Thai Crown Prince Visits Gatton College

Thai Crown Prince Visits Gatton College

History will be recalled for the University of Queensland's Gatton College when the Crown Prince of Thailand and his 12-year-old daughter visit the Lockyer Valley campus on Saturday, April 24.

"The Prince's father, the King of Thailand, made a similar visit 36 years ago," Gatton College Director Professor Craig Pearson said.

On the September 1962 visit, King Bhumibol saw Gatton College when it was the Queensland Agricultural College. On Saturday, his son and grand-daughter will see the College.

Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and Princess Siriwanwaree Mahidol will be at the century-old Gatton College for four hours as part of their visit to Queensland.

The Thai royal visitors will inspect controlled traffic research at the field crop teaching unit, see a goat and sheep display and watch an equestrian display in the dressage arena.

The Princess will also ride a horse during the equestrian centre visit.

The visit of the Prince and Princess to Gatton College, which will include lunch in the College's historic Foundation Building, will be hosted by the University of Queensland's Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ted Brown.

The Prince and his daughter will also visit the vegetable farm of Keith Jackwitz near Gatton.

The University of Queensland was involved with a major agriculture project in Thailand which began in 1982.

The University's Department of Agriculture (now part of the School of Land and Food) was the managing agent in building a teaching and research facility for the Faculty of Natural Resources at the Prince of Songkla University in southern Thailand.

The project, funded by the Royal Thai Government and the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, undertakes agricultural research of direct relevance to local agricultural problems and has resulted in the transfer of new technologies to the farming communities of southern Thailand.

Nine University of Queensland and collaborative staff received the Award of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand for their work on the project.

Further information, Margaret Thursby, Gatton College, on telephone 07 5460 1229.