Reg was born at Beechworth in 1899 and entered the forestry school at Creswick in 1915. It’s reported that he, along with many others, struggled with his subjects and was required to sit supplementary exams.
At the time, nearly half of the intake failed. The Board blamed students and the staff for the poor results.
By 1916 things were improving but the Board still considered Reginald Ingle “did not show sufficient evidence of capacity to justify his further continuance as a trainee at the forest school”.
Despite his VSF results, the records show Reginald was a graduate in 1917.
Around the same time there were changes to the teaching staff and the appointment of Charles Carter as the Principal.
Reginald joined the 46 Battalion (#3404) of the AIF in February 1917 and sailed to England in May. Oddly, he listed his occupation as orchardist, maybe because forestry was a protected profession.
Reg was wounded in France in September 1917 by a gunshot wound to his right hand and ended his war in hospital in England. He returned to Australia in March 1919.
Reginald resumed with the Forests Commission in 1919 and went onto a long and successful career with placements at Macedon, Port Campbell, Ovens, Yarram, Tarnagulla and then at Neerim South in 1927.
In 1929 he was appointed as the assistant forester at Chiltern, and by July, he was promoted as the District Forester at Yarrawonga.
In 1938 Reginald moved to Maryborough as the District Forester with his final career posting at Bendigo in 1952. Reginald Ingle retired from the Commission during the 1959/60 financial year, and I believe he may have died in Maryborough in 1971
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 