Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre
For Immediate Release – 23 November 2009
“Education in the Outback”
The Australian Agricultural College Corporation is leading a project to build a new display at the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre to showcase the contribution Australian Agricultural colleges have made in determining education the Outback.
The display will enable the public to have a more in-depth understanding of how Australian agricultural colleges have balanced the workforce with professional training of Australia’s most valued asset – young men and women – and how agricultural training has changed to meet the challenges of modern technology.
The display will feature the concept behind the Longreach Pastoral College and its success in leading to develop Emerald, Burdekin and Dalby. The induction of female students into rural training and the great percentage increase in numbers will be attributed. There will be a focus on the types of courses provided and why, employment rates of graduates, and the positions they acquired. There will be maps and descriptions of the land acquisition of each college, stock numbers, studs and breeds, mission statements, emblems, brands, and other related history on the evolutionary process of agricultural colleges across Australia.
Bill Angus, who was formally the General Property Coordinator for AACC Longreach is one of the main drivers of the new project. “I felt that it was time the Agricultural Colleges be recognised for their contribution to the industry and this was an appropriate way in which to acknowledge their involvement as a whole. Both men and women need to be recognised for what they’ve done and the Ag Colleges have set the mantle for these people to be trained in the industry”.
CEO of the Hall, Ben Maguire, is in full support of the new display. “The new research based project is exciting as it will truly recognise and capture the history and importance Agricultural Studies have played in developing rural Australia into the vital industry it is today. It is important to capture this history now while the traditional educational facilities are still around”.
The Hall and the AACC will be sourcing information and support, both financial and in-kind, from any interested parties.