Hicks, C.S. (1955). Keyline Farming and the Australian Future. Keyline: Journal of the Keyline Foundation,1(1).
Keyline Farming and the Australian Future By Sir Stanton Hicks The following article by Sir Stanton Hicks, Professor of Human Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, and undoubtedly one of Australia's most able and distinguished men, should be of interest to all thinking Australians. It is re-published from the first issue of "Keyline," the official journal of the Keyline Foundation. As Sir Stanton Hicks points out, the foundations of the future of Australia are in its soil, "not in the factories or the counting houses." Keyline farming, pioneered by an engineer-farmer, Mr. P. A. Yeomans, of N.S.W., has introduced a new and dynamic factor into soil management, which will undoubtedly have widespread and far-reaching effects. "Advance Australia!" So runs the motto on our coat of arms. But to what future are we exhorted to advance? Have you ever tried to picture it? If you have not and if you have children, or contemplate raising a family, does it not seem a proper subject for thought and discussion? Most of us know instinctively that there is something about our way of life that is worth preserving, but which most of us could not define. Dedicated groups, of course, could have defined it in such terms as the untrammelled right to strike; the similar right to exploit all natural sources; the right to permit starvation without a ration book rather than to ensure that all be fed by control; the right to charge the limit for goods or services despite rocketing prices - and so on. The whole idea of freedom is one that is not so easy to define because, first, it is a matter of the spirit and, second, being a matter of spirit, it is continually under the necessity of review in order that changing circumstances do not detract from it. Advance Australia! Whither? Is individual freedom subject to self-imposed restraints? What other future could we wish for our children? But let us be on our guard. The foundations of that future are in the soil of Australia they are certainly not in the factories or the counting houses - for from the soil alone springs the lifeblood of each and every one of us. So far, with exceptions that are as rare as they are remarkable, freedom to exploit the soil has been the Australian interpretation of the motto. There is an explanation for this attitude. Australia was colonised at the start of the 19th Century. This was the period of extension of steam power to the driving of looms for the manufacture of textiles; the period of increasing enclosure of common lands on which the farm labourer raised his milch cow, and from which he collected his firewood.
Converted in 2014 to a document by Geoffrey Booth for Keyline Archive. www.youtube.com/channel/UCUPgPJZAlkxt207sxcdp4DQ/about P A Yeomans-Keyline-Rural Bank of NSW (15 min) 1955 www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0nNZB6wPtE P A Yeomans-Keyline at Nevallan(4 min) 1956 www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dal2W2T4O0 Page 1 of 4