Editors Notes
There is both a sombre as well as a celebratory note in this issue of our newsletter. The sombre note is the death of AWTA Ltd’s Chairman, Alan McGregor AO (see Vale Alan McGregor AO) on 19th February 2005. The celebratory note is the large number of employees of AWTA Ltd who passed 20 year and 30 year service milestones since our last issue (see People & Personalities).
Over the past year, despite having to combat his illness, Alan selflessly continued his Chairmanship of AWTA Ltd. The achievements of the Company under his Chairmanship, during a very difficult time for the wool industry, will remain an enduring memorial to him.
A total of 15 staff are acknowledged in this issue for their long service with AWTA Ltd. Of these 11 achieved 20 years and 4 reached 30 years. They bring the total number of employees who have reached these goals to 116 and 28 respectively. This is especially remarkable given that the statutory AWTA was formed in 1957, only 48 years ago, but in reality the organisation really only became a significant employer in the mid 1970’s shortly before being privatised in 1981. These employees were all appointed during a period of rapid growth from 1975 to 1985 and will all have seen and adapted to the massive changes in technology and systems that begun then and continued throughout the next 20 years to the present day. There achievement deserves to be celebrated.
As I promised in October in this issue we return to our review of the history of the development of wool fibre fineness measurement systems (see For Technophiles). This time we consider the development of photometric instruments, which culminated in the Sirolan Laserscan™ now utilised by AWTA Ltd for Certification of Mean Fibre Diameter and Coefficient of Variation of Diameter for Australian wool. This is a very large topic and consequently we will be spreading this story into our next issue. It is an interesting story, which began in the United States – hardly a significant player in world wool production - much earlier than most technicians in the industry would realise. However the US has been a major player in the development of objective measurement of raw wool characteristics, a role that is not very well appreciated, and which is a story in its own right. Perhaps we will recount this story later.
Our ODDments section in this issue contains a number of gems. My favourite is the story of the stamp produced by New Zealand Post to commemorate China’s “Year of the Rooster” (Ewe MUST be Kidding). Strangely this story didn’t get picked up in the press in Australia, but it was certainly picked up by our friends in the American Sheep Industry Association who included the story in their regular weekly newsletter. The story on tungsten fibre sheep will also delight many of you (Distinguishing Fact from Fiction).
Among other stories in the In Brief section we report on the recognition accorded to Barry White by the Textile Institute (TISA) through its prestigious Service to Industry Award. Barry was the recipient of the 2004 award. The award is an appropriate recognition of his long and dedicated service to the wool industry.
Within the News section possibly the most exciting story concerns developments by CSIRO, funded by AWI, towards automation of the new Dark & Medullated Fibre test currently being used by AWTA Ltd. It is still early days, but the technology appears promising. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, the industry will have access to a relatively inexpensive technology that can be applied to both raw wool and to tops. However, a considerable amount of work remains before this goal is achieved.
Our Features section focuses on the relocation of AWTA Ltd’s Textile Testing Division to a new and more efficient laboratory on 191 Racecourse Road Flemington, just a short walk from our Head Office building. To the wool production and early stage processing sectors of the industry this Division has a relatively low profile. But it is the largest laboratory of its type operating in Australia. AWTA Ltd is the biggest raw wool testing organisation in the world, and the Division extends the range of services provided by the Company right through to the consumer. However, the Division is growing by leveraging off the technology it uses to provide these services to deliver related services to quite different industries. The relocation of the Division will enhance its ability to continue this growth.
In the Opinion section we consider what happens when clients query test results. While in some ways this is a technical article, we have strong opinions about the importance of the processes that have been developed by the industry through IWTO to manage such queries. This is an issue that rises to the surface from time to time, and needs to be constantly revisited.
Finally, in Profiles we acknowledge the retirement of Laurie Piper and the lifetime service he has provided to wool growers in Australia through his work at CSIRO. Laurie is very well known within Australia and within the wool science community around the world and has established a world-wide reputation as a leading scientist in his field. We wish him well in his retirement. He will be missed.
Peter Sommerville
Corporate Development Manager
AWTA Ltd