Outback Magazine- A Very Kind Review

Active Humanity

“As a mentor and a father and a husband and a friend 

As a leader and as someone upon whom you can depend 

As a steward of the country with a future to unfold 

Your place within this country is a story to be told.” 

So wrote poet and OUTBACK contributor Andrew Hull of David Boyd to mark David’s retirement as chairman and chief executive of Clyde Agriculture at the end of 2007. 

During the 19 years David headed up Clyde he led the growth of the company from a handful of properties at Bourke to a leading agribusiness with some 20 properties/aggregations across NSW and Queensland. Clyde became Australia’s largest woolgrower and a substantial beef, grain and cotton producer. At its height, the properties within the portfolio – such storied holdings as Portland Downs,Brewon,Oxley,Wingadee,Toorale,Beemery and Thylungra- ran around 400,000 sheep, 36,000 cattle, farmed 24,000 dryland hectares and 10,800ha of irrigation. 

Throughout the 28 years prior to taking on his role at Clyde, David worked with Dalgety, rising from teenage clerk to general manager of the company’s rural operations. 

His wider career engagement saw David serving on the boards of Cotton Australia, the Australian Wool Exchange, Wool International and Australian Wool Innovation. He has been a member of the textiles and footwear advisory committee of the CSIRO, and chairman of the Darling Matilda Way sustainable region advisory committee of the Federal Government’s Department of Transport and Regional Services. 

All of which speaks to a capability and a work ethic both rare and inspiring. Unsurprisingly, David’s 253-page hard-cover, self-published memoir- Pastoral Pursuits – is an insightful, detailed, well-written and liberally illustrated insider’s account. 

More than this, however, it stands as testimony to a life populated by family, love, ambition, tragedy, hard work, intelligence, determination, faith, courage and humility in the face of challenge, adversity and opportunity. As such, it transcends the straight- forward recounting of an outstanding agricultural career to become the very personal story of a practical visionary entirely aware of his own humanity. 

Pastoral Pursuits 

David Boyd 

$125+ postage 

jdoboyd@gmail.com