The Commonwealth Forestry Bureau was established in 1927 to: advise the Territories about forests; establish forestry experiment stations; train foresters in the Australian Forestry School; award scholarships; and collect and publish forestry information. Theoretically, it could manage any forests placed under its control by the Governor-General, but none were. With limited staff and funding during the 1930s and 1940s its main activities were restricted to operating the Australian Forestry School and a forest experiment station in South Australia, and some research work. It was in charge of the Inspector-General of Forests, C. E. Lane Poole until he retired in 1945. The scope of its national operations was limited as the states generally guarded their constitutional responsibilities for forests.
The Bureau was given some additional responsibilities in relation to timber supply when it became the Forestry and Timber Bureau in 1946. Its expanded research activities were placed within the Forest Research Institute in 1963 and provided with a new laboratory building at Yarralumla, ACT. Co-operative research stations were established during the 1960s in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and (with APM Forests Pty Ltd) Victoria.
The closure of the Australian Forestry School in 1965, and the transfer of the Forest Research Institute to CSIRO in 1975, was followed by the transfer of the remaining functions of the Bureau to the Forestry Branch of the Department of Primary Industry.
John Dargavel, 'Forestry and Timber Bureau (Cwlth)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/entity/9429/text31692, accessed 25 May 2025.