Lane Poole’s PNG Forest Resource Investigations 1922 to 1935 Lane Poole’s work has previously been described in PNGAF Mag # 9 A of 15th March 2021 page 37 on. After his resignation from the Western Australian Service in 1921, he was commissioned by the Commonwealth in 1922 to report on the forest resources of Papua. This commission was extended to the Mandated Territory of New Guinea in 1923. In 1923 and 1924, Charles Lane Poole completed a forest resources survey of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea. In 1925, he published his report which recommended the establishment of a forest service. Charles Lane Poole at Madang, 1924, showing the remains of a radio damaged in the raid at Kohu. Note his gaunt appearance after the rigours of his expedition to Mt Otto. Source: C. E. Lane Poole, Forest Resources (1925), facing p. 198, courtesy of the National Archives of Australia
In 1925, Lane Poole presented his Report Forest Resources of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea to Federal Parliament. 5
In 1935, Lane Poole presented a report title Report on the Forests of the Goldfields of New Guinea: Together with recommendations regarding a forest policy for the whole Territory. 6
The history of PNG Forestry is intrinsically linked to the development of the Bulolo Wau valleys gold fields and their natural stands of Araucarias. Readers need to refer to separate authors as James Sinclair7 who have described in detail the history of the Bulolo Wau goldfields. Lane Poole8 in his report on the forests of the goldfields of Bulolo Wau in 1935 stated: that the only asset that he could see to replace the wasting product, gold was timber. The region is purely a forest one, and its climate is decidedly a forest climate – in short proven forest country.
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Cover page C E Lane Poole 1925 Report on Forest Resources of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea Government Printer Melbourne 209 pp. 6 Unpublished TS, 1935. NAA A11938/802. 7 James Sinclair 2019 ISBN 978-1-876561-15-4 “UP THE CREEK - Edie Creek and the Morobe Goldfields” Pictorial Press Corinda Qld. 8 Lane Poole, C.E., 1935. ‘Report on the Forests of the Goldfields of New Guinea: Together with Recommendations Regarding a Forest Policy for the Whole Territory.’ Unpublished TS, 1935. NAA.
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