Clive Malcolm (Posthumous)

Clive achieved world-wide recognition as a salt land agronomist and had a significant role in a project to revegetate a million hectares of salt affected land. He worked for 36 years in the Department of Agriculture and his reputation as the “father of saline agriculture in Australia” grew as the problem of salinity relentlessly increased with time.  His efforts in fighting salinity brought hope to many WA farmers.

Clive’s work also became well known overseas and he worked and lectured in Africa, North America, South Asia and the Middle East. He offered hope to desperate farmers facing the spread of salinity into their land by demonstrating that salt tolerant plants can thrive and be productive on salt-affected land.

Clive was elected inaugural vice-president of the Saltland Pastures Association in 1997 and such was the esteem in which he was held by the members he remained in that office until his sudden death in 2006.

Clive was a gifted communicator equally at home at an international conference as he was discussing issues with farmers on their properties. He inspired others to carry on his work and turned it into a mainstream activity from being a minor part of the whole saltland management issue. Clive was inducted into the Royal Agricultural Society’s Hall of Fame for his work.

In retirement and as a Denmark resident Clive became a sustainability advocate initiating the Shire of Denmark Greening Plan and was instrumental in the development of the Denmark Centre for Sustainable Living. The Clive Malcolm Memorial Sustainability Scholarship at UWA honours Clive’s work with UWA and his commitment to a sustainable environment, community, and economy. In 2004 Clive was recognised for his 50-year commitment to preserving the environment with the Great Southern Natural Resource Management Medal.