McIntosh/White – 1970-1975

1970-197590

Don McIntosh TPNG Forests 1946-1973. Third Managing Director TPNG Forests 1970-1973.

Don’s military service was in the Royal Australian Navy Service Number S10526, home port Sydney NSW with the rank of Able Seaman. He enlisted on 31 May 1945 and was discharged on 6 January 1947 (most fitting defence service for sailing the political seas of forestry later in his career). Don McIntosh 1927 -2015 joined Forests PNG in 1948 as a cadet forester. After completing his studies at the Australian Forestry School Canberra 1950-51, under the TPNG Forestry cadetship scheme where his classmates included Ted Gray and Kevin White, Don returned to PNG in 1952 He held positions included Regional Forest Officer Lae, Chief of Forest Management before becoming the third Director of Forests in the Dept of Forests PNG.

Kevin White Assistant Director till 1977

Kevin White at Brown River Teak Plantations 1970 with Evo Vai. Photo credit Dept of Forests TPNG Kevin 1924-2012 joined TPNG forests in 1957. 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 war. After 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 graduating at AFS in 1952. The next five years were largely spent on rainforest management research in North Queensland. 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 rising to Assistant Director Dept of Forests PNG. After PNG he undertook various consultancies including FAO Bangladesh and ADB Nepal.

90 Ref: PNGAF Mag # 4 of 21/11/20 p36. Ref: PNGAF Mag # 3 of 3/11/20 p 40. Ref: PNGAF Mag # 9B-5B4M2 of 27/7/21. Eminent TPNG Forester Don McIntosh p1-24.

Under McIntosh and White’s Guidance Forest Management Achievements by1975 were:

Forest Resources. In the period 1946-1963 some 600,000 hectares were assessed by conventional methods. From 1964 to 1967 some 2.8 million hectares were assessed. As of 1975, a total of 5.2 million hectares had been assessed. The investigations confirmed that there was a resource of magnitude, it quantified the resource, and identified the areas considered suitable for development.

Botany

• Collection and maintenance of specimens of Papuasia plants. From the collections commenced in 1944, the herbarium collection at 1975 has over 250,000 PNG specimens. From the collections, followed taxonomic studies of the flora leading to various publications and training manuals. • Development at Lae of the National Botanical Gardens with living collections. • Intensive service in identification of plant specimens. • Communication; extension services. • National staff training.

Forest Industry

• From two sawmills in 1946 to 1975 with some 90 sawmills, one plywood plant; three veneer plants and one wood chip mill. • An annual log harvest of some 800,000 m3 as of 1975. • By 1975, export earnings of some Kina 15 million. • Establishment of a Papua New Guinea Timber Marketing Advisory Panel. • Development of an appropriate wood utilisation research program: (a) Determination of the properties and uses of PNG timbers. (b) Development of appropriate timber preservation treatments for sawn and round timbers. (c) Determination of kiln drying schedules. (d) Development of minor forest product industries. (e) Provision of mill wright services and extensive industry advice services. (f) Timber design services. (g) Technical publication services especially for building designs using local materials. (h) Training of mill operators.

Forest Management

• Development and administration of complex forest management agreements including regeneration treatment.

Reforestation

• Over 16,000 hectares plantations established at Bulolo/Wau, Kerevat, Port Moresby,

Goroka, and Whagi Valley.

• Nursery and field techniques established for species as teak (Tectona grandis);

Kamarere (Eucalyptus deglupta), hoop and klinkii pine (Araucaria cunninghamii and

A. hunsteinii), Eucalyptus and Pinus spp. • Country wide extension programs, especially in the Highlands. • Natural regeneration techniques for cut over forests, growth studies, enrichment planting techniques. • Intensive research programs for plantation species covering species selection, tree breeding, nutrition studies, protection from insects and fungal pathogens, growth studies, range management; extension practices, environmental planning.

Training

• Sub professional training program commenced in 1962 at Bulolo Forestry College which by 1975 had successfully trained some 421 trainees. In 1975, BFC could accommodate some 170 students. 1. Inservice for expatriate field officers. 2. Two-year technical certificate with entry level of form 2-3. 3. Short vocational courses for supervisory staff training. 4. 1967 – three-year course leading to a Diploma in Forestry. 5. 1973-75 selected field staff 12-month course for a Certificate in Forestry. 6. 1969 three-year Diploma of Cartography course. • Professional Training Program 1. Course activated in 1971/72 for a Forestry Degree course, commenced with 2 years science and two years at UNITECH Lae. 2. Four graduates expected in 1976 and 10 in 1977. • Industrial training 1. Closure of government sawmills had a detrimental impact on training of industrial staff. 2. Negotiations in more recent years lead to the establishment of an industry training centre in Lae (TITC).

REFERENCES

Burnett G 1908 Timber Trees of the Territory of Papua. Reports and Catalogues Dept. of External Affairs J Kempe Melbourne Australia.

Commonwealth New Guinea Expedition 1922 Interim Report: Reporting on the Natural resources of the Mandated Territory, Sydney.

Dargavel J 2006 From Exploitation to Science: Lane Poole’s forest surveys of Papua and New Guinea 1922-24 Historical Records of Australian Science. 17, 71-90.

Dept. of Forests Forest Products Research Centre 1970 Properties and Uses of Papua and New Guinea Timbers Revision 1970, Port Moresby

Eddowes P 1977 Commercial Timbers of Papua New Guinea Their Properties and Uses First published in 1961 Forest Products Research Centre Papua New Guinea.

Jacaranda Press 1973 NEW HORIZONS Forestry in Papua New Guinea Brisbane Lane Poole C E 1925 Forest Resources of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea

Lewis DC 1996. The PLANTATION DREAM -Developing British New Guinea and Papua 1884-1942.

McAdam J 1952 Forestry in New Guinea Address to Papua and New Guinea Scientific Society Annual Report.

Phillips EH (1), Harries ED (2) CSIRO FPRC PNG 1975 The Pulping and Papermaking Potential of Tropical Hardwoods I. Requirements for an effective evaluation of the forest resources in Papua New Guinea.

Phillips EH, Logan AF), Balodis V. 1975 The Pulping and Papermaking Potential of Tropical Hardwoods II. Division of Chemical Technology CSIRO Australia.

Phillips FH, Logan AF, Balodis V 1975 CSIRO Division of Chemical Technology The Pulping and Papermaking Potential of Tropical Hardwoods Properties of Pulps from Wood Chip Mixtures Representing Block 6 Vanimo Timber Area New Guinea Technical Paper # 5.

Phillips FH, Logan AF 1975 CSIRO Division of Chemical Technology The Pulping and Papermaking Potential of Tropical Hardwoods Properties of Pulps from Wood Chip Mixtures Representing Block 2 Vanimo Timber Area New Guinea Technical Paper # 6.

Phillips FH, Logan AF, Langfors NG 1979 CSIRO Division of Chemical Technology The Pulping and Papermaking Potential of Tropical Hardwoods Mixed Species from the Gogol Timber Area Papua New Guinea Technical Paper # 10.

Ryan P 1972 Editor Encyclopedia of Papua and New Guinea. World Bank 1965 Report # 11153 The Economic Development of Papua and New Guinea.