DAVID RIVETT: FIGHTER FOR AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE OTHER WORKS OF ROHAN RIVETT Behind Bamboo. 1946 Three Cricket Booklets. 1948-52 The Community and the Migrant. 1957 Australian Citizen: Herbert Brookes 1867-1963. 1966 Australia (The Oxford Modern World Series). 1968 Writing About Australia. 1970 This page intentionally left blank David Rivett as painted by Max Meldrum. This portrait hangs at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's headquarters in Canberra. ROHAN RIVETT David Rivett: FIGHTER FOR AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE RIVETT First published 1972 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission © Rohan Rivett, 1972 Printed in Australia at The Dominion Press, North Blackburn, Victoria Registered in Australia for transmission by post as a book Contents Foreword Vll Acknowledgments Xl The Attack 1 Carving the Path 15 Australian at Edwardian Oxford 28 1912 to 1925 54 Launching C.S.I.R. for Australia 81 Interludes Without Playtime 120 The Thirties 126 Through the War-And Afterwards 172 Index 219 v This page intentionally left blank Foreword By Baron Casey of Berwick and of the City of Westminster K.G., P.C., G.C.M.G., C.H., D.S.a., M.C., M.A., F.A.A. The framework and content of David Rivett's life, unusual though it was, can be briefly stated as it was dominated by some simple and most unusual principles. He and I met frequently in the early 1930's and discussed what we were both aiming to do in our respective fields. He was a man of the most rigid integrity and way of life. He devoted his life wholeheartedly, selflessly, and without reserve to what he regarded as the interests of the promotion of scienti­ fic research in Australia. So far as a human being can control his own life, he allowed nothing to impinge on this, not even his own personal and immediate interests. When he died I remem­ ber saying to myself that the expression 'too good to be true' might well have been said of him. His dislike of publicity quickly became known to all who had opportunity for contact with him. I had unusual opportunities for contact with Rivett in the early years of his scientific work for the Australian Government. His avoidance of personal publicity was understandable, but his intense distaste for even legitimate public appreciation of the work of his organisation was, I found, difficult to understand. Rivett's work with C.S.I.R. commenced in circumstances of peculiar difficulty. The State Governments had major reserva­ tions and suspicions in their attitudes to the new Common­ wealth agency. The Federal Government was uncertain about its responsibilities in the field of scientific research. Julius as Chairman and Rivett as Chief Executive Officer each made important contributions to the building of an institution of a new and unique character, and with a most ambitious range of research interests which have been described as taking place vii viii in a political and social climate that was on the whole at that time rather indifferent to scientific research. Although Rivett can hardly be said to have been enamoured of politicians, I found him most co-operative and pleasant to work with. He was direct and forthcoming in his views. He attracted the attention and support of the best scientific minds. He was personally possessed of an attractive and most original mind. I quickly became aware of his antipathy to publicity and kept myself carefully on my side of this fence. Rivett provided inspiring guidance during the formative years. He gave enthusiastic support to the scientists appointed to the new research units. He encouraged the establishment of first rate scientific programmes to back up applied research on indus­ trial problems. He encouraged those who personally needed encouragement. He supported research activities in the scientific schools of Australian universities, most of which had previously been at a low ebb. He arranged for C.S.I.R. units to work closely with university departments, often setting up C.S.I.R. work within a university campus. He and those he influenced created an atmosphere in which research for the benefit of the community could flourish, and the Council of which he was chief executive could inspire the confidence of the public. It is much to Rivett's credit that, before the outbreak of the Second World War, important problems of the agricultural and pastoral industries (the primary industries) were solved as a result of C.S.I.R. research-that during that war major con­ tributions were made to the Australian war effort. I remember with some surprise that the demand for research came princi­ pally from the primary industries in the early years of the work of C.S.I.R., rather than from the secondary-but that at the con­ clusion of the war period a structure had been established for C.S.I.R. that permitted a vigorous expansion, which broadened the scope of research activities to assist industry, both primary and secondary. In the immediate post war years, following the death of Julius, Rivett became Chairman of the Council. He retired at the time of its reorganisation as C.S.I.R.O. in 1949, a body still perme- ix ated by the spirit of dedication that Rivett did so much to create in its predecessor. Australia owes a great deal to Sir David Rivett, and this bio­ graphy, by his son, is to be welcomed. Too many of Australia's sons who have made substantial contributions to one or other of our major activities and achievements are allowed to pass from the scene without adequate record. Edrington Berwick 1972 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments When a writer has been engaged for more than six years on a book, his obligations to others tend to outweigh anything achieved. This is no place for excuses about my tardiness in completing this work beyond the plea that, like others before­ and no doubt others to come-I was partly sabotaged by the thirty year rule which still governs release from Commonwealth Archives. The red tape regulating release of even the most un­ important and trivial memoranda on long-dead subjects and forgotten issues that still dogs any researcher in Canberra is something that no reasonable government in the world should tolerate. A breath of the fresh-air American outlook in the Minister handling the administration of Archives in Canberra could do much for future Australian biographers and historians. At present we are the laughing stock of all who try to use our records and this is not the fault of the employees but of the absurd and often lunatic restrictions which tie them down. A major debt for help lies to old colleagues of my father. No one could have been more helpful than Sir Ian Wark, Dr. J. R. Vickery, Dr. E. G. Bowen, Sir Samuel Wadham, Dr. Lloyd Rees, Dr. Lionel Bull, Mr. Lawrence Coombes, Professor E. J. Hartung, Lady Bassett, Sir Mark Oliphant and Dr. James Prescott. Former members of the C.S.I.R or present members of today's C.S.I.R.O. at every level have been unvaryingly kind, patient and positively co-operative. I cannot name all those who have assisted but a strong personal debt is due to Mr. Wally Evans, Mr. John Graham, Mr. E. J. Drake, Mrs. Nora Roberts (Sir George Julius' secretary), Miss Bronwen Thomas, Miss Agnes Slattery and Miss Hilda Todd. Unhappily some of the men who did so much as David Rivett's Divisional Chiefs and colleagues to create C.S.I.R. of xi xu 1926-49 and who helped in compiling this story have died since. As the text will in some instances show a debt is due to Sir John Madsen, Sir Harry Brown, Dr. B. T. Dickson, Dr. A. J. Nichol­ son, Mr. H. P. Breen and Mr. Francis Ratcliffe. Without Delme Forbes the project would never have got off the ground. Delme took infinite time and trouble in assisting my mother to find old letters, photos and documents. All the basic research work about C.S.I.R. was done by her and by Margaret Jennings who laid aside her own Archives of Austra­ lia series to delve and edit. No one else except the author is responsible for the short­ comings of this book. Delays were largely due to the problems arising from a determination to seek objectivity at all costs. In the final stages a special word of gratitude is due to Lord Casey for his patience and helpful foreword, to myoId master and long-time friend, Arthur Phillips who is, surely, one of the most perceptive editors of Australian writing, and to Miss Ellinor Archer who so generously insisted on compiling the index. Nan, who has helped with almost everything written for the past 25 years, has never needed more patience than since we decided, in 1965, to tackle this particularly tough assignment on the basis that no favorable comment of any kind was permis­ sible in a biography of a close relative unless someone else made the remark or wrote the statement. R.R. CHAPTER ONE The Attack September 30 - October 6, 1948 In Canberra, by the spring of 1948, the Opposition Liberal and Country parties were at last scenting electoral victory. Seven years in the political wilderness, the longest period that Labor had ever held office in Australia, had made many men on the Opposition benches prepared to do or say almost anything that might discomfort the men who had been ruling Australia since September 1941.