The Carver Papers.

Morris William Carver was born on 25 October 1896 at Thorpdale in Gippsland.

He enlisted in the AIF in Feb 1918 and set sail from Adelaide, holding the rank of Sergeant, but returned home when the boat was recalled.

On returning, Morris got a job on 5 March 1919 with the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) as a junior clerk.

The Commission was newly formed in 1918 and, for unknown reasons, the new commissioners directed Morris in 1921 to destroy all the old and inactive files that FCV inherited from all its predecessors (e.g. Lands, Agriculture, Mines Dept etc.) going back to the earliest records of the colony.

It’s said that before completing this task Morris took many of the files home, and lucky for us, started compiling his own summary of the history of the forest service.

He indexed piles of reports, gazettes, references and other documents and provided a summary overview. He also produced staff lists for 1908 and 1917.

The Carver Papers, “Forestry in Victoria 1838-1919”, at around 1300 pages, are considered by some historians as the most authoritative source and an invaluable record of State forest administration for the first eighty years of Victoria’s development.

• Vol. A – Appointments, control of forests, legislation, reservations, nurseries and plantations, miscellaneous.
• Vol. B – Cutting restrictions.
• Vol. C – Royal Commissions.
• Vol. D – Reports.
• Vol. E – Notes by M Carver and indexes to vols. A-D.

The originals of the five volumes eventually found their way from Head Office into the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), but I know another copy was closely guarded by the School of Forestry librarian, Jean Baker.

Volume E contains an extensive index covering all volumes but also, and perhaps more importantly, Carver’s own summary. It’s a good place to start.

It’s a long story, but after years of badgering and persistence by Paul Barker, another dedicated archivist who worked for the Commission, the Carver papers have been recovered from the PROV and scanned.

They are now available of the Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association (FCRPA) website.

Some pages are poor quality copies, and they are not in a searchable format, but if you have a real interest in the history of Victorian forests, they are the “go to” documents.

Morris worked his entire career for the Forests Commission and rose to Assistant Secretary. He retired in 1961 when he turned 65 and died, aged 90, on 7 November 1986.

https://www.victoriasforestryheritage.org.au/resources/the-carver-papers.html