William Farrer
William James Farrer (April 3 1845 - April 16 1906) was a leading Australian agriculturist and wheat breeder.Farrer was born at Docker, Westmorland in the English north west (now Cumbria). He was awarded a scholarship to Christs's Hospital, London where he won honours for mathematics. After education at the University of Cambridge, finishing in 1868, he emigrated to Australia in 1870.
After working as a tutor on George Campbell's sheep station at Duntroon, New South Wales (now part of Canberra), he qualified as a surveyor in 1875. Farrer worked for the Department of Lands in wheat growing districts of NSW from 1875-1886. In 1886 he bought a property on the Murrumbidgee River, Lambrigg station, near where Canberra now stands. After years of private experimentation in the breeding of wheat on his own property, Farrer became a wheat experimentalist with the NSW Department of Agriculture in 1898.
Farrer is best known for the "Federation" breed of wheat, distributed in 1900 (circa Federation). Farrer developed strains of wheat that were both rust-resistant and drought-resistant. His developments led to significant increases in the Australian wheat crop for decades to come, and economic prosperity for the wheat industry.
Farrer was remembered on the reverse of the Australian two dollar banknote issued in 1966 (now withdrawn).