My father Taliesin Glenister’s achievements are many and varied.

He was a research and development man but was not greatly appreciated by the family because R&D didn’t pay the bills.

Mass production didn’t interest him but some new possibility that presented a challenge that he could dwell on, was what he loved.

In 1957 Tal developed Australia’s first dam liners. Tal and my mother Vern inherited an orchard property at Red Hill South on the Mornington Peninsula but the soil was porous. The first idea for a polythene dam liner came from Tal while a contract landscape gardener as well as orchardist at that time. He took his problem of porous soil to CSIRO.(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and trials were carried out at Red Hill using material claimed to be rot proof, sun proof, weather proof and chemical proof.

Dam liners revolutionised the region for orchardists, berry and passionfruit growers and now grape growing. They enable farmers to put dams just where they need them.

From 1961-62 Tal made the first above ground rectangular swimming pool. It was made with a vinyl liner with prefabricated piping and mesh walls and could be erected easily. He also made swimming pool covers in two styles – like a flat ripple lilo airbed or raised on a frame. He also made rooftop pools – a portable answer to a space problem. A range of sizes were developed and displayed behind Vern’s nursery at Doncaster, Victoria.

Tal also developed the first Australian Air-circulating Mattresses and alternating pressure pneumatic pumps following a direct approach from Austin Hospital.

A cycle of air deflation and inflation in the mattress at short intervals by a small silent air-circulator pump resulted in a great reduction in bed sores of sick people unable to move.

Tal also developed inflatable splints used to wrap around fractured limbs, zipped and inflated by breath, to immobilise the limb until proper medical attention. The advantage was quick application and air-cushioning of limbs.

Other forerunner products that Tal developed and which are mass manufactured today, were: adjustable net stretchers for burns patients, door drapes for cool rooms and freezer rooms, laboratory equipment such as isolators for breeding mice and poultry, oxygen tents, steam tents, portable baths for geriatric patients, roll-out softball pitch lines and satchels and colour-coded stock and inventory plastic sheets.

He also made nursery products such as mulching discs to fit snugly into pots to restrict weed growth and conserve moisture. He also developed plastic greenhouses.

This has been about Tal’s achievements but without our mother Verney, our family would have been without its central figure. Vern did all Tal’s office work, tax, etc, usually late at night because she ran the plant nursery seven days per week as well as running a household with four children. She was the “worker” behind Tal’s creative challenges.