This month is a guest blog from Morris “Mort” Bloom.
Some of my most memorable days in the bush were marking road lines with Mort. My role was to source timber mostly from private property for the logging contractors under my supervision. Some were easily accessible across grass paddocks in the summer.… Read more
Morris “Mort” Bloom – my career with AFH Read More »
The discovery of gold in Western Australia’s eastern interior in the 1890s was telegraphed around the world. People flocked to the new fields in the arid interior of the colony. While the focus was on making a fortune from the gold, there was hardly any precious, clean water, and very soon, many people were more interested in water than gold to survive.… Read more
Liquid gold and the Goldfields Pipeline Read More »
“Think of forests of WA and you picture the green south-west; think of Kalgoorlie and you conjure thoughts of gold, not trees. But the green and gold are inseparable. The trees that kept the hearts of the mines pumping were cut from native woodlands miles from the goldfields and hauled along specially constructed bush railways”. … Read more
Over the years, when meeting people at dinner parties, bar-b-ques, or other social events, I was often asked what I did for a living. After I replied I was a forester, most people would then ask, “what does a forester do”? This is not surprising as forestry is a relatively new profession in Australia and is not widely known.… Read more
What does a forester do? (Part 1) Read More »
When the Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL Co.) owned and opened up their land grants in north-west Tasmania, the Emu Bay port was crucial in developing the area and the company’s fortunes. In my book “Fires, Farms and Forests”, I focussed on the development of the VDL Co.’s estates, principally Surrey Hills.… Read more
My previous war story blog provided details of the bombing of Darwin and the subsequent battles against the Japanese in the Coral Sea and Papua New Guinea.
After the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, the Japanese carried out further air-borne attacks across northern Australia. In total, between March 1942 and November 1943, the Japanese flew 64 bombing/strafing raids on Darwin alone and 33 bombing/strafing raids on other targets in Northern Australia.… Read more
Even more war stories – how Australia came under attack from air raids during WWII Read More »
Introduction
The south-west forests of Western Australia have a rich history in timber utilisation, being one of the longest traditional industries in the state. Several timber towns that housed the timber workers and their families were established in the Darling Range close to the newly constructed Perth-Bunbury-Bridgetown railway line to utilise the timber from the jarrah forests.… Read more
Ignoring the legacy of active management to create a “wilderness” Read More »
While finalising a previous blog with Ian Ravenwood on the evolution of aerial operations on Surrey Hills, I was reminded of the tragic plane crash on Daisy Nolan Hill, near Hampshire, in 1983, which killed the sole occupier, pilot John Lindridge.
I researched what I could about John and quickly discovered he had a remarkable flying career, first as a pilot with a flying medical service in outback South Australia in the 1960s, then part of critical freight and transport in the Bass Strait to more flying in Tasmania.… Read more
Last Light Lindridge Read More »
“The only fence in the world that cuts a continent into two mighty paddocks”. Ernestine Hill
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, rabbits began eating their way towards Western Australia. They were known as a serious threat to the environment and ruined profitable farming land in the eastern states.… Read more
Stopping the grey invasion Read More »
After a recent tour of the south-west forests during our travels around Australia, I saw karri forests chocked with fuels and I wanted to write about fire management, or lack of. I struggled, however, to conjure the words that would convey the essence of the problem. I realised that no matter how much I tried, I didn’t have “the sap of karri trees running through my veins”.… Read more
A case study in folly #1 – bushfire management in karri country Read More »
