Author Archives: Peter McHugh

This contraption is thought to have been developed in the FCV radio workshops at Surrey Hills. It’s basically a STC vehicle radio which has been mounted on a backpack frame and powered by a heavy lead-acid battery. The backpack frame was manufactured at the Altona fire equipment development centre. A considerable number of these radioContinue reading ““Portable” STC Radiophone – c 1970s.”

I have no idea what sort of car this is, or what year these photos were taken, but this impressive motor is thought to have belonged to Hugh Robert Mackay. Mackay had been Secretary to the Royal Commission into forests between 1897 and 1901. He had compiled its reports and later drafted the Bill onContinue reading “The Forest Conservator’s wheels.”

This nice little find comes from the Public Record Office. It’s a small photo album of the Otways forests from the early 1920s. My guess is that it was produced during a major stoush between the Forests Commission, sawmillers, and the community against the Lands Department trying to alienate (sell) more forest in the westernContinue reading “Otway Forests – 1920s.”

The South Face Road (SFR) climbs steadily for 25 km, in an east-west direction, across the southern slopes of the Baw Baw Ranges in Central Gippsland. It links the Thomson Valley Road in the east to the Baw Baw Tourist Road in the west. The South Face Road was without doubt the biggest and mostContinue reading “West Tyers Bridge – 2006.”

Mount Arapiles is an isolated sandstone outcrop near Horsham which rises 460 feet above the flat Wimmera plains. The first European to see the mountain was Major Thomas Mitchell during his epic overland trek in 1836. He named the landmark on 23 July 1836 after the Arapiles Hills near Salamanca in Spain. Mitchell had seenContinue reading “Mount Arapiles Timber Reserve – Centenary Park.”

This small memorial plaque overlooks the Toororrong Reservoir north of Melbourne and commemorates Dr. David Ashton. David was unquestionably the world expert on the ecology of mountain ash forests (Eucalyptus regnans). He was born in Melbourne in 1927 and received a Bachelor of Science in 1949, and a PhD later in 1957. In 1949, DavidContinue reading “David Hungerford Ashton.”

In the early 1990s, a new State Forest Management Planning process was in full swing, and a community advisory committee was appointed by the Minister for Conservation and Environment, Steve Crabb. The committee for the Yarra Forests was headed by local shire councillor, Gordon Buller, and included representatives from the timber industry, as well asContinue reading “Hackett Tree – Powelltown.”

The Forests Commission and its successors continuously encouraged bushfire research and innovation. In 1946 a large parcel of industrial land was purchased at North Altona as a fire equipment cache and workshop. The Altona workshop became a hotbed of new technological thingumajigs… a marvellous blend of Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders coupled with Wallace and Gromit’sContinue reading “Cave of Wonders.”

Having good cartographic skills to use and interpret aerial photographs to make maps was an integral part of most foresters working career. Aerial photos were used to make maps of forest types, timber resources, to survey logging areas and regeneration, to mark boundaries of public land and new plantations, to identify new roads and tracks,Continue reading “Aerial Photographic Interpretation (API).”

Despite the repeated suggestions, there are still lots of large and old mountain ash trees in the State forests of the Central Highlands. One very popular walk is to the Ada Tree near Powelltown. Its massive trunk is thought to be nearly 400 years old with a diameter over 15m and height of about 76m.Continue reading “Ada Tree – Powelltown.”

Coventry Climax Pump. Among the many pressing priorities for Alf Lawrence, the Forests Commission’s new Chief Fire Officer, in rebuilding the firefighting capacity after the catastrophic 1939 bushfires was to invest heavily in modern vehicles and equipment. Powered pumps like the trailer-mounted Coventry Climax (Godiva) gave firefighters a much greater capacity than ever before toContinue reading “Altona Museum Photography.”

Put simply… successful natural regeneration of native eucalypt forests often came down the three S’… Seed… Seedbed… and Season… Seed collection, extraction and storage to support regeneration after logging was always a big drain on the District budget. Seed collection was also subject to the vagaries of the flowering cycle and some commercial eucalypt speciesContinue reading “Seed Tumbler.”

The Forests Commission was not the only State Government organisation growing seedlings. The State Rivers and Water Supply Commission was established under the Water Act (1905) as a single and independent authority to coordinate and manage the State’s rural water resources. The SR&WSC had a nursery at Lysterfield. These photos were taken in 1958 andContinue reading “State Rivers and Water Supply Commission – Lysterfield nursery.”

The first State forests nursery was established by William Ferguson at Macedon in 1872, while another was opened shortly after by John La Gerche at Creswick in 1887. Their main purpose was to grow trees to stabilise land damaged by gold mining. The Royal Commission of 1897-1901 into the destruction and wastage of Victoria’s forestsContinue reading “Landcare.”

Up until the mid-1970s, 4WDs were primarily the domain of farmers, miners and foresters, rather than for the after-school-pickup run. The original 4WDs were rugged and spartan vehicles with none of the modern comforts or safety features like power everything, cloth seats, carpets, chrome trim, airbags, cruise control, disk brakes, sound system, satnav… blah… blah…Continue reading “Scooby-Doos.”

James (Jim) Fry was born in 1852 and worked as a carrier bringing supplies over treacherous tracks to several gold mining companies in the remote mountains east of Mansfield during the early 1870s. The former manager’s house (c.1874) from the Great Rand Mine had been left abandoned and was shifted from nearby Martin’s Gap byContinue reading “Fry’s Hut – Howqua Valley.”

I have written before about Archie Hair and Blue Pool near Briagolong. But I recently ventured into the Public Record Office to uncover the old FCV file which gives more detailed insights into the arrangements Archie had over the site. In February 1940, William O’Regan, an invalid pensioner and gold prospector, who had lived alongContinue reading “Archie Hair – Blue Pool.”

Clarence (Clarrie) Gray Ward saw action as a gunner with the 2/7th Field Artillery Regiment around Tobruk in 1941 and during the first and second battles of El Alamein in 1942. He later landed at Tarakan in Borneo in May 1945. Clarrie was one of about ninety ex-servicemen recruited as overseers into the Forests CommissionContinue reading “FCV – Returned Servicemen .”