David Gale

There are a couple of people who have lived at St Martin’s for more than five years: David Gale is one of them.

David originally moved into St Martin’s in 2007 and stayed through until 2010 while he completed his Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) and BSc (Honours). In 2008, with support from the college, he was able to attend the 1st Ecumenical Water Network Summer School on Water held over 10 days in Geneva, Switzerland. He returned to St Martin’s in 2013, 2014 and 2016 while completing a Master of Philosophy. 

He has lived in the 373 and 465 cottages and in 2016 he and his wife lived in the The Flat.

David was a very active member of the St Martin’s community being awarded both The Marie Thompson Award for Outstanding Excellence and The Charles Houen Citizenship Award.  He was the Student Representative on the College Board and was one of the instigators of the college community garden – which is still flourishing.  He also coordinated the collection of food scraps from common room kitchens for composting in the uni's program off Pine Gully Road.

Composting has been one of his passions as his Masters’ project investigated the way in which certain composts act to ameliorate acid sulphate soils in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Between his Honours and Masters projects, David worked as a Graduate Officer at NSW Department of Primary Industries, with a focus on plant pathology and greenhouse horticulture research.  His current role is as Manager, Digital Systems at Plant Health Australia based in Canberra.