Author Archives: Peter McHugh

In about 1900, experiments were conducted in England by Mr William Powell to perfect a new process of preserving wood. Mr Powell, who owned a sugar refinery in Liverpool, had noticed that the wooden staves supporting the vats on the side where the molasses was spilt lasted longer than those untouched by the solution. PonderingContinue reading “Powell Wood Process – Powelltown.”

Timber bridges demonstrate the fundamental significance that State forests played in the rapid development of the new colony of Victoria after the gold rush of 1851. Two Acts of Parliament passed in December 1880 and December 1884, authorised the construction of 89 new railway lines, more than doubling Victoria’s network to over 2,900 miles byContinue reading “Muckleford Creek Railway Bridge.”

The Army Reserve was always willing to help the Forests Commission and rural municipalities blow stuff up. In November 1976, sappers in the 7 Field Engineers Regiment (7FER) from Ringwood, plus some other engineers from Gippsland, helped the Horsham Shire remove an old wooden bridge on Bulgana Road, east of Stawell. About 63 kg ofContinue reading “More blowing stuff up.”

The Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) had a large and active engineering branch for making stuff… as well as breaking stuff… Most overseers, as well as some foresters, were trained in the use of explosives to “blow stuff up” such as removing stumps and rocks from roads. Districts usually had a small powder magazine tucked awayContinue reading “Blowing stuff up.”

Edge-notched index cards were invented in about 1896 and have holes punched around the borders. The top right-hand corner is also clipped to help stacking the deck. The holes could be clipped to search and sort information. For foresters, these cards were commonly used to identify timber samples. Using a 10X magnifying lens, or aContinue reading “The knitting needle computer.”

The decision to build the massive Thomson Dam in Gippsland was a result of a State Government inquiry into Melbourne’s water security in the late 1960s. The dam wall and diversion tunnels were built in three stages between 1969 and 1985. But unlike the Upper Yarra and Maroondah catchments which were “vested“ in the MelbourneContinue reading “Thomson Reservoir High Water Mark.”

The 1960s saw more prolonged droughts and water restrictions.  There were also deadly bushfires on the fringes of Melbourne in 1962, and again in 1968. Growing concerns about long term water security led to a Parliamentary Public Works Committee inquiry between 1965 and 1967. In response to the inquiry, the Bolte Government immediately approved worksContinue reading “Yarra Tribs.”

Melbourne grew rapidly after the 1851 gold rush and struggled to maintain adequate water supplies and sewerage disposal. All the night soil, trade waste, as well as waste from kitchens and homes was just thrown into open channels in the street and it simply flowed wherever gravity took it… mostly into the Yarra River. TheContinue reading “O’Shannassy Aqueduct.”

Up to a thousand Sessile oaks (Quercus petraea) were felled to reconstruct the ancient 800-year-old timber roof and fallen spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after it was destroyed by fire in April 2019. A nationwide tree hunt began soon after French president, Emmanuel Macron, decided that the iconic Cathedral would be rebuilt exactlyContinue reading “Notre Dame.”

Warrnambool in southwest Victoria has a strong dairy industry that once boasted two factories making thousands of wooden butter boxes. The first factory was opened in 1896 near the railway station by Welsh immigrant Henry McGennan. The second factory owned by the Western District Co-Operative Box Company, came a few years later in 1912, onContinue reading “Butter Boxes.”

The figures for railway sleepers produced from State forests are simply astounding. More than 26 million were cut between 1919 and 1986, primarily from the red gum forests along the Murray, the yellow stringybark forests of Mullundung near Yarram and greybox from East Gippsland. Sleeper cutting began around Orbost in the 1920s and there areContinue reading “Sleepers”