RAY OWEN who devoted his life to the Perth Hills area and the horticultural and agricultural industries has been posthumously inducted into the Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia (RASWA) Hall of Fame.
After finding out about the Hall of Fame this year, Helen Skehan nominated her father, a former politician and agricultural scientist who died in 2003 at age 97.
"Some years before dad passed I encouraged him to write his own memoirs but he found that too difficult, so I bought a tape recorder, asked him some questions and off he went," Ms Skehan told Farm Weekly.
"After researching my dad's history and typing about 21 pages from our recordings, I realised how much he had done for the district and the State and felt he should be given credit and acknowledged for that work."
Among Mr Owen's many achievements throughout his 40-year career was his contribution in World War II, where he was recruited by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in 1939 and trained as an expert in food dehydration and canning.
In this role Mr Owen inspected canned and dehydrated fruit and vegetables issued to Australian and American troops.
Growing up in an orchard farm in Pickering Brook, Mr Owen received scholarships to attend both the Narrogin School of Agriculture and The University of Western Australia, where he completed a degree in Agriculture while working at the Department of Agriculture part-time.
After completing his studies, he passed on his knowledge at UWA as a lecturer for horticulture for six years before continuing his career with the department as an inspector and later an adviser for WA's fruit trade.
Mr Owen was a familiar face around WA's primary fruit growing areas, which he would regularly inspect to make sure the quality of produce was up to standard.
He helped manage outbreaks of Apple Scab, Mediterranean Fruit Fly and Codlin Moth and other destructive pests and diseases which threatened the quality of WA's fruit crop, while educating growers on how to improve and maintain healthy soils.
Promoting modern orchard management techniques, Mr Owen was an early advocate of 'green manure' - in which you plow secondary crops into the soil to produce a nitrogen rich environment.
After attaining the position of assistant superintendent of horticulture in 1940, Mr Owen took a left hand turn into politics, taking the WA parliamentary seat of Swan in April 1944.
But after only three years in the role he decided to return to his first love - his fruit orchard in Kalamunda, which he later expanded to include vegetables and daffodils - and purchasing a block in the York district.
His wife Flora kept the home fires burning along with the couple's four kids who helped pick and pack fruit at the family's orchard.
Mr Owen's sons and grandchildren would later take over the orchard, continuing his legacy in the horticultural industry for several years.
Throughout his life Mr Owen held several key roles in the fruit growing industry, as a foundational member at the Institute of Agriculture in 1936 and later serving as chairman and president of the Western Australian Fruit Central Citrus Council.
He was also the WA delegate to the Australian National Citrus Growers Association for 22 years and played a key role in creating the Export Stone Fruit Growers Association in 1965.
Mr Owen's commitment to improvement extended to his own community and in 1950 he re-entered politics as the Country Party Member for Darling Range, a role he held for 12 years.
During this time he led a successful campaign for Kalamunda to have a reticulated water supply and commenced his involvement with the Kalamunda Horticultural Show, exhibiting produce from his father's orchard.
This introduction stemmed into Mr Owen becoming a driving force behind the expansion and success of the show, using his influence in agricultural circles to attract new exhibits, ministers and dignitaries to the event.
His service to the district was recognised in 1966 when he was appointed the first Freeman of Kalamunda and a reserve and street in the area were named in his honour.
Mr Owen made many lifelong friends with members of the local Yugoslav and Italian families who owned orchards in the district by assisting them with their applications for permanent residence in Australia.
With the announcement of her dad's induction into RASWA's Hall of Fame delayed due to COVID-19, Ms Skehan said it had been hard keeping the news a secret, but she was relieved she could finally share the news with family and friends.
"Because we're all getting older, we wanted to be able to share the news as soon as we could and the whole family is absolutely thrilled he's gotten this recognition," Ms Skehan said.