Obituaries Australia

In June 1977 the death occurred of Mr. Alfred Charles Shedley, terminating at the age of 86 a long and distinguished career in Australian forestry.

Mr. Shedley was one of the first students of forestry at the Adelaide University, receiving his Diploma in Forestry in 1913 and graduating as a Bachelor of Science in Forestry in 1915.

He served with the Australian Military Forces in the 1914–18 war, and won promotion in France to lieutenant. Immediately after the war he obtained post graduate forestry experience in England at Salcey, New Forest and the Forest of Dean, then returned to Australia to work in the South Australian and New South Wales forest services. He joined the Western Australian Forests Department in 1924, and in the period 1924–6 his work in demonstrating the value of mycorrhiza in pine establishment marked a milestone in Australian pine afforestation.

He returned to military service in the 1939–45 war as a member of the Australian Volunteer Defence Corps, and reached the rank of major. In 1943–46 Mr. Shedley was the Deputy Controller of Timber in Western Australia. Afterwards, he re-joined the Forests Department of Western Australia and achieved the position of Senior Assistant Conservator.

Mr. Shedley was active in the establishment of the Institute of Foresters of Australia becoming an inaugural member in 1935. He was elected President of the Institute for the years 1938 to 1941, and was honoured with the designation of Fellow of the Institute in 1969.

Mr. Shedley’s contribution to fields connected with forestry did not cease when he retired in 1956. He remained active in the State Gardens Board, the Native Flora Committee and the National Parks Board, and his long and excellent service in forestry was recognised by the award of an MBE in the New Years Honours list of 1963.

An Australian Rules player for South Adelaide in his youth, and a golf enthusiast in his later years, Alfred Charles Shedley was highly successful and highly esteemed in both sporting and professional fields, and his devotion to, and his achievements in, forestry will long be remembered.