Doctor Tim Marshall, a pioneer in Australian soil physics who warned as early as 1937 that the "misuse" of precious Murray and Darling water for growing cotton and rice was unsustainable, has died in Melbourne. He was 101.
He also cautioned that the rising water table would lead to salinity problems — now rampant in Victoria.
Asked shortly before he died what he was glad to have been around for in his long life, he replied: "A national approach to saving the Murray river system; development of Ord river irrigation; survival of the United Nations; recognition of the value of science; and continuation of our family cluster."
To many, he was a model of what curiosity, hard work, humility and generosity of spirit can achieve in the highest echelons of scholarly research. He remained a strong advocate of science and its relevance to society.
He was born at Boulder in Western Australia and known as Jack in WA and Tim elsewhere. His father, a bank manager, moved the family to a farm on the marginal wheat lands of the Wickepin district, as drought, then World War I began.
With sister Millie and brother Alec, he attended an inspiring one-teacher school at Gillimanning. The family moved to Perth after the war, where Jack won a scholarship to Perth Modern School. Then, helped by a government exhibition, he graduated with a BSc in agriculture from the University of Western Australia.
In 1929, he joined the new division of soils in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (now CSIRO), in Adelaide, where he surveyed the soils of the Murray River irrigation area and monitored salinity.
His research led to an MSc (Agr.) degree from Adelaide University in 1933, and a PhD scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley. There soil physics was a recognised discipline, and he began research in water retention and movement, soil structure and clay mineralogy with Geoff Bodman. He also courted a lively young Melbourne University graduate doing a masters in geography at Berkeley, Ann Nicholls, whom he married in 1938. "Mrs M" lectured in, and ultimately chaired, the department of geography at Adelaide University.
When Japan entered World War II, Tim was seconded to the US Army and assessed aircraft landing sites for an inland supply route. He recalled that flying with American pilots was more terrifying than any threat from the Japanese. In the Northern Territory he advised on irrigation to grow fresh vegetables for the army, and assessed the suitability of Ord river soils for irrigation.
After the war, he was asked to lead a soil physics section of the CSIR, initiating a highly productive period of field and laboratory research on water movement and the stability and strength of soils as they affect plant growth. He was proud of his young team, and from all accounts was a great mentor.
Milestones in Tim's work included relating particle size distribution to soil texture, which was adopted as an Australian standard, and an empirical equation to describe the movement of water in soils that is important for managing irrigation and salinity. The "Marshall equation" engendered a high profile in Australia, and its relevance to other fluids such as oil brought invitations to visit Texas oil giants and laboratories in the US.
In 1959, the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau in Britain commissioned and published his book Relations between Water and Soil. He declined to apply for the position of chief of the division of soils when Jim Prescott retired, but was acting chief for years.
He was president of the Australian Society of Soil Science in 1968 when Adelaide hosted the international body's meeting, and he also served in leading roles for the international society.
A lifetime member and fellow of the Australian Association of Soil Science, Tim received the Prescott Medal in 1974. He maintained avid interest in recent developments and received an Order of Australia Medal in 2000. After retiring in 1972, he published Soil Physics in 1979 with joint author and lifelong friend John Holmes. Its third edition, co-written by Calvin Rose, remains a leading text. Tim wrote his last professional paper at age 98, countering criticism of his 1947 soil texture standards.
The week before his death, he completed his biography of Prescott for the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
In 1983, Tim and Ann moved to Victoria to join his daughters and their families on two hectares of abandoned orchard and native bush at Eltham. He revelled in taming the Eltham clay, and growing fruits and vines. He later cared for Ann through five years' illness to her death in 2001.
He delighted in his four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and wrote, on his 100th birthday, that moving to the family cluster, "with mutual help, happy celebrations, and a reconditioned orchard, continues to be a joy to us all".
Professor Jennifer Marshall Graves and Professor Lyn Richards are Tim Marshall's daughters.
Email a friend