FORESTS OF VICTORIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 January 1939, Page 5

FORESTS OF VICTORIA

MAGNIFICENT TRACTS SWEPT BY FIRE GREAT WEALTH OF TIMBER DAMAGED. DEDICATED AND OTHER AREAS. The actual extent of the damage done to forests in the State of Victoria by the disastrous fires, resulting in a heavy loss of life, which have been raging for over a week past, has yet to be made known, but is bound to be extremely serious.

The following account of these magnificent forests, as they stood prior to the outbreak of the fires ,is given in the current issue of the “A.M.P. Messenger”:— In relation to its size, Victoria is the most densely forested State in the Commonwealth. Despite past heavy inroads on the original forests, and extensive clearing to pave the way for settlement, it is estimated that 14 million acres, 25 per cent of the total area of the State, carry forest at the present time.

Five and a half million acres of fully productive forest is the minimum area necessary to be reserved for timber production if ample supplies of timber for the future requirements of the State are to be ensured. The present area set aside as reserved forest totals 4,814,132 acres; and the Forests Commission, first apointed in 1919 to safeguard and conserve the State’s forest resources, is making determined efforts to increase the dedicated area to the desirable minimum.

Victorian forests yield a great diversity of hardwoods and timbers suitable for practically all purposes are available, including timbers of exceptional strength, durability and toughness used in heavy constructional and engineering works, general utility timbers, and others of beautiful grain and figure suitable f&r veneers, furniture, and all decorative uses. ■

Some have proved to b’e excellent for the manufacture of paper pulp, and within the last year, negotiations have been completed for the establishment of a paper pulp factory in Victoria which will obtain its raw material from the indigenous hardwood forests. Victoria’s output' of sawn timber alone from State forests last year amounted to some 106 million superficial feet. ,

A dearth of indigenous softwood timbers is being rectified by the establishment of plantations of selected coniferous species suited to growth under Victorian conditions. Over 45,000 acres of such plantations are already in existence. To encourage the growth of softwoods in State and private plantations, three large nurseries have been established at Creswick, Macedon and Broadford. EUCALYPTS AND ACACIAS. Victoria is rich in eucalypts and acacias. Varieties of gum such as the Blue and Spotted Blue, the Mountain Grey, River Red, Forest Red, Manna, Yellow and Sugar Gum, have a high industrial value. The Blue and Mountain Grey are used in bridge and other heavy constructional work. The River Red and Yellow Gums provide good material for railway sleepers, whilst the Sugar Gum is extensively planted in warm and dry localities as a valuable shade and shelter for stock. Eucalyptus oil is distilled from the leaves of the Yellow Gum, Red Ironbark, the Red Box, the Long-Leaf Box, and Fuzzy Box. and the two varieties of Peppermint. The finest quality of oil comes from the leaf of the Blue Mallee, a dwarf eucalypt greatly appreciated as a soil protector in and areas. The Yellow, Red, White and Brown Stringybarks provide tough, strong timbers, the White being very serviceable in ship-building, whilst the bark of all varieties is good for rough roofing and matting. Excellent furniture timbers are the beautifully figured Blackwood, and the Red and White Mountain Ash, the last named hardwood being conspicuous also in the manufacture of paper pulp. Among the box trees the Grey and Black varieties provide Melbourne with much of its fuel, but most of the box timber is used in heavy constructional work. The Bloodwood tree has a high reputation. It is very resistant to white ants, GLORY OF THE WATTLES. Of the wattles, the most ornamental are the Golden, Black and Green varieties. They commence to bloom in the late winter, and in the early soring they turn the countryside into a blaze of gold. The beauty of the wattles is

a justifiable source of pride to every Australian. The bark of these trees, by the way, is a valuable source of tannin. ‘

Apart from their utilitarian value, trees are a never-ending source of admiration for all who respond to the grandeur of the tree-clad slopes and valleys.

Scattered throughout southern and eastern Victoria, in the huge forest areas of thees parts, are splendid specimens of giant trees —White Mountain Ash, Red Mountain Ash, Messmate and Blue Gum. Of these the White Mountain Ash is undoubtedly the finest, rivalling the famous Sequoias of California.

Records are existent of Mountain Ash trees well over 300 feet in height, one being 375 feet. The highest recorded tree now standing in Victoria is in the Cumberland Valley, Marysville, and it is 301 feet 6 inches high. Another splendid specimen near Mt. Monda, Healesville, measures 287 feet in height, and its girth (5 feet from the ground) is 62 feet. At 10 feet from the ground the circumference measures 50 feet. The enormous girth of the tree may be realised by the fact that fifteen adults standing with outstretched arms can just encircle it. The most accessible forest is that in the Cumberland Valley at Marysville. In this fertile mountain area the tfces grow luxuriantly. An acre patch, which has been cleared of undergrowth. enables the visitor to view the trees to advantage.- The average height of the trees in this patch is -266 feet.

Along the gloriously timbered Acheron Way; on the Alpine Highway beyond Omeo; on the rich green slopes of the Baw Baws, the Strzelecki and Otway Ranges; and around Healesville, Warburton, Yarra Junction and Noojee, these beautiful trees are still to be found, ever pushing their heads skywards. Still others are to be seen revealing their dominating splendour in the beautiful Bulga and Tarra Valley Parks near Yaram, and along the lovely Turton’s Pass in the Otway Forest running between Beech Forest Township and Apollo Bay.