Main image: Retirees David Cottle, Geoff Hinch and Ian Godwin. Above: Ian Godwin (2nd from left) pictured at a veterinary surgery prac in 1992 with (l-r) then PhD student Lewis Kahn, honours student Michelle Hodgkinson and course coordinator S Atkinson.

The School of Environmental and Rural Science at UNE bade farewell this week to three of its luminaries, with the official retirement of internationally renowned academics Geoff Hinch, Ian Godwin and David Cottle.

In what many described as a significant changing of the guard, the distinguished trio were celebrated as exceptional mentors, educators, researchers and writers.

“All three have really left their mark, each in their own style, contributing to important research and inspiring generations of students,” colleague, Prof Steve Walkden-Brown, said.

Professor of Animal Science and CEO of the Sheep CRC, Prof James Rowe, an undergraduate contemporary of Geoff and Ian, said both had made significant contributions to rural science, especially in maintaining the broad systems approach pioneered by the giant of Australian agricultural science, ecology and education, Bill McClymont.

He said David will be remembered as a prolific author and editor, notably for editing The Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook and The International Sheep and Wool Handbook and resource material for numerous undergraduate courses.

While their academic lives often intersected, each man made a unique contribution; Geoff in the field of animal husbandry and sheep productivity, Ian in physiology, and David in sheep and wool science, ruminant nutrition, feed use efficiency and methane production.

All three are very much a product of their own UNE education. Geoff commenced a rural science undergraduate degree at UNE in 1970 and Ian a science degree in 1975. David completed his PhD at UNE during the late 1970s.

Geoff’s initial research was into sheep fecundity and maximising reproduction, before moving into animal behaviour and welfare, both in sheep and free-range chickens. He collaborated on a wide range of research and established firm partnerships throughout Australia and internationally, and contributed to the Sheep CRC in recent years to lead multi-institutional studies on productivity and wellbeing.

Geoff, who has supervised around 50 postgraduates, said the McClymont multidisciplinary approach sat comfortably with a farm boy from the southern Riverina with a big-picture view of agriculture.

“It made rural science at UNE unique, and the focus, even today, is on the integration of every aspect of agriculture,” he said.

“An emphasis on sustainability is now bread and butter, but these were concepts that Bill explored 50 years ago and perhaps the origins of that thinking can get a little lost in the mix.”

Both Geoff and Ian said Bill left a lasting impression and legacy.

“I remember him giving lectures in the 1970s and talking about peak oil and climate change; he was ahead of his time,” Ian said, who went on to supervise 15 PhD and about 30 Honours students.

“That list included the head technician at Medtronic, which makes pacemakers, one of which I have in my chest.”

Ian also recalls visiting Western Plains Zoo, at Dubbo, to take blood samples from an ailing critically endangered black rhino and meeting a former student who was then working as the head rhino keeper.

“I come across former students all over the world, all doing very important things, which is very pleasing,” he said. “The relatively small class sizes at UNE means that you get to know your students very well.”

David worked in agriculture and wool research throughout Australia and in New Zealand. Under an initiative supported by the Sheep CRC and the Australian Wool Education Trust, David was appointed Chair of Wool and Sheep Science at UNE, where he set up a number of specialist units and provided online teaching and intensive schools for students throughout Australia.

The hub-and-spoke model of sheep and wool education he pioneered continues today. Most recently David wrote a textbook on beef production and improved cattle feeding systems.

While Associate Dean Teaching and Learning and Deputy Chair of the Academic Board, David initiated and led the introduction of the Bachelor of Animal Science degree and the sport and exercise physiology degrees.

“I still enjoy the improved gym facilities that resulted,” he said.
In his role as academic manager of the UNE’s rural properties, David is widely credited with putting the properties on a sound planning and financial footing.

Prof James Rowe said David’s preparation of course materials for about 12 undergraduate units on every aspect of sheep and wool production, was “a mammoth job” and he also coordinated the Sheep CRC’s education program for a number of years.

“These three leading academics will be sorely missed and their departure represents a significant generational change within UNE’s ranks,” Prof Walkden-Brown said.

It is expected that the trio will continue to contribute as adjunct appointments, with ongoing involvement in research and postgraduate student supervision.