Eric Fleming Smart, a boarder from the mid north of South Australia, became the largest grain grower in the southern hemisphere and a man respected for his energy and innovation.
Resident in Western Australia, Smart was a pioneer in the redevelopment of waste land for cereal growing purposes and was the first user of nitrogenous fertilisers in Australia. In 1968 he broke the world record for wheat and grain grown on one man’s property with a harvest of 504,000 bushels. He was also Western Australia’s largest sheep grazier with over 125,000 sheep.
Inducted into the Western Australia Agricultural Hall of Fame, Sir Eric Smart is remembered for his love of a good joke, ability to calculate rapidly and for enjoying a good cigar. His name is perpetuated through the Sir Eric Smart Fund, established at the University of Western Australia for the purpose of funding scientific research into the area between Perth and Geraldton.