Part of Redbank Communities
On-site Heritage Centre

76 Arthur Phillip Drive
North Richmond 2754

02 4760 1400

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Part of Redbank Communities
On-site Heritage Centre

76 Arthur Phillip Drive
North Richmond 2754

02 4760 1400

P.A. YEOMANS

Percival Alfred (P.A.) Yeomans (1905–1984) was an esteemed Australian inventor celebrated for his ground-breaking Keyline system, a revolutionary approach to agricultural land management focused on enhancing soil fertility and water conservation.

Family life

P.A. Yeomans was born in Harden NSW in 1905, the eldest son of four. He married Rita Barnes in 1928 and they had three sons; Neville, Allan and Ken. In 1964 Rita sadly passed away after illness and the two original Keyline properties at North Richmond were sold to pay death duties. In 1966 he married Jane Radek with whom he had two daughters, Julie and Wendy.


+WATCH
Ken Yeomans (son of P.A. Yeomans) talks about growing up on Yobarnie and Nevallan properties.

As a young man after abandoning a possible career in banking, he tried several fields, including the then very new plastics industry. At one stage he was a highly successful door to door "Fuller Brush Salesman".

The wealth and excitement of mining however, fascinated him and during those hard depression years, with a small family in tow, he completed a correspondence course in mining geology. That course was to shape the direction of his life.

In the wild and charlatan mining days of the 1930's, he established the rare reputation of being a reliable and trustworthy assayer and valuer of gold and tin mining projects, a reputation he held throughout the mining fields of Eastern Australia and New Guinea.

He eventually established himself as an earth moving contractor in the early pre-war years. This business grew, and his company, P. A. Yeomans Pty Ltd became one of the major earth moving contractors supplying open cut coal to the wartime Joint Coal Board.

P.A. was an avid inventor over his lifetime winning the Prince Philip Design Award Australia in 1974 for his work developing Keyline principles. Source – NSW State Library

During and beyond the war years, taxes on companies and personal income were significant burdens. A new tax incentive had been introduced to encourage innovation and investment in soil conservation practices and sustainable agriculture. It aimed to increase food production and mitigate the terrible dust storms that were ravaging the country. Yeomans saw this opportunity as a chance to apply skills he had learned in mining, engineering, earthworks and sales to build prosperity for his family.

He purchased Yobarnie, along with the property next door (Nevallan), the former named after the combination of two of Yeoman’s nicknames – Yoey and Barnie, the later a combination of his son’s names.

+WATCH
Ken & Allan Yeomans talk about the acquisition of the original site and early farming days.

Testing ideas

Yobarnie was set-up as an experimental site for testing and refining his ideas relating to soil improvement, land regeneration and water management on difficult sites. His efforts responded to a local government grant to stimulate innovation in this sphere.

At the same time, he refined and patented designs for a new kind of chisel plough that would increase the water holding capacity and fertility of soil, and further enhance the benefits of Keyline.

The Yeomans Plow was specially developed by P.A. Yeomans for the Keyline system. Source – NSW State Library
Two patented inventions from P.A. Yeomans – The Flota-filta was part of his lockpip system for maintaining healthy water conditions and the Bunyip Level was a patented level marker used to accurately mark out the keyline contour within the landscape. Source – NSW State Library
The Tritter – Land conditioner. Designed to pulverize stones and other objects on the land to create hazard free mow-able pastures. Source – NSW State Library
An original technical drawing of the lockpipe valve system that was developed by P.A. to release water from the dam. Source – NSW State Library

Impact

The brilliance of Yeomans' designs was formally recognised when he was awarded The Prince Philip Design Award Australia in 1974. Today, his visionary Keyline principles have been embraced by farm owners worldwide, it has seeded the principles of permaculture and has reached nearly every corner of the globe.

Universities and colleges across the world have integrated Yeomans' Keyline concepts into their sustainable agriculture curricula, emphasising their significance in the realms of permaculture design. Percival Alfred Yeomans' remarkable legacy endures, shaping the landscape of modern agriculture and inspiring generations to nurture the earth responsibly.


P.A.'s certificate of Merit for his work on Keyline and agricultural practices. Source – NSW State Library
An exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2014 produced by Lucas Ihlein and Ian Milliss celebrates P.A. Yeomans work in the agricultural industry and beyond. Source – yeomansproject.com

Published Materials

1954 — The Keyline Plan
1958 — The Challenge of Landscape
1971 — The City Forest: The Keyline Plan for the Human Environment Revolution
1974 — Water For Every Farm

Water For Every Farm – Publised in 1974