The Pioneers of Biodynamics in New Zealand

Summary

From the original records held in the Archives of the Goetheanum, the earliest pioneers of biodynamics in New Zealand, those who joined Steiner’s Experimental Circle of Anthroposophic Farmers and Gardeners from 1924 to 1938, the years of omertà, are now revealed. Each of these fifteen members of the Experimental Circle submitted a signed confidentiality agreement and was issued with a numbered copy of the Agriculture Course at the time of joining. Thirteen individual copies were issued; the Compton-Smiths shared copy #12E, and the Averys shared copy #30E. The ‘E’ suffix indicated that the copy was an English-language edition (sometimes the ‘E’ appeared as a prefix). The copy to Bacchus was #562 (without a suffix) indicating that it was the German-language edition. From the outset, the German editions were typeset printed editions whereas the English editions, in this period, were all hand-typed editions (from the translation of George Kaufmann). Printed English-language editions of the Agriculture Course appeared in 1958. It is unclear how many, if any, of the original thirteen numbered copies issued to New Zealand may have survived.