Sir John Grenfell Crawford (4 April 1910 – 28 October 1984) was an agricultural economist and a key architect of Australia's post-war growth.
Early life, education and family
Born in Hurstville, Sydney, Crawford was the tenth of twelve children of Henry Crawford and Harriet Isabel Crawford, née Wood. He was the younger brother of historian Max Crawford and a nephew of state MPs James Crawford and Thomas Crawford. Crawford was educated at Sydney Boys High School and the University of Sydney.
Crawford married Jessie Morgan on 18 May 1935 and together they had a daughter.
Career
In 1941 Crawford helped to create the Agricultural Economics Section of the New South Wales Government's Department of Agriculture.
In 1942 he began working at the Department of War Organisation of Industry, before being appointed Director of Research at the Department of Post-War Reconstruction in 1943.
He helped to establish the Australian Development Assistance Agency (now Australian Aid), the Industries Assistance Commission, and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. from 1971 to 1976.
Recognition and awards
Crawford was appointed a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) in the 1954 New Years Honours List.
He was knighted in 1959 New Years Honours List.
In 2009, a street in the Canberra suburb of Casey was named John Crawford Crescent in Crawford's honour.
Legacy at ANU
The Crawford School of Public Policy is named after Crawford, and the school runs the annual Crawford Leadership Forum, opened by the J. G. Crawford Oration. It is also hosts the Sir John G Crawford Chair in Agricultural Economics.
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The J.G. Crawford Prize was established by ANU in 1973, as Crawford was ending his term as vice-chancellor, in recognition of his contribution to the university. PhD Graduate students are nominated by college deans, and two (one for the natural sciences and one for social sciences/ humanities) and occasionally a third (for interdisciplinary work) are selected on the basis of academic excellence by a committee.
Since mid-2013 and , the ANU is undertaking a research project with the title "J.G. Crawford: Shaping Australia's Place in the World". Partnered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Crawford Fund, the project won an ARC Linkage Grant worth . A biography will be written by historian Nicholas Brown,