Stephen Lorenzen, one of more than 890 ANU students who graduated yesterday, says he believes the best way to learn is through practical experience.

So, as part of his anthropology PhD, he and his family spent 18 months cultivating a rice paddy in Bali.

Dr Lorenzen was among students from every ANU college who attended yesterday's graduation ceremonies.

The graduates were addressed by the chairman of the Merrill Lynch Advisory Board, John Curtis, and one of the first undergraduate students to be enrolled at ANU, Anthony Whitlam.

Dr Lorenzen said the purpose of his project in Bali was to do research through hands-on experience.

''[In] classic anthropology they do participant observation which means they observe social organisations by noting what they see, hear, feel, smell ... I thought I would take it a step further and actually actively cultivate a rice paddy.''

Dr Lorenzen said his practical experience was the key to understanding the Balinese rice-farming community.

Simple observation hadn't been sufficient for a proper understanding of the farming techniques, he said.

For example, he said, it was necessary to learn why the farmers stopped work at 9am or 10am every working day.Not only does it get hot around that time of day but ducks that live in the field carry particular bacteria in their poo that becomes very active in the heat and makes the workers' hands and feet incredibly itchy.

Not only did he and his wife find community acceptance but so did their three young children. ''Children adapt much easier than parents ... within two months they all spoke fluent Balinese.''

Dr Lorenzen faced many challenges while completing his project, not the least the challenge of getting fit.

''The Balinese farmers are incredibly fit because they do a lot of physical work,'' he said.

He found water management one of the most challenging issues, with farmers downstream missing out if the upstream farmers took too much water.

Lacking the practical skills neighbouring farmers had, Dr Lorenzen found himself running into trouble over water use, but this was also a learning experience.

''Getting into trouble had the benefit that I actually had to get myself out of trouble,'' he said.

This was at odds with most of the ways of the farming community, which he found to be very communal.

Dr Lorenzen's success was judged on the yield of his rice harvest and, luckily for him, his neighbours helped out when it came to selling his rice.

''My neighbouring farmer ... was in the field working when the traders came and wanted to negotiate a price with me [the rice is sold while it is still growing].

''My neighbouring farmers told the trader, 'Listen, this harvest is particularly good because this Australian has brought along this new, highly potent fertiliser so he will have a much higher yield.' I actually ended up getting a better price.''

The fact is, Dr Lorenzen had not special fertiliser. ''I was completely dependent on my neighbouring farmers to tell me how to do it. I've never done it,'' he said.