Mr Isaburo (Jo) Takasuka was born on 13 February 1865 at Matsuyama, Japan. Studying in the United States of America, Mr Takasuka graduated in 1896 with a Bachelor of Arts. In March 1898, after returning to Japan he successfully stood for election for the House of Representatives on behalf of the Rikken Seiyukai Party. He married Ichi Maejimi in July 1898. In 1900 a new electoral law in Japan greatly enlarged Mr Takasuka's electorate, so he chose not to contest the 1902 elections. Instead, accompanied by his wife and two young children Sho, born in 1899, and Aiko, born in 1903, he left Japan in 1905 for Melbourne, Australia to set up a trading business between the two countries. (Mr Takasuka's third child Mario was born in Australia, in 1910.)

Upon arrival, Mr Takasuka requested permission to lease 120 to 200 hectares of land subject to flooding in the Mallee district from the Victorian Government. He proposed to experiment with rice growing. In 1908, Mr Takasuka was granted a five year permit to occupy the land for the specific use of rice growing. Mr Takasuka began experimental work on rice growing in Australia.

After failures in certain rice varieties, Mr Takasuka kept trying to obtain a winning combination of seed type using his available supply of water. For example, he decided to sow the rice seed in a permanent position just like the Australian wheat farmers did, instead of transplanting rice seedlings by hand like the farmers did in Japan.

In 1913, at the conclusion of his five year period of residence, Mr Takasuka was able to harvest about 12 bags (1 tonne) of rice to the hectare. Mr Takasuka then decided to move with his family to a smaller rental allotment of 8 hectares in the Swan Hill Irrigation Area of Victoria where he continued sowing rice seeds.

After persevering through floods and droughts, Mr Takasuka produced a rice crop for commercial sale in 1914. Mr Takasuka sold some of his produce to commercial seedsmen, but also sent his son Sho to Leeton with two saddlebags of rice seed from his rice harvest of 1914. Sho delivered the rice seed to the NSW Department of Agriculture and shared his family's rice growing experiences.

The rice seed from the Takasuka family became the first seed to be sown at the Yanco Experiment Farm. Mr Takasuka donated the proceeds from his first 45 kilograms of rice seeds sold to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne for the Belgian Relief Fund. This was part of Australia's support for European countries fighting against Germany in WWI.

In 1915 he was granted a title to his allotment by the Victorian Lands Department and he continued developing and growing the most successful of all seeds, the japonica variety. Up until 1927, with both good harvesting years and droughts and floods, financial reasons forced Mr Takasuka to abandon his experiments in favour of viticulture. Then at aged 69 and in retirement, he abandoned viticulture and moved to Huntley near Bendigo where, in 1934 he started growing tomatoes and left the rice farming to his two sons, Sho and Mario.

Finally, in July 1939 Mr Takasuka decided to return to his homeland, Japan , to set up an import/export business between Japan and Australia. He also wanted to look after the Takasuka Family's assets. Mr Takasuka, however, died suddenly from a heart attack on February 15 1940. Mrs Ichiko Takasuka returned to Australia to be with her family, but she too died in 1956.

Mr Takasuka's sons, Sho and Mario, did not continue with the rice growing farm, but also began growing tomatoes in the Bendigo area. Mr Takasuka's daughter, Aiko, became a school teacher.

A few grains of the Takasuka rice seeds remain in the Melbourne Museum. Some of the Takasuka family memorabilia remain in the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement Museum as testament of the family's great pioneering spirit in demonstrating that rice could be grown commercially in south-eastern Australia .

Further Internet resources:

Murray Catchment Management
Mallee Sustainable Farming Inc
Murray Mallee Local Action Planning Association Inc.

resource:
Student handout : Word meaning list
Map of Riverina district