NDSP - Walter Ernest Wood

Walter Ernest Wood

The Man Behind the Award

1872 - 1958

If he were alive today, Walter Ernest Wood would be among those people whose character and life work earn them the designation 'national living treasure'. Instead, he very nearly slipped out of general history altogether.

Those few who knew of his work did so because of the traditions of scientific referencing. Scientists working in salinity research in other parts of Australia frequently begin their papers by referencing works from the 1960s or 70s.

In Western Australia, however, Wood is always acknowledged as the original. His paper, 'Increase in Salt in Soil and Streams following the Destruction of Native Vegetation' was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, Vol x, No 7, March 1924.

W. E. Wood deserves a larger place in our history; his name should be known by schoolchildren. His contribution was extraordinary. Scientific hypotheses frequently come and go within months. For an idea to last a decade is a solid achievement. Wood's work has stood up for seventy-five years. The best scientists in the field today judge that Wood's paper got it 90% right. This might be only of interest to scientists, if his good idea related to something esoteric. But Wood was a practical person, and his work continues to have serious practical implications for all of us. His paper was the first recognition of the mechanisms of dryland salinity - arguably the most significant environmental problem facing Australia as we move into the next century.

Yet Wood himself was the child of last century. Born on July 11th, 1872, the youngest of five boys, Wood spent his childhood and youth in various parts of the South Australian bush.

'I was never afraid in all my adult years to tackle any country and live off the land,' he remarked in his unpublished memoirs. This ability he attributed to his close association with 'the natives' in his early years. As an adult he worked throughout South Australia as a surveyor and later as a surveyor and engineer in Victoria and with the Western Australian Government Railways. During this time his active mind ranged beyond his day-to-day work to encompass a broad range of ideas. He produced natural history notes on the habits of the wild turkey in the Coolgardie district; his bushman's knowledge of geology led him to the shrewd prediction that diamonds would be found in the Kimberley; he even wrote poetry. Though perhaps that is not surprising, because he could count William Wordsworth among his ancestors.

W.E. Wood was both a hardy and intellectual man, who used his sharp powers of observation to construct and test theories. He was also a feisty, independent thinker, who did not suffer fools gladly. These character traits meant that he was prepared to fight for his original ideas to be heard by a wider public. The institution of the W.E. Wood Award finally brings ongoing recognition of Wood's lasting contribution to science and the Australian community. It is also a most fitting way to acknowledge the contributions of those scientists and engineers whose work contributes to our understanding, combating and coming to terms with dryland salinity.