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(Eric Pearce, Narrator) Sir Ian Clunies Ross died in June 1959.
Now, through the establishment of the Ian Clunies Ross Memorial
Foundation, a national science centre is planned.
The centre, to be known as Clunies Ross House,
will honour the man, who for ten years as Chairman of C.S.I.R.O.,
guided and inspired the growth of science
and its application to Australian development.
Here on a site at Parkville, near the University of Melbourne,
some 30 different scientific and technical societies
will integrate and pursue their respective fields of endeavour.
Science and technology, on which national prosperity so
largely depends, will further advance through the Clunies Ross Foundation.
Sir Ian Clunies Ross was a man of many interests.
Throughout his career from the University of Sydney,
where he graduated as a Bachelor of Veterinary Science,
to the Chairmanship of C.S.I.R.O., he saw the urgent need for the
application of science to Australia’s primary and secondary industries.
His own early research was in the field of parasitology,
but in later years, through his foresight and initiative,
new fields of agricultural and industrial research were started.
His burning conviction that science must be harnessed for the good
of the community made these changes felt
throughout the Australian continent.
He was fully aware of the role the universities
had to play in the Australian life.
Through his membership of the Murray Committee,
and his association with the Council of the Australian National University,
and the University of Melbourne, he greatly assisted in
improving the conditions and status of our universities.
The interests of Clunies Ross were not restricted to C.S.I.R.O. alone.
He was genuinely interested in what others were doing, the universities,
the state research bodies, private industry.
This man hated racial prejudice.
Through his interest in the peoples of South East Asia he helped
establish International House, where overseas students could
live and exchange ideas with their Australian colleagues.
During his Chairmanship of C.S.I.R.O. Clunies Ross was responsible
for the establishment of many new fields of research,
and for the extension of others.
He also knew the value of using knowledge already gained to extend and
improve primary and secondary industry.
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The name of Clunies Ross will always be associated
with the Australian wool industry, for it was due largely to
his efforts that the Wool Research Fund was established,
a fund that was to prove invaluable in restoring wool to a
favourable position in the textile world.
As Clunies Ross himself said, “Grows all over the world today,
recognise that research can do, and is doing, a great deal,
not only to improve the production of wool in the field,
but in improving the properties of wool as a textile fibre
for the manufacturing of material and clothing.”
Because of the necessity to develop our tropical
and subtropical regions Clunies Ross set up
the C.S.I.R.O. Division of Tropical Pastures.
Research in this Division has already shown the
way for an increase in the carrying capacity of Queensland pastures.
New forms of land and pasture reclamation were developed.
In Australian 600 million rabbits were eating
as much pasture as 75 million sheep.
With the introduction of myxomatosis,
nine-tenths of this menace were wiped out.
Biological control was applied to fruit and crop pests,
and certain types of weeds.
Research into the arid areas of the north
resulted in new and better pastures,
permitting cattle to graze on land
previously dominated by wind and sun.
The hard dry earth began at last to bear life.
The use of gypsum and irrigation water was found
to increase the growth of clover on previously unyielding soil.
And to aid natural rainfall experiments were carried out
into methods of creating artificial rain.
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Studies of cloud and ice crystal formation were made,
while aircraft and high altitude balloons were
used to gather meteorite dust from the atmosphere.
A dust associated with the theory of natural rainfall.
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Dry ice and silver iodide were used in cloud seeding experiments which
resulted in a considerable increase in the rainfall over selected test areas.
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To further assist the water conservation so necessary
to this country experiments were carried out
in the field of evaporation control.
By covering the water surface area with a thin film of
cetyl alcohol evaporation loss was
in many cases reduced by up to 60%.
The standard of beef and dairy cattle improved as science
sought and found the answers to many age old problems;
diseases were eliminated or controlled; hardier strains were
introduced, better to withstand the varied Australian conditions.
A revolutionary method of cheese making was developed, a method
which has already been adopted by many countries overseas.
Scientists explored the world below the surface of the sea
to develop new and more efficient ways to reap its harvest.
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Commonwealth and state departments, universities and industry,
were all associated with these research developments,
and with Australia’s progress.
Research was carried out into the building trade, solving
problems associated with building for our modern age.
New materials were developed to reduce the demand on Australia’s
forests, while methods to better utilise our limited
timber resources were tried with success.
Mining companies perfected the separation of lead
and zinc by flotation processes.
C.S.I.R.O. set up a Division of Coal Research.
The Australian aeronautics industry had been established.
Science even looked to the stars.
Through the study of radio physics dark
corners of the universe became familiar.
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The giant silhouette of radio telescopes has heralded the challenge
of the space age, a challenge that science is prepared to meet.
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Science in Australia is progressing rapidly.
The benefits of this science are reaped by the people
of this country in improved living standards, and new fields of
industrial and commercial development.
This then was the life of Ian Clunies Ross, a man of vision, who believed
in science and the free exchange of ideas.
(Sir Ian Clunies Ross) But still we’re only at the beginning of the
development of this country. There are many other great problems to be
solved, and for these we need many more young men and women
of the highest quality to undertake this work of solving
the problems of industry and helping to develop their country.
(Eric Pearce, Narrator) Engineers, botanists, chemists, biologists,
these and many more are playing their part in the scientific growth of their
country, as individuals, and as members
of various societies and organisations.
These societies will find a common centre at Clunies Ross
House, a centre to provide leadership and unity
to all branches of science and technology.
From this centre will flow the rewards of this science.
To industry, and to commerce, to people on the
land, to every citizen, the value of the National
Science Centre to the Australian community is expressed in
the words of Sir Macfarlane Burnet.
(Sir Macfarlane Burnet) Perhaps one of the greatest virtues of
Clunies Ross House will be to supply a centre and meeting place for
people concerned with a wide range of scientific disciplines.
People in fact who are concerned with bringing
science to every section of the community.
Opportunities for contact and co-operation are just as
important for the advance and application of science as they are for
increasing goodwill between men in such fields as commerce and politics.
(Eric Pearce, Narrator) This will be the function of the
National Science Centre. It will be an investment in the
scientific future of Australia, an investment for every primary
producer and manufacturer, an investment paying rich dividends
in years to come. This is what Ian Clunies Ross would have
wished, an end to which he shaped his life as a man of science.
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