Obituaries Australia

The death of the well-known and respected Western Australian forester, Wally Eastman, occurred on Tuesday, 16 March 1993.

Wally served with the WA Forests Department for 31 years from his appointment in 1949 to his retirement in 1980. During that time he had a marked influence on the direction of forest management in that State through his instigation and direction of a number of major initiatives. These include the pine planting program, the fire management program which arose from the ashes of the 1961 Dwellingup fire and from which the very successful safety program flowed and forest research for which he was responsible as Chief of Division.

He became an Associate Member of the IFA in October 1952 and a Corporate Member in 1955. After retirement, he continued to take an interest in IFA activities through the LMSR. Wally was able to combine academic achievement (he was a recipient of the Grimwade prize) with a great practical ability to get things done in the field. As a consequence, he was rewarded in career advancement serving the last seven years of his career as Deputy Conservator. On top of these work achievements, he was universally liked and respected as a person. His death is a loss to the forestry community.