John Grellman remembered for extensive cotton industry, community involvement

John Grellman has been remembered for his extensive contributions to the cotton industry as well as the communities of Wee Waa and Narrabri after passing away on December 5, 2023.

Mr Grellman, who was born in West Wyalong, first started growing cotton at Jemalong, near Forbes.

He arrived in the Namoi Valley in the 1960s, still in the early years of the cotton industry, and experienced some of the trials and tribulations of learning how to grow the crop.

It was a steep learning curve for them all, especially the Americans who had imported machinery and were not used to the heavy black soils.

Many of the experiences Mr Grellman and his wife Jenny had, were impacted by flood and rains, but nothing was like the 1971 flood.

At this point, Mr Grellman secured a job at Tegel’s Turkeys in Camden, however, it wasn’t long before they ultimately returned to Wee Waa, to Cudgewa.

At this time “Cudgewa” was the largest “Australian owned” cotton property in the country and as well as growing cotton they grew other crops and ran a reasonable number of cattle.

Whilst Mr Grellman was at “Cudgewa” he was appointed to the board of Cotton Seed Distributors and remained sitting on that board for the next 37 years until his retirement in 2011 during which time he served as chairman for 12 years.

This was a fulfilling experience and during this time the company grew from a small base with a capital of less than $1 million serving the growers of Australia to a $60 million company with interests in USA, Greece, Turkey and Argentina.

CSD developed a close relationship with several multinational companies with the object of developing suitable cotton varieties for overseas sales as well as introducing into Australia new technology that was developed overseas.

Mr Grellman is also warmly remembered as a generous mentor to many young researchers.

Mr Grellman continued his active involvement serving the cotton industry. He considered himself fortunate to serve the cotton industry on various boards and committees.

He served as chairman of the Australian Cotton Growers Association for two years, as a director at CRDC for six years, on the CSIRO Field Crops Advisory Committee for two years and as a director of Australian Cotton CRC for three years.

Mr Grellman was also an employer of many men and women. He shall be remembered as a fair, patient and kind boss, who always took the time to know and care for his employees and their families.

During his time in Wee Waa, Mr Grellman was an active member of a citizen’s advisory committee for the Wee Waa Public School and organised a permanent sprinkler watering system to enhance the school playgrounds.

He was also a foundation member of the committee that initiated and oversaw the construction of a state-of-the- art medical centre for the town of Wee Waa and helped facilitate the hiring of doctors to service the facility.

Mr Grellman had also been a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Wee Waa and he and his wife hosted several exchange students and participated in numerous community activities. Mr Grellman continued his involvement with Rotary and became a member of the Rotary Club of Narrabri.

Mr and Mrs Grellman retired to Narrabri in 2010 where he played golf, rode his bike, swam and continued his passion for agriculture with their garden.

Mr Grellman is survived by his wife Jenny and their sons Timothy, David, Ian and Benjamin.