GENONI, Ernesto
| Service Number: | 5362 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 February 1916, Blackboy Hill, Western Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Tirano, Italy, 21 September 1885 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Brera Academy of Fine Art, Milan, Italy |
| Occupation: | Artist, biodynamic/organic farmer |
| Died: | Natural causes, Melbourne, 11 February 1975, aged 89 years |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Cremated and ashes scattered |
| Memorials: | Broomehill District WW1Roll of Honour, Brunswick Juntion Memorial Hall Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5362, Blackboy Hill, Western Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Apr 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 5362, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Apr 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 5362, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Aeneas, Fremantle | |
| 18 Oct 1916: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 5362, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), Discharged in London because he was conscripted into the Italian Army |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Paull
Ernesto Genoni (1885-1975) pioneered biodynamic agriculture in Australia. In 1928 he was the first of (ultimately) twelve Australians to join Rudolf Steiner’s Experimental Circle of Anthroposophical Farmers and Gardeners (ECAFG) which was based at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland. Ernesto trained as an artist for five years at Milan’s prestigious Brera Academy.
He visited his brothers in Australia, broad-acre immigrant farmers in Western Australia, in 1912 and 1914 and during these visits he worked on their, and other’s, farms.
In 1916 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and served as a stretcher bearer on the battlefields of the Somme, France, before being conscripted into the Italian Army and serving jail-time in Italy as a draft resister and conscientious objector.
Ernesto joined the Anthroposophical Society in Milan in 1919. He first met Rudolf Steiner in 1920 at the Goetheanum, the Anthroposophy headquarters in Switzerland. Ernesto left the Goetheanum in 1924 when Steiner retired from public life. He migrated to Australia in 1926 with aspirations for establishing a career as an artist in Australia. Instead, having arrived in Australia, he was again drawn into farm management and agricultural work.
Ernesto was a champion for biodynamic agriculture, Anthroposophy, and the Austrian New Age philosopher, Rudolf Steiner - causes to which he devoted the rest of his life. In 1928 he initiated the first Anthroposophy meetings in Melbourne.
In 1930 Ernesto made a grand tour of biodynamic enterprises in Europe and met the leading biodynamics advocates and practitioners of the day in Germany, Switzerland and England, including Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Erika Riese, Ernst Stegemann, and Carl Mirbt.
In 1935 Ernesto and his partner, Ileen Macpherson, who was also an anthroposophist and a member of the ECAFG, began their biodynamic farm called Demeter Biological Farm in Dandenong, Victoria.
Ernesto was a founder of the Anthroposophical Society Victoria Michael Group in 1932, and he became its leader in 1962.
Source: Paull, J. (2014). Ernesto Genoni: Australia's pioneer of biodynamic agriculture. Journal of Organics, 1(1), 57-81. http://orgprints.org/27514/18/27514.pdf
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