Remembering Farmer Ed Wilson

The Central West lost one of its truly unique characters this month with the passing of Ed Wilson.

Farmer Ed, as he preferred to be called, was an orchardist, innovative multi-crop farmer, aquaculturist, inventor and aviation enthusiast.

Born in March 1940, the second of three children, Ed grew up on the family farm “Edenholme” at Forest Reefs. And from an early age his creativity and drive were evident, building his own three-quarter sized T-Racing car and later a bulk potato digger.

Over the years Ed developed “Edenhome” into a thriving and extremely diverse agricultural enterprise, producing fish, yabbies, flowers, apples plums and vegetables — the majority of which were sold at local markets.

One of Ed’s fishing tourism ventures “Rustic Valley” with son Matthew had a tank buried into the side of a large dam wall which included viewing windows where visitors would watch while he fed the Rainbow, Brown, Brook trout and silver perch (using rejected cat food from the Friskies factory at Blayney). At its peak, Ed’s network of fishponds were home to a million yabbies and various fish species. He even devised a system where lights and temperature control were used to keep yabbies breeding throughout the winter months. Ed was later very involved in setting up the local orchardists in utilising their unused cool rooms for recirculated fish farming, producing Murray cod and Barramundi.

Ed made use of the property’s abundant bore water to not only fill his fish ponds and irrigate the many crops he grew, but to heat two large greenhouses for year-round flower production. The water was also sold to a local mineral water bottler and distributed locally. He often described the importance of the bore water as the “central hub of a spoked wheel” on which the other farm enterprises revolved.

He also used to mix and sell his own custom-made fertiliser mix that he would tailor to the soil requirements of his clients.

Ed was never short of an idea and was constantly tinkering with new gadgets or tweaks on existing machinery. With his brother Don and Phil Stevenson, he invented the first articulated self-propelled orchard sprayer, and in 1978 demonstrated it to the former PM Malcom Fraser at the ANFD. Iterations of which, are still being produced by Don and his son Glen at New Era Machinery.

Flying was another life-long passion for Ed. His sister Pam recalls how Ed and Don managed to purchase and restore an Auster aircraft, build a hanger and landing strip — all while their parents were on an overseas holiday! Ed also built a gyrocopter and flew his own Chinook ultralight aircraft, which can be found today on display along with his Orchard sprayer and other machinery in the Millthorpe Museum.

Ed featured on the ABC Landline program, which showcased many of his ventures above. It was so well received it was run twice due to popular demand.

The rising cost of fuel and electricity was another problem Ed was keen to try and solve, partnering with neighbouring farmers to create their own Biofuel processing plants.

It was in 1963, that Ed met the love of his life Jeanette Splithof and six years later they were married. The couple enjoyed 51 years of married life together and Jeanette says he was a wonderful father to their three children: Delene, Matthew and Anthony.

But the wonder of it is that Ed survived all those years, as there were more than a few close calls, according to Jeanette.

“Ed had more than nine lives!” she said, going on to tell of the time he overturned a home-made air/swamp boat, while testing it on Wyangala Dam and almost drowned.

“Ed went with his mate and his son and during a high speed run and becoming airborne, losing control and overturning they struck a tree branch and all went under,” she said. “Ed felt the young fellow climbing up his leg, so he reached down and pulled him up, after Ed had been struck by the rotating blade luckily only dislocating his shoulder. A very near miss for all!”

Some of Ed’s other brushes with death included being pinned under cool room panels while moving them with a forklift, having a spot of trouble landing his Cessna aircraft (as he’d never flown it solo before), and spinning up cutting blades on a new machine he’d built only to have them explode at full revs to name a few.

A chronic diabetic, Ed also had open heart surgery twice, a bad case of Ross River Fever, numerous strokes, Bell’s palsy and 3rd nerve palsy and high blood pressure, all of which he overcome or learned to live with.

Ed’s health had begun deteriorating ten years ago and the loss of his son Matthew in a helicopter crash in 2011, did nothing to help. In 2015, Ed and Jeanette sold the family farm and moved into Orange.

Hearing from Ed’s family and friends, they speak of man of incredible energy, kindness and generosity.
“Ed was one of the most generous and intelligent people I have ever known,” said Ed’s cousin Des Green, who gave the eulogy at a small private funeral early this month.

“But the wonderful thing about Ed was that he didn’t live for just himself; helping others and brightening people’s lives also brought great joy to him.”

Ed Wilson passed away peacefully on 1st July 2020 at Ascot Gardens Aged Care Home, aged 80 yrs.