WINGHAM’S Dr John Stockard’s service to conservation, the environment and the community, saw him awarded the Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honours.
It also recognised his work on a host of scientific and community organisations both nationally and locally.
From the early 1980s, Dr Stockard led a pioneering team which devised its own methods of eradicating weeds that had almost engulfed the town’s iconic Wingham Brush riverside reserve.
When he walks through the Brush today, it brings back many memories of the hard and tumultuous times, but makes him proud that the Brush today is the town’s landmark, enjoyed by thousands of locals and visitors every year.
“Our techniques and method were ‘frowned upon’ by the anti-chemical lobby and the National Trust (NSW) administrators,” he said.
“These administrators, who lacked pertinent tertiary qualifications, were insistent on the strict application of the ‘Bradley Method’, a meticulous method of hand weeding with arbitrary rules. This method was developed in the remnant bushland around Sydney.
“Our team and all the botanical experts recognised a new approach was required for rainforest. We could not dig out some of the worst weeds without excavating the entire Brush and we soon started to look at herbicides.
“The National Trust therefore provided a number of herbicides for trial, with our team choosing Monsanto’s “Roundup” (glyphosate).
“Joan Bradley, a chemist and co-founder of the Bradley Method, endorsed the use of glyphosate at the Brush, but died shortly thereafter, leaving us with the inflexible National Trust administrators from Sydney.
“The National Trust dismissed the entire Wingham Brush Regeneration Team because we weren’t strictly adhering to the Bradley Method, despite our scientific support. It came down to following orders or getting the sack.
“As a matter of conscience, our team was not prepared to ‘follow orders’ which we all felt, if followed, ensured our failure and the extinction of the Wingham Brush. As well, the late Brandon Nicholson and the late Graham Allen were both retired army colonels, more accustomed to giving orders than receiving them. The rest of our team was no less of independent spirit.
“While our team pioneered specific glyphosate application techniques against the South American invasive plants (feral) destroying the Brush, we also developed a new approach to the restoration of rainforest, ‘The Wingham Brush Method’, a completely different method than the ‘Bradley Method’. “
Dr Stockard’s is a former chair of Manning Catchment Management Committee, was supervisor of the regeneration of Wingham Brush for the National Trust, National Herbarium (NSW) and Greater Taree City Council from 1980 to 1996, and a co-lecturer on rainforest regeneration for the National Trust, participating also in rainforest regeneration workshops at the University of New England.
He has lectured extensively on regeneration principles, presented scientific papers and authored the internationally recognised work, ‘Wingham Brush Method’.
A dental practitioner in Wingham from 1975 to 2009, Dr Stockard has served as president of both the NSW Local Branch of the Australian Dental Association and the honorary dental board of the then Manning River District Hospital.
Since giving up active dentistry, Dr Stockard continues to live in Wingham. It’s a far cry from Sacramento, in California’s Bay area where he grew up then met his wife-to-be, Stephanie, in San Francisco.
But his decision to follow Stephanie, all the way to Australia - and to Wingham - is one which has been to the Manning’s Valley’s great advantage.
Email a friend