The History of Forestry in South Australia
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Aboriginal People
Aboriginal people have been managing native forests in Australia for at least 50,000 years in order to provide themselves with food and shelter. By harvesting plants and animals and by burning regularly, the nature of Australia’s forests was transformed from a dense forest to an open woodland. The forest environment eventually reached a balance where the Aboriginal people were able to meet their needs in a sustainable fashion.
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Harvesting a tree in the early days. |
The Early Years
In the early decades of European settlement in South Australia, large areas of land were cleared for farming and livestock grazing. Timber cutters worked in the forests of the Mount Lofty and Lower Flinders Ranges cutting native trees such as stringy bark, blue gum and red gum to supply timber for the developing colony. Timber was used for building construction, roofing, fencing, jetty piles and decking, and later, for railway sleepers, telegraph poles and supports for mine shafts and tunnels.
By 1875 however, the government was becoming concerned about the rapidly diminishing native timber due to over cutting.
This prompted the formation of the Forest Board and later in 1882, the Woods and Forest Department. Their task was to control the cutting of native timber and to investigate the practicality of plantation forestry.
Two Men of Vision
The early decades of the Woods and Forests Department were directed by two men of vision - John Ednie Brown and Walter Gill. The area of forestry plantations increased greatly under their guidance. J.E.Brown was a great advocate for planting trees in farming districts as he was “firm in his conviction that rainfall followed tree growth”, a view that was not supported by some members of the Forest Board.
Brown promoted tree planting in railway yards and reservoir reserves and the remnants of these plantings can still be seen in Adelaide and rural areas. He also introduced Arbor Day to South Australian schools with the first celebrations held on 20 June 1889. Brown resigned in 1890 to become the Director General of Forests in New South Wales.
The next Conservator was Walter Gill, who held the position until 1923. Gill was a nurseryman and pastoralist who had managed the Wirrabara Forest Nursery from 1886. He quickly proved the value of radiata pine (or remarkable pine as it was then known) from an economic standpoint, by producing thousands of pine fruit boxes at Wirrabara Forest. Gill was also a skilful photographer and many of the early photographic records of forestry in South Australia are the result of his efforts.
Early Nurseries and Plantations
Forest nurseries were started at Wirrabara and Bundaleer in the mid-north and near Mount Gambier in the south-east. The first forest plantation was established at Bundaleer in 1876 and included a large number of different tree species planted on a trial basis. The early plantings were mainly of native eucalypts, hardwoods from Europe and various conifers from Europe and North America. Only some of these species grew well enough to be considered for commercial planting.
The Remarkable Pine
One of the most successful species was radiata pine, also known as remarkable pine, a native of the Monterey Peninsula in California. Various legends exist as to how this tree came to Australia – as ballast in colliers backloading from California, or as seeds or plants brought home by miners returning from the Californian goldfields. An avenue of Pinus radiata had been planted at the Adelaide Botanic Garden in about 1866.
The earliest plantations in the south-east were at Mount Muirhead, near Millicent; Mount McIntyre, near Mount Burr; and the Cave Range Forest Reserve, near Naracoorte.
By 1918, the Government had reserved 111,909 acres (45,290 ha) of land for forestry.
By 1900 the number of species being planted had been reduced to about half a dozen - sugar gum and five pine species: radiata, Aleppo, pinaster, Corsican and Canary Island. Of these, the performance of radiata pine was outstanding on most soils and sites within the higher rainfall areas of South Australia.
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Early forester accommodation. |
Years of Expansion
Plantations continued to expand in the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, private forestry companies commenced operations as growers and timber millers.
The Woods and Forests Department started milling plantation softwood at Wirrabara in 1902.
Radiata pine was slow to be accepted, mainly because of the ready supply of high-grade, mature Baltic pine and Oregon timbers from the old-growth forests of North America and Europe. This situation changed with the introduction of seasoning kilns which used hot air and steam to dry the timber. Drying enabled radiata pine to be used for building and construction purposes.
World War II provided another boost for the use of locally-produced timber. Imports were both uncertain and expensive and it became evident that locally-grown radiata pine could meet the state’s demands.
In the 1950s pilot trials investigated the preservation of radiata pine timber using creosote oil or copper-chromium-arsenic salts. Small logs began to be used for particle board in 1957. Pressure-preservative-treated timber for electricity and communication poles was introduced in the 1960s.
Laminated Veneer Lumber technology was introduced in 1986 enabling construction beams to be manufactured to any lengths from smaller trees.
Large scale commercial plantings of Tasmanian blue gums commenced in the mid 1990s, to supply woodchips for the manufacture of paper products. By 2006, over 42,000 had been established.
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| 1870 | Concerns raised in SA Parliament about over-harvesting of the colony’s native forests |
| 1875 | Forest Board appointed by SA Government to begin plantation-based forestry |
| 1876 | First forests planted at Bundaleer, Wirrabara and Mount Gambier |
| 1900 | Radiata pine identified as the most valuable plantation timber tree for SA |
| 1902 | First government sawmill opens at Wirrabara |
| 1907 | Large-scale planting commences in South East |
| 1925 | Private sector interest in forestry grows during the mid 1920s |
| 1928 | CSIRO perfects techniques to make paper from pine |
| 1931 | Unemployment relief camps set up and the forestry workforce doubles |
| 1939 | Veneer mill opens at Mount Gambier |
| 1941 | First pulp mill in SA opens near Millicent |
| 1957 | Mount Gambier State Sawmill opens – then the largest in the southern hemisphere |
| 1959 | First wood preservation plant opens in Mount Gambier |
| 1960 | Apcel open large pulp mill at Snuggery |
| 1960 | Panelboard particleboard plant opens at Mount Gambier |
| 1968 | First chipping of log residues |
| 1983 | Ash Wednesday fires burn vast areas of forests in the Mount Lofty Ranges and South East. Replanting is completed by the early 1990s. |
| 1986 | Laminated Veneer Lumber technology introduced enabling construction beams to be manufactured to any length |
| 1998 | Large scale planting of Tasmanian blue gums commences to supply chip for the manufacture of paper products |
| 2006 | Plantations cover 167,132 ha of SA (including over 42,000 ha of blue gums) and support a $700 million timber growing and processing industry employing more than 7,600 people |
References
Wakefield companion to South Australia’s History - Wakefield Press 2001 (Article by Robinson and Johnston).
‘A Hundred Years of Forestry’ - W&F Department 1975.
- Page URL: http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/forestrymatters/forestry_fact_sheets/the_history_of_forestry_in_south_australia
- Page Last Modified: November 15, 2011