Losing The Chem Lab - Science goes into storage... or is it retreat?

Got to admire the blokes who organised the New State Offices in Colac nearly 30years ago. Some of that well trained group of scientists were on the "greenies" side and some were "farmers friends". Despite their differnces in perpsective they set the place up pretty well for all newcomers keen to work at the cutting edge of science - their focus .A vet lab abd achemistry lab and alibary -checking your hunches so you had some chance of understanding and influence those "intelleigebnt in their own way" producers
You had to test the idea that soils you encounetered needed drainage or that nutrients were limiting the growth cycle on that site with those the local plants needed. The mystery had just started, even though you had already spent 6 long yrs with your cupboard full of a boring collection of glass, heat , silly colouring agents and powders ; let alone the equally unwelome burden of masses of measuring equipment and statistics . Those mysteriuos black boxes and test tubes of crass colour were painful reminders of our ignornace and distance from what we were looking for - what we really wanted to see - how it all worked . For the engineering inclined amongst us nature's mechnsism turn out to be, too subtle - too remote .
No wonder noone else in the buildng wanted to keep any of that old stuff today when the big cleanout of this jointly shared facility occurred . More later