MAG
FOREST MANAGEMENT. Eminent
Photo credit John Davidson. Gogol Survey 1963. Evan Shield, John Lowien, Eric Hammermaster, Bill Jenkin, Norm Endacott, Kevin White Photo Credit M Jenkin.
Editor R B McCarthy 2022. Kevin White2 (TPNG Forests 1957 1977) succeeded Dave Dun as Chief of Silviculture from 1958 to 1977. Kevin played a pivotal role in the planning and supervision of silvicultural research in PNG. In a departmental report covering the years 1960 1965 silvicultural research was “formulated at the headquarters level with major priorities in improvement of nursery techniques; determination of thinning schedules for management objectives; selection and testing of parent trees and seed orchard establishment, and insect control”. (REF Progress report 1960 65 prepared by the Department of Forests for the Commonwealth Forestry Conference. 1968, Pp. 1 21).
of 3 Nov
1 Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963 1975. PNGAF MAG # 3 2022 p 85, PNGAF # 21/11/2022 p35 37, PNGAF # th p 45 47 # 9B-5B4W3 14th Aug 2022 TPNG Forester Kevin White 1957-1977.
6 OF 8
Jan 2021
AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
MAG
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE
of
4 of
2
You are all most welcome to attend and participate in
NAME Kevin White YEAR OF BIRTH 1924-2012 DATE JOINED FORESTS PNG 1957 OCCUPATION Assistant Botanist and Plant Ecologist Division of Botany Lae Chief of Division Silviculture Assistant Director Forests LOCALITIES OF WORK Throughout PNG DEPARTURE PNG 1977 LIFE AFTER PNG FAO Bangladesh ADB VariousNepalconsultancies
service Please let either myself or
Kevin White’s Niece Therese Toohey3 Good evening to all, I am sorry to inform you this way and apologies to those who have already been informed. Kevin died last Thursday 28 June 2012 peacefully in his sleep. He led a most amazing life, travelling and working widely, and ultimately enjoying life to the full. He was our Uncle and generous with his time and care for our mother and our family. In more recent years, he played an important part in keeping our branch of the White family in contact with each other. Having written the family history, it was only just he saw his generation through to the end, outliving his sister by 2 weeks. Kevin’s funeral Rose Toohey
if you would like to speak at that time. 3 Personal communication Rose Toohey 11 April 2019
I was single at the time, and it was much easier to move singles around than married couples. It was not long before I found myself transferred to Lae where I met my wife to be Anne.
Many of Kevin’s colleagues and friends have responded to his passing with emails and phone calls expressing condolences. Such was this person who made friends easily, readily gave advice, guidance and instruction and I would like to quote again, this time from Professor Simon Saulei. I am fortunate to be trained by Kevin during the period when some of us where selected to undergo Forestry Cadetship tenure. We, Oscar Mamalai, Dike Kari, Joe Ben and later joined by Jack Noah underwent a series of field exercises with Kevin including Gogol, Open Bay, Omsis, and Bevani forest area.
4 Personal communication Rex Wiggins 10 April 2019 and Bob Thistlethwaite 13 March 2018
Simon attended UPNG and says that he visited Kevin at HQ who then provided information, especially books and manuals and when he graduated and joined forestry, he met up with Kevin in Thailand at various FAO Forestry meetings. This typifies the strong leaning that Kevin had for educating local officers in the field of forest management.
Kevin’s contribution to the reforestation of PNG forests and to the training of local forestry personnel has been clearly demonstrated and I leave it to the words of the current Managing Director of the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority Mr. Kanawi Pouru: The late Kevin White was a professional colleague who had dedicated a good part of his life in Papua New Guinea to help build and establish a strong foundation for a future National Forest Service as part of the national preparedness program leading towards Independence in the mid seventies. He was a great forester and an administrator that made a huge contribution to shaping the future direction of PNG’s forest management and development.
Eulogy by Rex Wiggins4 Kevin Joseph White or, as many of us addressed Kevin, just K.J. In the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, it would be Papa bilong Lapegu
Our paths first crossed back in 1958 when I made a trip from Bulolo in PNG to take in the bright lights of Lae for the first time. A group of forestry personnel gathered at the Lae Club and amongst these were Kevin who was at the time in charge of the Lae Botanical Gardens.
Kevin had moved back to Headquarters in Port Moresby but was a regular visitor to all the outstations in his official capacity as Chief of Division Silviculture, so we got together on many occasions in Lae and later, when Anne and I moved to Rabaul. Following my permanent relocation to Port Moresby some years after, Kevin visited our home quite often and we reciprocated having meals at his and a close bond developed which has lasted more than fifty years. I can still see the array of food warming receptacles brimming with curries and seafood and his houseboi Glass hovering round as we sat at Kevin’s teak dining table they were great times.
Following Independence in 1975, Kevin took a position with United Nations FAO and carried out work for a period in Bangladesh advising on plantation management. On completion of this project, he moved to Nepal and commenced work on a plant nursery at Sagarnath in the Terai, establishing eucalypt plantations that proved very successful and he had a great delight in showing me, when I visited, the use of his thinnings from the plantations for electric light poles in various towns and villages. The timber was also a great and necessary resource as firewood and scaffolding. It was here that Kevin teamed up with his mate Bhagirath Sharma and together they collected, photographed, and published the book Wild Orchids in Nepal which is a fine achievement given the terrain that had to be covered to obtain the material and take quality photographs this book is here on display.
The letters of appreciation and plaques from various authorities also displayed here speak for themselves and are testament to the work that Kevin undertook in development countries and the commitment he gave to achieve the results that he did accomplish. Kevin undertook considerable research into the growing of teak in Asia which earned him the title Teak Wallah in some quarters.
I visited Kevin several times at his unit in the condominium in Jomtien Thailand and for years I would see reams of paper, photographs, slides etc. as Kevin laboured on his last major project the White Family History. The results of many years gathering information, travelling to Ireland, the UK. USA and Australia are also displayed here in memory of a great achievement and something the White Family will surely treasure.
Kevin dearly loved to go to the small island of Koh Samet which entailed an hour’s drive to the fishing town of Ban Phe and then a 40 minute ferry run to the island. The tranquil setting, the wonderful restaurants at the water’s edge and basic accommodation was the ideal place for Kevin to spend time relaxing and editing his many research manuscripts. Kevin has been a great friend to myself and my family over the years and in fact, one of the family, a wonderful travelling companion and I will sadly miss his dry sense of humour, his quick wit and most definitely the vast knowledge he possessed on the history of S E Asia which he readily passed onto me. Kevin always travelled with a book and usually this was of a historical nature and related to the country we were visiting. I must say I cannot think of an occasion where I have seen Kevin reading a book of fiction. His life has been most interesting and varied and his travels have taken him to all corners of the globe. His work and achievements in the forestry field must have been extremely rewarding to himself and the legacy he has left behind will continue through the graduates that he guided. A job well done Kevin, rest in peace my friend
We, as a family arrived in Brisbane late 1978 and it was not long after that Kevin contacted me to see if I would look after his financial affairs here in Australia and so our association developed further. After my wife passed away in 1996, it was Kevin who suggested that I visit him in Thailand with view of us undertaking some travel into some of the more remote areas of S.E. Asia and so it eventuated that over the past 15 years there was usually a trip each year somewhere off the tourist track quite often involving very basic transport and accommodation but Kevin obviously enjoyed such trips. I would get a running commentary of the flora as we motored up the Mekong in Laos or have orchid trees pointed out to me in Sabah and Kevin was always a wealth of knowledge when it came to wandering through markets where he was keen to explain the origin and attributes of unusual fruits and vegetables.
Kevin was well known throughout South east Asia as a forestry advisor to governments and earned a high level of respect for the work that he accomplished and was very keen to pass on his knowledge to up and coming local professionals in his field. Many forestry students, especially from PNG, Nepal, Cambodia, and Laos kept in contact with Kevin and after he retired to Thailand he was forever advising and editing their assignments and theses.
5 Source IFA publication The Forester Volume 56 No 1 March 201 3
Vale
The next five years were largely spent on rainforest management research in North Queensland, partly at the Forest Research Station at Atherton, where he became familiar with many of the species of the rainforest flora, established a large botanical collection, and discovered new species He, along with his boss Eddie Volck, were honoured by Dr Lindsay Smith, Queensland Government Botanist, by naming one of the tree species from the vicinity of Kuranda as Neorites kevediana (Fishtail silky oak) (Proteaceae).
Kevin Joseph White (Kev or just K.J. to many) died on 28 Jun 2012 at Pinjarra Hills, Brisbane He was born in 15 Apr 1924 in Marrickville, Sydney His family home was at Wyong (north of Sydney) where his father had a dairy and mixed grain farm. By 1930 the family had moved to North Queensland where his father pioneered a tobacco farm (on Tinaroo Creek, some 13 km from Mareeba) and subsequently grew sugar cane on the Upper Mulgrave Valley (about 11 km by road from Gordonvale). He completed the first stage of secondary education in 1941 and then worked for a spell in the Queensland Public Service in Brisbane, enlisting in the AIF in 1942 (QX57633/Q144919)
He shipped out to New Guinea where he was taken on by 39 Light Wireless Air Warning Section as an electrician and later returned to Australia for radio technician training. Back in New Guinea he was attached to the 2nd Australian Corps Signals at the transmitter centre on the Sattelburg trail above Finschhafen, and later at Torokina on Bougainville. There at Torokina Kevin celebrated his 21st birthday and the end of the Pacific Afterwar. his discharge (26 Sep 1946), he re joined the Queensland Public Service but opted for retraining under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme He firstly completed his secondary schooling and then became a Cadet Forest Officer of the Queensland Department of Forestry. His four year degree entailed two years at the University of Queensland followed by two years at the Australian Forestry School in Canberra, graduating with Dip. For. in 1951 and B.Sc. (For.) in 1952.
Kevin transferred to the Forest Department of the Territory of Papua & New Guinea in 1957 as Assistant Botanist and Plant Ecologist at the Botany Division of the Department in Lae, and in 1958 oversaw the Lae Botanic Gardens He continued to work with the Department of Forests for 20 years in various capacities as a Silvicultural Research officer, Assistant Director (Research & Development) and, prior to his departure in 1977, as Acting Director of the KevinDepartment.wasresponsible for establishing the Bulolo Forestry School (now the Bulolo Campus of the University of Technology) and was actively involved in the development of the Degree course in Forestry at the University of Technology at Lae. He was awarded the Imperial Service Order on 11 June 1977 For Faithful Service”, and in 2000 was honoured by the Governor General of Papua New Guinea For contribution in services to the development of Papua New Guinea” commemorating 25 years of PNG Independence Kevin made a major contribution to forestry development in PNG, especially through the training of local forestry personnel, a process he commenced long before self government’s drive for localisation of government administration It was that core of professionally qualified staff who became the backbone of forestry administration post independence and the later National Forest Service The Managing Director of the PNG Forest Authority,
Kevin Joseph White by Bob Thistlethwaite5
Kevin was a sociable person who made friends easily He had a quick wit and subtle sense of humour, coupled with a certain panache. His BBQs were notable. Not for Kevin some rustic rough and ready affair, eating off a paper plate and drinking out of a plastic cup; out in the middle of the bush in an idyllic setting you were confronted with a 25 kg bag of green prawns, scallops, oysters, fish, steaks and other goodies, a table covered with crisply starched white table cloth, crystal goblets, silver wine buckets, rafts of ice cold refreshments and all the trimmings and, of course, wood fired BBQs! And as for Kev’s dinners and Australia Day parties.... memorable affairs!
Kevin was well known throughout South East Asia as a Forestry Adviser and earned a high level of respect for the work that he accomplished. He always was concerned to pass on his knowledge to local professional foresters Many forestry students from Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Cambodia, and Laos kept in contact with Kevin and after he retired to Thailand he was forever advising and editing their assignments and theses. The letters of appreciation and plaques from various authorities testify to the work that Kevin undertook and his Heachievements.hadapassion for orchids, collected extensively, and co authored Wild Orchids in Nepal with Bhagirath Sharma, a close friend. This was a fine achievement considering his age and the terrain that had to be traversed to obtain the material and take quality photos.
In 1977 Kevin left PNG and commenced work on international projects, firstly on an FAO project in Bangladesh to rehabilitate the Forest Research Centre at Chittagong This was followed by a six year Asian Development Bank funded eucalypt plantation project in Nepal at Sagarnath in the Terai where he trained 80 forestry technicians. The plantations supplied thinnings for electric light poles and for scaffolding and were also a necessary and valued firewood resource. He maintained contact over the next 20 years regularly visiting Sagarnath and other areas of Nepal, a country he had come to love After the close of the ADB project he became an independent consultant providing services to China, Cambodia, Bhutan, Indonesia, and Brazil and maintained forest interests in many Asian countries. During the 1990 1991 period while working in Cambodia, he lectured in Forest Ecology at Champadong University in Phnom Penh.
Kanawi Pouru, wrote The late Kevin White was a professional colleague who had dedicated a good part of his life in Papua New Guinea to help build and establish a strong foundation for a future National Forest Service as part of the national preparedness program leading towards Independence in the mid seventies. He was a great forester and an administrator that made a huge contribution to shaping the future direction of PNG’s Forest Management and Development.
Kevin was always ready to provide advice, guidance and instruction to those upcoming forestry professionals who sought it and is fondly regarded by many from PNG to Nepal for his generosity of time and resources in this regard Professor Simon Saulei (University of Vudal) wrote that he was fortunate to be trained by Kevin during his Forestry Cadetship. Simon attended UPNG and when he visited Forestry HQ at Hohola, Kevin freely provided him with books, manuals, and other information. This was typical of Kevin in his drive to foster the tertiary education of local officers.
Kevin undertook considerable research into teak silviculture in Asia and contributed widely to the development of teak plantations there and in Brazil. He maintained a keen interest in Eucalyptus silviculture and was also a staunch advocate for Dalbergia sisoo and Pterocarpus indicus which he championed as species that are readily propagated and appropriate for village production systems, and with a wide range of end uses from furniture to firewood.
His life has been most interesting and varied and his travels have taken him to all corners of the globe. His forestry achievements in PNG and SE Asia are his legacy, one which will live on through the graduates he guided. Information collated largely from an obituary by close friend Rex Wiggins delivered at K.J.’s funeral, from Kevin White’s published family history (2003) and from my own reminiscences Bob Thistlethwaite.
ACRONYMS AAD Australian Antarctic Division ACT Australian Capital Territory ACIAR Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research ACLMP AusAid funded World Bank Land Mobilisation program. ACP African, Caribbean and Pacific States ADB Asian Development Bank AEC Administrators Executive Committee AFAP Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia & the Pacific Ltd. ADB African Development Bank AFLEGT African Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade AFPNG Association of Foresters of PNG AFS Australian Forestry School AFTA Asean Free Trade Area AIF Australian Infantry Forces AMF Australian Military Forces ANBG Australian National Botanical Gardens ANGAU Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit ANU Australian National University APEC Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation APMF Australian Paper Manufacturers Forestry Pty Ltd APPM Australia Paper and Pulp Manufacturers ARD Afforestation, Reforestation and avoided Deforestation ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ASOPA Australian School of Pacific Administration ATIBT Association Technique Internationale des Bois Tropicaux ATL Accelerated Tariff Liberalization ATO African Timber Organization AusAID Australian Aid Agency BA basal area BCOF British Commonwealth Occupational Force 1945 52 BDV Brussels Definition of Value “Beer Time” Any time. BFC Bulolo Forestry College BGD Bulolo Gold Dredging Company BNGD British New Guinea Development (Company Limited) BUC Bulolo University College C Commonwealth cm centimetre CALM Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CDM Clean Development Mechanism CEFACT United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business CEPT Common Effective Preferential Tariff CERFLOR Certificate of Origin of Forest Raw Material, Brazil CFA Commonwealth Forestry Association CFE Community forestry enterprise
C & I
DSB Dispute Settlement Body
DIY Do-it-yourself
ECE Economic Commission for Europe
EMAS Eco Management and Audit Scheme of European Union
F &TB Forest and Timber Bureau Canberra FIM Forest Information System
EMS Environmental Management System
ENB East New Britain Province. e.g. For example ENGO Environmental Non governmental Organisation Etc et cetera (more of the same) EU European Union
C&L Certification and Labelling
EIA Environmental Investigation Agency
CRE CRE is a term inherited by RAE from RE and is the term for the Commanding Officer of a RAE unit which is headed by a Lt Col. Although the officer is called the CRE the name is also used for the name of his unit. E.g., CRE Aust Forestry Group or 1(NG Forests).
DOF Department of Forests
CSD Commission on Sustainable Development (United Nations)
DBH/ dbh Diameter at breast height
Criteria and indicators
CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation
DPI Department of Primary Industry
FMA Forest Management Agreement
DEPT Department
CPF Collaborative Partnership on Forests
EEA European Economic Area
COC chain of custody
EC European Commission ECA Export credit agency
CIF cost, insurance, freight
C&I Criteria and Indicators
DASF Dept of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries
CNGT Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers Bulolo CO2 carbon dioxide
DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
DIES Department of Information and Extension Services
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
CIFOR Centre for International Forestry Research
CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CRE Commander Royal Engineers
EFI European Forest Institute
CGTM Cintra for Global Trade Model
COP Conference of Parties
CHAH Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria
CTE Committee on Trade and Environment
EVSL Early Voluntary Liberalisation
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation
and Trade Network GFPM Global Forest Products Model GHG greenhouse gas GIS Geographical information system GMO genetically modified organism GNP Gross National Product GPA Plurilateral Government Procurement Agreement GSP Generalized System of Preferences
hectare IBRD International
Bank IBAMA
Agreement
International Electrical Commission IFC International
IFA Institute of Foresters of Australia International Year of the Forest American Development Amazon Environmental Institute, Brazil
FRG Red Forkol Bulolo of the Peoples of the South Foundation Law Forest Law Forest concessions, Brazil Free Trade Area of Forest
Corporation IFF Intergovernmental
for International Environmental Law and Development FLEGT Forest
Enforcement, Governance and Trade FLEG
IEA International Environmental Agreement
FOB free on board FSC Forest Stewardship Council FTAA
GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit ha Bank Energy
Agency
IADB Inter
for Reconstruction and Development IEA International
Forests IHPA International
IDB Inter American Development Bank
ICA Commodity
Forestry College FSP/PNG Foundation
International
Products Association IIED International
Enforcement and Governance FLONAS National
for Environment and Development
IFY
the Americas GAB Girth above buttress Gbhob Girth breast height over bark Gubab Girth under bark above buttress GIS Geographic Information Systems G8 Group of Eight (leading economies) GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GDP Gross Domestic Product GEF Global Environment Facility GFTN Global
IEC Finance Forum on Hardwood Institute
Gum FRI Forest Research Institute Lae
Management
Forest
ICCI International Conference on C&I for Sustainable Forest
logging
Pacific FCCC See UNFCCC FD Forest department FDI Foreign direct investment FIELD The
FPRC Forest Products Research Centre Hohola FRA Forest Resource Assessment
IMF International Monetary Fund INGO International Non Governmental Organisations IPC Integrated Programme for Commodities IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPF Intergovernmental Panel on Forests ISO International Organization for Standardisation ITC International Trade Centre ITTA International Tropical Timber Agreement ITTC International Tropical Timber Council ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization IUCN The World Conservation Union IWPA International Wood Products Association JICA Japanese International Cooperation Agency L of N League of Nations LRRS Land Resource Soils Survey (branch of CSIRO) LCA Life Cycle Analysis LEEC London Economic and Environmental Centre LEI Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute LULUCF Land Use, Land Use Change and Forests m3 cubic metre MCCAF McCarthy & Associates (Forestry) Pty. Ltd. MHA Member of House of Assembly PNG MM Military Medal MUS Malayan Uniform System MEA Multilateral Environmental Agreement MFN Most Favoured Nation MIGA Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency MOU Memorandum of Understanding MTTC Malaysian Timber Certification Council n.a. not available NAA National Archives Australia NARI National Agriculture Research Institute NB New Britain NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NGO Non Governmental Organisation NHLA National Hardwood Lumber Association NRRP Natural Resources and Rights Program NT National Treatment NTB non tariff barrier NTCC National Timber Certification Council NTFP non timber forest product NTM non tariff measures NWFP non wood forest product NDS Northern District Sawmills NFCAP PNG National Forestry and Conservation Action Plan NGM New Guinea Mainland no. number NG New Guinea NGF New Guinea Forces (relates to plant collection of Lae Herbarium) NGIB New Guinea Infantry Battalion
NGI New Guinea Islands NGO Non Government Organisation NGVR New Guinea Volunteer Rifles NZ New Zealand NSW New South Wales NTSC National Tree Seed Centre PNG Bulolo OECD Organization for Economic Co operation and Development OTO Office of Trade and Investment Ombudsman OIC Officer in Charge OISCA Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International Japan. OTML Ok Tedi Mining Ltd P or p page PEFC Pan European Forest Certification Scheme PIB Papuan Infantry Battalion PIR Pacific Islands Regiment PNG Papua New Guinea PNGAA Papua New Guinea Australia Association PNGAF Papua New Guinea Australian Foresters Magazine Series PNGFA Papua New Guinea Forest Authority PNGFIA PNG Forest Industries Association PNGRIS Papua New Guinea Resource Information System PNGUT PNG University of Technology POM Port Moresby P&C Principles and Criteria PEFC Pan European Forest Certification Framework PGA Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement PPM production and processing method PPP Polluter Pays Principle (other meaning Purchasing Power Parity) QLD Queensland QF Queensland Forestry RAE Royal Australian Engineers/Australian Army RPC Royal Papuan Constabulary RRA Rapid Resource Appraisal RIIA Royal Institute of International Affairs RIL reduced impact logging RFE Russia Far East RTA Regional Trade Agreement RWE roundwood equivalent SAP structural adjustment programme SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures SFM Sustainable Forest Management SGS Société General de Surveillance SMS Selective Management System Malaysia SP South Pacific SPWP Secondary Processed Wood Products sq m square metres TAG Trade Advisory Group of ITTO TSS Tropical Shelterwood System TBT Technical Barriers to Trade
TFF Tropical Forest Foundation TFRK traditional forest related knowledge TNC Transnational corporation TRAINS Trade Basic Indicators of UNCTAD TREM trade related environmental measures TRIM Trade Related Investment Measures TRIP Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights UK United Kingdom UN United Nations Unasylva Journal of FAO of UN UNCCD United Nations Programme to Combat Desertification UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCSD United Nations Committee on Sustainable Development UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNESCO United Nations Economic and Social Council UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change of United Nations UNFF United Nations Forum on Forests US, USTR Office of the US Trade Representative UNE University of New England Armidale NSW UNEP United Nations Environment Program UNI University UNITECH University of Technology Lae PNG UNRE University of Natural Resources and Environment UPNG University of Papua New Guinea UQ University of Queensland US United States USA United States of America USD United States dollar TPNG Territory of Papua and New Guinea TUBL Territory United Brewery Ltd TA Timber Area TA Timber Authority TRP Timber Rights Purchase Vol volume VSF Victorian School of Forestry WA Western Australia WB World Bank WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre WCO World Customs Organisation WSSD World Summit for Sustainable Development WTO World Trade Organization WWF World Wide Fund for Nature