Obituaries Australia

Australian Forestry School, 1927

National Archives of Australia, A3560:3375

The Australian Forestry School was established as part of the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau as a national scheme to train foresters at the university level. It was based in the University of Adelaide and led by Norman William Jolly for its first year in 1926. It moved to its new building in Canberra in 1927 and was led by Charles Edward Lane Poole as Acting Principal until 1944. The school provided two years of study of forestry subjects for students who had completed two years of study in their state universities. They qualified with a Diploma in Forestry from the school and a BSc from their universities. The state forest services nominated the students, provided them with fully-funded cadetships, and subsequently employed them. Victoria sent five students during the initial years, but relied on its Victorian School of Forestry at Creswick thereafter. The number of students sent by other states never met expectations and the school was threatened with closure. After the Second World War, enrolments increased rapidly and the school flourished under the direction of Maxwell Ralph Jacobs. The school closed at the end of 1964, having graduated 584 students in its forty year existence. The Department of Forestry opened in the Australian National University in 1965.