Sir John Grenfell Crawford (4 April 1910 – 28 October 1984) was an

agricultural economist Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

and a key architect of Australia's post-war growth.

Early life, education and family

Born in

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

, Sydney, Crawford was the tenth of twelve children of Henry Crawford and Harriet Isabel Crawford, née Wood. Crawford was educated at

Sydney Boys High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pu ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

. Crawford married Jessie Morgan on 18 May 1935 and together they had a daughter.

Career

In 1941 Crawford helped to create the Agricultural Economics Section of the

New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governme ...

's Department of Agriculture. In 1942 he began working at the Department of War Organisation of Industry, before being appointed Director of Research at the Department of Post-War Reconstruction in 1943. In 1945 he was appointed inaugural Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, followed by Secretary of the

Department of Commerce and Agriculture The Department of Commerce and Agriculture was an Government of Australia, Australian government Government department, department that existed between December 1942 and January 1956. Scope Information about the department's functions ...

(later Department of Trade), and then Secretary of the Department of Trade, where he played an important role in forging new trade relationships with the United Kingdom and Japan. He helped to establish the Australian Development Assistance Agency (now Australian Aid), the Industries Assistance Commission, and

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

. He was also an adviser to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, and Director, Australian Japanese Economic Research Project. Crawford was a founding member and inaugural chair of the

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is an Australian Government statutory agency in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio, reporting to thMinister of Foreign Affairs ACIAR was established under t ...

, a statutory authority focusing on improving sustainable production in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

. He was also first chair of the Technical Advisory Committee to

CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

(formerly Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) from 1971 to 1976. Crawford held several positions at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

: Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies (1960-1967);

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

(1968-1973); and then Chancellor of the University (1976–1984).

Recognition and awards

Crawford was knighted in 1959. He was the second president of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society, and in 1983 was made an honorary life member. He was named Australian of the Year in 1981. In 2009, a street in the Canberra suburb of Casey was named John Crawford Crescent in Crawford's honour.

Legacy at ANU

The Crawford School of Public Policy is named after Crawford, and the school runs the annual Crawford Leadership Forum, opened by the J. G. Crawford Oration. It is also hosts the Sir John G Crawford Chair in Agricultural Economics. The J.G. Crawford Prize was established by ANU in 1973, as Crawford was ending his term as vice-chancellor, in recognition of his contribution to the university. PhD Graduate students are nominated by college deans, and two (one for the natural sciences and one for social sciences/ humanities) and occasionally a third (for interdisciplinary work) are selected on the basis of academic excellence by a committee. Since mid-2013 and , the ANU is undertaking a research project with the title "J.G. Crawford: Shaping Australia's Place in the World". Partnered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Crawford Fund, the project won an ARC Linkage Grant worth . A biography will be written by historian Nicholas Brown, while

Frank Bongiorno Francis Robert Bongiorno, (born 1969) is an Australian historian, academic and author. He is a professor of history at the Australian National University, and was head of the university's history department from 2018 to 2020. Bongiorno is the P ...

is also involved in the project.

Crawford Fund

The

Crawford Fund The Crawford Fund, established as an initiative of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 1987, is a national support organisation for international agricultural research. History According to a paper prepared ...

, a body established in Australia to support international agricultural research was also named in his honour. The fund awards the annual Sir John Crawford Fellowship to support scientists from developing countries, and since 1985 has hosted the Sir John Crawford Memorial Address. Notable speakers include

Ross Garnaut Ross Gregory Garnaut (born 28 July 1946, Perth) is an Australian economist, currently serving as a vice-chancellor's fellow and professorial fellow of economics at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of numerous publications in schol ...

Frances Adamson Frances Jennifer Adamson, (born 20 April 1961) is an Australian public servant and diplomat who is the 36th Governor of South Australia, in office since 7 October 2021. Early life and education Adamson was born in Adelaide, South Australia, th ...

Catherine Bertini Catherine "Cathy" Bertini is an American public servant. She is the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate. She was the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program from 1992 to 2002. She served as the UN Under-Secretary for Management f ...

, Florence Chenoweth,

Craig Venter John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biotechnologist and businessman. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and assembled the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. ...

Shridath Ramphal Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal (born 3 October 1928), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, is a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister o ...

and

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, John 1910 births 1984 deaths People from Sydney Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian public servants Australian Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of Australia Australian of the Year Award winners 20th-century Australian economists Chancellors of the Australian National University Vice-Chancellors of the Australian National University 20th-century Australian public servants Agricultural economists People educated at Sydney Boys High School University of Sydney alumni