A Celebration And A Record Of 50 Years Of The ARS  

August 12, 2026

John Taylor. Email: taylamob@tpg.com.au

In mid-2024, the ARS Council and the Organizing Committee of the 2025 International Rangeland Congress (IRC) decided to formally celebrate the ARS’s 50th birthday at the Adelaide IRC.  In October 2024, Pieter Conradie (ARS President) reached out to a small group of ARS members for help to plan the celebration.  Over the course of seven virtual meetings, the ‘Party Planners’, as this team became known, developed the program and enriched a document that became the handout at the event on 02 June 2025, in the first evening of the XIIth IRC.

The Party Planners began their task by reflecting on the 1999 document ‘Celebrating 25 Years of the ARS’ (RMN 99/3), and identifying focus areas and people who might be engaged for the 50-year event.  It was noted that this celebration would be an opportunity to summarize and promote the value and impact of the ARS, here and overseas, through a process of seeking wider contributions to a comprehensive digital record/legacy document of the past 50 years of the ARS.  Like the record of the first 25-years, this could include reports and images from key events, but also try to capture the impact of: i) influential people, and ii) the research, development, adoption and education (RDA&E) hubs and field stations closely linked to managing Australia’s rangelands.  However, these rather ambitious aspirations were subsequently recalibrated to align with the resources and time available.

The focus of the celebration would be on the people, what’s special about our rangelands, highlighting key initiatives and the value of ARS events for: i) networking and formal/informal interactions with those who are facing similar range management issues, and ii) stimulating great excuses for travel to new and inspiring RDA&E places.  

John Taylor was tasked with compiling an ‘entertaining snapshot’ of the ARS’s history for a handout at the event, and he reached out to over 35 active and retired Australian RDA&E professionals for comments and reflections on the key phases of the ARS, the big issues of the time, memorable events and the associated characters.  This task, and especially access to key information, was severely disrupted and complicated by the ARS website crashing in late 2024!  Fortunately, John and others still had razor-sharp and nostalgic memory’s (😊); and, with access to their hard copies of ARS newsletters, conference proceedings, Council minutes, etc.; they managed to compile a brief history.  This met most of the original aspirations, except for: i) detailed reports and images of key events, and ii) the recognition of influential ARS members.  The document was formatted, enhanced and printed by Minuteman Press Milton (Qld) in the week prior to the IRC, was available to those at the event, and can be found here.

The celebration was attended by over 200 people, and included presentations on three ARS eras, a glimpse into the future, and congratulatory messages from international RDA&E collaborators and the societies (i.e. SRM and GSSA) that had endorsed the establishment of the ARS.

Both the event and the handout have been well received, and sincere thanks must go to the Party Planners for their many contributions to the very successful celebration of the Society’s 50th anniversary, viz: Warwick Badgery, Don Burnside, Pieter Conradie, Jaidyn Eastaughffe, Kate Forrest, Ron Hacker, David Phelps, Patti Sbrissa, Sophie Stefanoff, John Taylor and Dionne Walsh.

Current and Past Presidents of the Australian Rangeland Society. (Back row, left to right) Martin Andrew, Pieter Conradie, Ken Hodgkinson and David Phelps. (Front row, left to right) John Taylor, Alec Holm, Dionne Walsh and Marg Friedel

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