Arthur (Tom) Dunbabin grew up on his family’s grazing farm, Bangor, on the Forestier Peninsula in Tasmania's southeast, where he worked alongside his farther.
Tom graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1975 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours. He fondly reflects on his time at the University and recalls the inspiration provided by lecturers to learn, and the friendships developed with his fellow students.
“The degree taught me to learn through research and experimentation,” he said.
Following graduation, Tom returned to the family farm and used techniques learnt at university to implement a soil mapping and nutrient testing program that tailored fertilised application to pasture requirements.
“Grazing native pastures and woodland areas of Bangor with fine wooled Merino sheep was a major enterprise. Some native plants at Bangor are vulnerable to excessive grazing at some times of the year, so sheep management needs to be tailored to ensure the plants are not overly impacted,” he said.
Since then, Tom has had extensive off-farm involvement in natural resource management (NRM), research and development. He was instrumental in establishing the Tasman Landcare Group in the 1990s and sought funding to implement NRM projects in the Sorell and Tasman Municipalities.
At a national level, Tom was a member of project management committees, for both Australian Wool Innovation and Meat & Livestock Australia, implementing programs that fostered productive and sustainable livestock grazing systems across Southern Australia.
Tom said that in the future it will become more important to design and implement agricultural systems that are productive, economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
“To conserve its productive base, the soil must become the focus of farming systems. Farmers will have to adapt from the productivity at all costs mindset to one that ensures the soil is not only protected but rebuilt after decades of over exploitation,” he said.
“For example, many of our vegetable production systems result in soil erosion, compaction and structural collapse.”
After a lifetime of involvement in agriculture, Tom has now turned his hand to writing about Tasmanian history, with a special interest in female convictism. Tom is a member of the Female Convict Research Centre and has contributed to their publications and presented at seminars.
Tom and his wife Kathy now live self-sufficiently on a small acreage in Tea Tree in southern Tasmania. Bangor remains in the Dunbabin family and today is managed by Matt and Vanessa Dunbabin and their children, who are the fourth generation of Dunbabins to be raised at the property.