969)

Waterhouse succeded Watt as Professor of Agriculture, University of Sydney 1946

 British Association for the Advancement of Science 84th Meeting (1914)

Local Secretary for Sydney, Section M (Agriculture) 1914

 State Committee New South Wales, Advisory Council of Science and Industry (1916 - 1920)

1916-1920

 Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) (1930 - )

Fellow 1937 -

 Conference convened by the Prime Minister, S.M. Bruce, to consider the reorganisation of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, 30 May and 1 June 1925

Representative of New South Wales

 CSIR Council, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (1926 - 1949)

Member 1926 - 1941; Chair, New South Wales Committee 1926 - 1941

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Watt, R D (1881-1965)

Trove

 'Watt, Robert Dickie', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Watt, Robert Dickie Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 Currie, George; Graham, John The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 Melbourne CSIRO 1966 Report: Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: for the year ended 30th June 1918 Advisory Council of Science and Industry Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: for the year ended 30th June 1918 Melbourne Government of the Commonwealth of Australia 1918 Resource Section: Watt, Robert Dickie - Ms 46 Watt, Robert Dickie - Ms 46 Australian Academy of Science 1994 Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings Book Section: Watt, Sir Robert Dickie (1881-1965), agricultural scientist Campbell, Keith O. Watt, Sir Robert Dickie (1881-1965), agricultural scientist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1990 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z John Ritchie 410-411 Journal Article: Presidential address Watt, R. H. Presidential address 1926 Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 60 1-37 Book: The romance of the Australian land industries Robert D. Watt The romance of the Australian land industries Sydney Angus and Robertson 1955 Journal Article: The Influence of Science on the Progress of the Land Industries in Australia. Watt, R. D. The Influence of Science on the Progress of the Land Industries in Australia. 1926 Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 60 14-37 Book Section: A history of plant pathology in Australia White, Neville H. A history of plant pathology in Australia Sydney Academic Press 1981 Plants and Man in Australia Carr, D. J. and Carr, S. G. M. 42-95 Resource: Farrer Memorial Trust Medal recipients and orations New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Farrer Memorial Trust Medal recipients and orations Sydney New South Wales Department of Primary Industries 2023 Journal Article: A century of agriculture in the University of Sydney Copeland, Les A century of agriculture in the University of Sydney 2020 Agricultural science 31 2 59-65 Journal Article: Irvine Armstrong Watson 1914-1986 McIntosh, R. A.; and Smith-White, S. Irvine Armstrong Watson 1914-1986 1989 Historical Records of Australian Science 7 4 405-415 Robert Dickie Watt - Records Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science Robert Dickie Watt - Records MS 046 1910 - 1965 Biographical notes written in the early 1960s; reports of the University of Sydney 1910, 1965; speeches 1926-60; correspondence concerning Watt's death 1965; correspondence concerning his career 1921-64; photographs undated; newspaper articles by or about Watt 1910-65. 0.05 m Photographs