Forest Yarns
Before the Forest Commission Prior to 1907, when a separate Forests Department was established by the Victorian Government, forests were managed by other government departments. One was the Lands Department. The Lands Act 1862, amongst other things, “allowed land to be set aside for the preservation and growth of timber.
Forest Yarns
In the days when Occupational Health and Safety standards were not documented or policed, the Rushworth forest and the sawmills of the area were places where a litany of accidents occurred. In the worst cases, this could result in the death of a worker. More often, there were serious injuries.
Forest Yarns
Those who worked in the forest industries in and around Rushworth have had a long history of serving their communities. As a group, they would often provide their labour and equipment free of charge to support some worthwhile cause. This was often done by providing wood directly to a person
Forest Yarns
Over the years, the Rushworth forest has thankfully been spared from a major conflagration. One of the reasons might be that box ironbark forests are less susceptible to big fires than other forest types. The main species of trees do not shed their bark each year, leading to a build-up
Forest Yarns
When there were labour shortages, such as during the two world wars, disparate groups like prisoners of war and so-called “aliens” (civilians who had lived in Australia or other British countries who were deemed to be a security risk) were put to work in the forest.
Forest Yarns
One of the early products coming out of the Rushworth forest was telegraph poles. Electric telegraph was introduced into the new colony of Victoria in 1854. For the first time, it was possible to send a message almost instantaneously rather than wait for what was then a relatively unreliable postal
Forest Yarns
In a town where the timber industry was important for many years, it is perhaps unsurprising that locals invented things that had a connection to the industry. One such invention was devised by Eric Ollov Risstrom Junior of Rushworth. Eric was the son of Eric Ollov Risstrom Snr, who was
Forest Yarns
Risstrom is one of the family names synonymous with the timber industry in Rushworth. Without going into too much detail on family history, because the story is well documented elsewhere, the progenitor of the family in Australia, Eric Ollov Risstrom, emigrated from Sweden. He and his wife Mary came to
Forest Yarns
In the mid-1950s, chainsaws were introduced to Rushworth by Maurice Hitchcock, revolutionising the way that work was done in the forest. In the blink of an eye one man could cut far more timber in a day than had been humanly possible in the past. This innovation, in conjunction with
Forest Yarns
From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Murray Hitchcock had a contract to deliver firewood to Mooroopna Hospital. At the time, Mooroopna was the main regional hospital for the Goulburn Valley. Rushworth community had a very strong relationship with the hospital in earlier years, with local folk often engaging in fundraising
Forest Yarns
For many years the Rushworth forest was the source of firewood for factories in the Goulburn Valley, as well as large institutions like the Mooroopna Base Hospital. The wood was used in boilers to provide steam power. From the 1960s, demand started to decline as industry moved to other sources
Forest Yarns
During World War II the Rushworth-Tatura-Murchison area was home to a number of internment and prisoner-of-war camps. Camps 1-4, located around the northern end of Waranga Basin were civilian internment camps while Camp 13 was a POW camp south-east of the Basin, not far from Murchison. Most of the POWs