Early Years
Farrer was born on 3 April 1845 in the town of Docker, Westmorland in the English north west (now Cumbria). The son of Thomas Farrer, a tenant farmer, and his wife Sarah William, William Farrer was selected for a scholarship at Christ's Hospital, London where he was awarded a gold and silver medal for mathematics. After earning a B.A. at Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1868, Farrer emigrated to Australia in 1870. A sufferer of tuberculosis, Farrer found Australia's drier warmer climate more agreeable to his then delicate medical condition.
Initially, Farrer lived with friends at Parramatta but was later employed as a tutor in regional NSW. In 1873 he published Grass and Sheep-farming A Paper: Speculative and Suggestive which dealt with the suitability of various soils for grasses and the scientific side of sheep-farming. After working as a tutor on George Campbell's sheep station at Duntroon, New South Wales (now part of the Australian Capital Territory), he qualified as a surveyor in 1875. Farrer worked for the Department of Lands in wheat growing districts of NSW from 1875–1886.
In 1882 Farrer married Nina de Salis the only daughter of Leopold Fane de Salis, the then Member of Parliament for Queanbeyan, NSW. Four years later de Salis gifted to Nina alone, 97 hectares of land. 'Lambrigg'( not a station) named for Farrer's home district, formerly part of 'Cuppacumbalong' was located on the Murrumbidgee River, near Tharwa in the presentday Australian Capital Territory. Farrer's initial attempts at establishing a vineyard were thwarted as the soil proved unsuitable and he turned his attention to wheat cultivation. His goal was to produce a good loaf of bread. He would consider himself a scientific gardener.
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