This blog has involved many hours researching historical deeds and has taken a long time to put together. It has been challenging to access information while travelling full-time, well away from Tasmania.
I have called upon others to assist me in completing this story. Thank you to Brian Rollins for his patience and kindly sharing information on how to work through the historical Tasmanian title index cards and historical deeds, all found online.… Read more
I recall reading an article by demographer Bernard Salt a few years ago about Australia being a continent divided by borders, lines, fences and boundaries. As I travelled around Australia I am reminded of his reference to ‘lines and boundaries’. Being a demographer, Salt referred to imaginary concepts based on social or physical elements, such as Sydney’s ‘Latte’ line, the ‘Barassi’ line, and Tasmania’s ‘Beer’ line.… Read more
I invited Phil Collier to share a story about his experiences with Surrey Hills. My involvement with Phil started when my colleague, James Dick, first told me about a plan to have volunteers do conservation work on Surrey Hills. I was immediately cautious and a little wary. But, as Phil points out below, so were the volunteers! … Read more
Les Baker and Ian Ravenwood write this month’s guest blog.
Chapter 11 of my book “Fires, Farms and Forests” provides the story of how AFH and North Forest Products were instrumental in developing an industrial eucalypt plantation estate on Surrey Hills. This blog offers specific details of improved nursery techniques and the creation of a world-class nursery, which adds significantly to the Surrey Hills plantation story.… Read more
Bob Hardy was born and grew up in Burnie. His mother, a Jones, came from a mixed farm at Cuprona, with her Jones line going back to Britton Jones, the ex-convict who built Franklin House. As a twenty-year-old graduate from Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Bob first started working on Surrey Hills in 1960.… Read more
I didn’t provide any coverage of the gatekeepers in the book “Fires, Farms and Forests”, as I had limited information at the time. And yet, you couldn’t tell a story about Surrey Hills and AFH without mentioning the gatekeepers.
Back in the 1950s, the Ridgley Highway didn’t exist. You could only get to Waratah via the Murchison Highway through the Hellyer Gorge and then onto Guildford Junction.… Read more
Foresters who have spent most of the working career in the bush will have numerous stories about encounters with our native fauna. The most dramatic and scary usually involve snakes. Despite spending a lot of time walking in the bush, I still have a fear of snakes. If I see one early in the morning, I can be edgy for the rest of the day, particularly if it is a close encounter.… Read more
If you haven’t bought my book “Fires, Farms and Forests”, this book review on pages 17 and 18 of the Australian Forest History Society Newsletter Number 81 (December 2020) may inspire you to take the plunge. You can view the newsletter online at https://www.foresthistory.org.au/newsletters.html
NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
Robert Onfray, 2020. Fires, Farms and Forests.… Read more
This month’s blog is by Allan Jamieson. Most of you would know Allan from his time working with APPM as a chemical engineer at the pulp and paper mill in Burnie, and as the inaugural manager of the new research unit set up by North Forest Products in Ridgley in 1993.… Read more
Jim Fidler writes this month’s Surrey Hills blog. Jim was born and raised in Launceston. Educated at the University of Tasmania with a teaching degree majoring in geology, Jim began teaching at Burnie and was also Principal at Waratah Primary School from 1984-87. Jim moved to Beijing in 2000 where he initially was a Lower School Principal and then a High School Humanities teacher at the International School, Beijing.… Read more
