As the school year comes to an end, Queensland agricultural colleges in Emerald and Longreach are preparing to shut their doors for good.

Key points: Agricultural colleges in central Queensland once thrived, but are now shutting down

Agricultural colleges in central Queensland once thrived, but are now shutting down Founded in the 1960s, they provided important training to those wanting to work on the land

Founded in the 1960s, they provided important training to those wanting to work on the land The State Government says it expects gaps to filled by TAFE and universities

The decision by the state's Agriculture Minister Mark Furner in late 2018 followed a review by former Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Peter Coaldrake, which stated that "residential agricultural education … is clearly unsustainable in central western Queensland".

The suggestion residential ag training could not work was something many in the agricultural industries had been trying to challenge for years, according to former Longreach college board member Rosemary Champion.

"The college has a rich history — there's been more than 5,000 students and probably 1,500 staff over 52 years," Mrs Champion said.

"What's going to happen now, the way I see it, is the Queensland Government is going to walk away from all ag training."

Rosemary Champion says the closure of the colleges will leave hole in the communities that once thrived. ( ABC Western Qld: Craig Fitzsimmons )

Former student and chairman of the Gulf Cattlemen's Association, Barry Hughes, said the last graduations mark the end of an era.

"It's a sad day for agriculture right across Australia, and especially Queensland, when two of our primary educational facilities have come to the end of their run," he said.

Students learning about sheep at the soon to be shut Longreach Pastoral College. ( ABC Western Qld: Nicole Bond, file photo )

Weighing up the future

The State Government is currently in the process of deciding what will happen to the college facilities, with more than 40 proposals from businesses and organisations on the table.

The proposals are being shortlisted by local community stakeholder committees.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges said:

"It is anticipated that any gaps in agricultural training will be filled by a range of public and private registered training organisations, particularly TAFE Queensland and Central Queensland University," it said. "Negotiations are continuing with the shortlisted proponents to finalise the future arrangements — with industry through the Rural Jobs and Skills Alliance and the Queensland Agriculture Workers Network — to identify any gaps in the training market resulting from QATC's exit."

Struggling to meet demand

The colleges were founded following a very different report to the one by Coaldrake — one commissioned in the early 1960s by the then-agriculture minister Jack Pizzey.

The Pizzey report found that young people wanting to commence careers as jackeroos and jillaroos were leaving school early, but had limited skills and experience.

It advised that Queensland's first — and at that time only — agricultural training college in Gatton would struggle to service the growing number of prospective students based in regional areas.

It recommended the foundation of a number of agriculture-specific schools.

When Longreach Pastoral College opened in 1967, it was an all-male institution. ( ABC Western Qld: Andrea Crothers )

Four schools were then founded, to be funded and overseen by the Department of Education, starting with the Longreach Pastoral College in 1967.

Three more colleges soon opened — Emerald in 1968, Burdekin in 1976, and Dalby in 1979.

So began what many remember as the heyday of agricultural training in Queensland.

Former instructor Bill Angus spent 30 years working at both the Emerald and Longreach campuses and said the colleges were so popular they struggled to meet demand.

Former instructor Bill Angus says he has many happy memories from this 30 years at the college. ( ABC Western Qld: Amy McCosker )

"For every five interviews we could only take one student and that was the way it was because it was a unique," he said.

"We were the only place in Australia that delivered the type of training we delivered."

'University of the outback'

Mrs Champion's father, a former Longreach mayor, was involved in the original pitch to Minister Pizzey to open the colleges.

She watched them grow over her years in western Queensland.

"There was a lot of lobbying and hard work by a lot of people who really believed that western Queensland deserved a 'university of the outback'," she said.

"Back in the 60s it was quite ambitious because we didn't even really have a functioning high school back then.

"It was a wonderful vision — why shouldn't we really focus on agricultural training?"

Mrs Champion also remembers in 2004, when her son attended Longreach, it was bustling and full of students who had fought for the chance to attend.

"If you could get entry into the Longreach Pastoral College is was like getting a high OP (Overall Position)," she said.

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"And it was the same at Emerald [College].

"At one point at least 50 per cent of the students came from interstate, and we even had some from overseas."

The two other foundation schools, at Burdekin and Dalby, have already closed and their properties sold.

Practical training a point of difference

Former instructors and students said they remembered experiencing hands-on training in a range of industries — running their own piggery and dairy, as well as learning how to break-in horses, muster cattle, butcher meat, and grow crops, either on campus or at surrounding properties.

A student using a chainsaw at the Emerald College in 1980. ( Supplied: John Huessler )

Past instructor Bill Angus said it was challenging to teach the students so many things, but it was important to make them ready for work.

"It was a practical-based course but there was the theory component there for students to understand," he said.

"You have to have a good base in theory, but you needed the hands-on experience too.

"We were able to complement rural industries … and we had an employment rate of more than 90 per cent of students graduating and going into the industry."

Indigenous students William Doeckle with Matilda Martin-Maher, Gemma Rankin, and Kasey Ross at a horsemanship course at Emerald. ( ABC News: Blythe Moore, file photo )

The loss of those future graduates will be a hit to rural industries according to former student and chairman of the Gulf Cattlemen's Association Barry Hughes.

"The cattle industry is struggling at the moment in terms of attracting young people and sustaining them with a long term career pathway," he said.

"In my experiences, as a student, those colleges provided that pathway."

Mr Hughes said prospective rural employees need a place to learn modern skills that the older generation may not have.

"As technology takes our industry forward, right across the agricultural landscape, we need facilities like [the colleges] to be able to bring forward the changes that are happening at a rapid rate," he said.

"Without those young people having that opportunity it leaves a massive hole in terms of how we look at the skills and expertise levels that we require in our industry."

Falling student numbers

The last graduation will see less than 30 students graduate from each college, a stark contrast to a time when both institutions were flooded with applications.

A 1997 report by a former chairman of the Longreach college John Huessler noted that drought and volatile commodity prices was reducing the number of jobs available to young people in the rural industries.

He forecast 20 years ago in his report that this trend was having a flow-on effect to college attendance.

The 2018 Coaldrake report cited growth in the university sector and rapidly developing technologies as reasons the colleges were no longer fit for purpose.

These reasons do not hold water according to Mrs Champion, who says smaller colleges could be better for students anyway.

"It only opened with 45 students and the irony of it all is … it was closed with around 45 students."

Students at their presentation ceremony after finishing the horsemanship challenge at the Longreach Agricultural College. ( ABC News: Blythe Moore, file photo )

'A step in the wrong direction'

In 2005 the colleges were amalgamated under the Australian Agricultural College Corporation then, in 2014, the Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges took over as a statutory authority with a board answering straight to the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

Mrs Champion says the locals felt helpless to stop the deterioration of student numbers.

"We fell into this massive corporation …we didn't have any local directors, no local board," she said.

"I think that's really sad because you need people who are dedicated to the industry to come in in an advisory capacity."

Barry Hughes he believes the decision to close the colleges was based on financial reasons rather than the benefit of agricultural education.

"I just think it's a step in the wrong direction," he said.

"I think it's a short sighted approach by the Palaszczuk Government to make that decision."

Bill Angus said the final graduations from the colleges be a sad time for all of those who have been involved over the years.

"I know what the colleges can deliver and so do a lot of other people," he said.

"But it's a shame to think we're putting a stop to agricultural training in a country reliant on this enormous industry."