A beautiful old building tucked away at the back of Yarralumla in the Australian Capital Territory at the side of the Governor General's residence 'Yarralumla', and set with Westbourne woods as a backdrop. The Commonwealth Forestry School was established in Westridge (post here) near Westbourne Woods (post here) in 1926. Students came from every state in Australia and studied to become the leading horticulturists in the establishment of forestry projects Australia wide in the 1930's.
The forestry school was first proposed at the inaugural Interstate Forestry Conference in 1911, and accepted at a Premiers’ Conference in 1920. Federal Cabinet approved the school in 1925, and agreed that it should be established in Canberra to take advantage of Charles Weston’s (post here) pioneering research on tree species, especially conifers. In 1926 construction started.
The Forestry school opened with its first intake of students in 1927. Students lived in lined 'cubicles' with 3 houses set up as recreation, mess halls and ablutions. The school's course consisted of comprehensive academic study with practical work in the arboretum, Yarralumla Nursery and the ACT's surrounding forests. The school (course) was moved to the Australian National University in the 1950's.
The main school building was designed in Stripped Classical style by JH Kirkpatrick assisted by HM Rolland who built Canberra's first homes (post here) Central to the main building is a magnificent domed octagonal hall furnished with beautiful Australian timbers donated by Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and South Australia for the panelling, flooring, and ribs of the dome.
In 1975 the site became the Commonwealth's center for forestry and timber research in Australia (CSIRO). There is more comprehensive information at the ACT Library's website (here) and the Forestry School Buildings are heritage listed.
View Larger Map
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dingo Pup filmed at Glenbrook Blue Mountains
A night spent at the Euroka campground at Glenbrook in the Blue mountains NSW. It sparked a little controversy with some thinking it was a ...


-
The Gudgenby River is a tributary of the Murrumbidgee River in the south of the Australian Capital Territory. With it's headwaters in t...
-
I read a thread on a local forum suggesting that it was a ridiculous idea it being possible to ever snow in Canberra. Simply not the case. ...
-
A little known fact is that Canberra is built on the top of numerous limestone caves... In 1821 Charles Throsby (1777 - 1828) (bio here ) ...
-
Updated 5/10 ----------------------------------- Today I took the bike for a ride to Tharwa and visited the cemetery at Cuppacumbal...
-
Near Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales is the harbour of the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay. Captain James Cook (1728-1...
-
Canberra's first arboretum (info here ) was established at Westbourne Woods in the Canberra suburb of Yarralumla. In May 1913 horticult...
-
Something left field... The common yabby (Cherax destructor) is a freshwater crustacean that is common in waterways, reservoirs and farm ...

No comments:
Post a Comment