William Litster (AKA Billo) was born in 1903 at Peebles, which is a town in the Scottish Borders.
William obtained a B.Sc. in Forestry from the University Edinburgh 1927 and returned a year later to complete a post graduate honours degree.
William Litster and Karl Ferguson were recruited from Scotland, Mathew Rowe from southern England’s Forest of Dean, along with three Norwegians, Bernhard Johannessen, Kristian Drangsholt and Bjarne Dahl, who later formed the nucleus of a new Forest Assessment Branch.
Litster spent a short time at the Anglesea Plantations and Assessment Branch, which reportedly was not much to his liking, before being appointed as Assistant Master under Principal E. J. Semmens at the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) at Creswick in 1928.
William Litster became widely known as Billo, and unlike E J Semmens, had a more authoritarian manner. He was strong-willed, some would say stubborn, and was ever vigilant keeping discipline intact with a group of exuberant and potentially mischievous young lads with effervescing hormones.
Initially teaching a range of forestry subjects, he later focused on botany by annually recycling his notes from Edinburgh.
When E J Semmens retired as School Principal in 1951, he was replaced by Frank Moulds.
Frank Moulds later left in 1957 to study a PhD at Yale on a Sterling Scholarship, and Billo was initially appointed as acting Principal before being confirmed in the role in 1958.
Although his gruff and crusty Scottish exterior was outwardly uncompromising and harsh, there was another side to him, and on many occasions, Billo demonstrated obvious and genuine concern for his charges.
Over his many years at Creswick, Billo taught generations of students, witnessed their successes, failures and escapades while at the school, and followed their subsequent careers with much interest.
No doubt he had his favourites, and everyone who attended the school, either as a student or as a lecturer, has an anecdote to tell.
Billo remained Principal until his compulsory retirement at age 65 at the end of 1968, when he and Jean moved to Torquay.
He served a total of 40 years (1928-1968) at the Victorian School of Forestry, including 11 years as Principal, and his only significant break, other than when he fell off a ladder and broke some bones in 1966, was when he travelled home to Scotland in 1949.
William “Billo” Litster lived at Torquay until his death in 1973 at the age of 69.
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Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 