Henry Shoobridge, Tasmania's Pioneer of Organic Farming

Henry Shoobridge (1874-1963) was the pioneer of organic farming in Tasmania. He was the founder and the president of the island's earliest organic advocacy group, the Living Soil Association of Tasmania (1946-1960). The Shoobridge family had emigrated from Kent, England in 1822 bringing with them the hops cuttings with which they established hops as a successful primary industry in Tasmania and Henry followed his forebears in this work. Henry Shoobridge attended The Friend's School, the Quaker school in Hobart. He was both a successful farmer and an accredited Methodist preacher. At the age of 71 years, Henry Shoobridge founded the Living Soil Association of Tasmania (LSAT) at a public meeting in Hobart on 30 August 1946. The LSAT affiliated with the Australian Organic Farming and Gardening Society (AOFGS) which was founded in Sydney in October 1944, and with the UK's Soil Association which was founded in England in May 1946.