AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUANEW GUINEA1922-1975
PNGAF
MAGAZINE
FOREST MANAGEMENT.
ISSUE
# 9B-5B4K2 of 10th Oct 2024
Eminent TPNG Forester Chris Krans TPNG Forests 1969-1974.
Editor R B McCarthy1 2024.
Source: https://victoriaforestryheritage.org.au- forestry people
NAME Chris Krans
JOINED DEPT OF FORESTRY PNG 1969
WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION Forester
WORK LOCALITIES Bulolo Forest Station
WHAT DATE DID YOU LEAVE PNG 1979
1 Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963-1975.
2Chris was born in Leiden, Holland on 26 January 1947, and came toAustralia with his family when he was 3 years old. He grew up in rural Victoria and attended school and university obtaining a degree in Forestry, following in his father’s interests in horticulture and plant propagation. He also had a talent for music and languages and managed to glean a very useful knowledge of several.
Following his graduation from the Creswick Forestry College in 1968, Chris joined the Papua New Guinea Forest Department and worked at the Bulolo Forestry Station from 1969 to 1974.At the end of 1974, Chris returned to Bulolo and was employed by Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers, returning toAustralia in 1979. He gained a good knowledge of the local customs and practices, which led to his employment with Bunnings Forest Products in 1980, when they acquired the Vanimo sawmill in north-west Papua New Guinea. He moved to Perth to take up the position with Bunnings, and from there managed a number of projects both forestry and mining. In his working life he also acquired a practical legal, finance, engineering and weather knowledge.
Chris became an enthusiastic Hoo-Hoo international forestry and timber industry fellowship member and was President of the Perth club in 1988/89. He was seriously involved in various club schemes making timber toys for handicapped or disadvantaged children. The more recent projects included production of wooden toys and small furniture by club members of Santa’s Workshop, but Chris also worked alone and produced a range and large quantities of small toys, jewellery boxes, and micro-furniture for dolls houses. This occupied many hours of Chris’s time when ill health forced his early retirement.
When he was very young he contracted polio, and while in New Guinea he had glandular fever. In the early 1990s he was advised that he had an enlarged heart, thought to be from a virus contracted in the tropics. This in turn caused other major health problems. He remained fiercely independent, surrounded by his art, thousands of books and music.
Article prepared by John Godlee Eminent TPNG Forester 1952-1980.
2 Source: Vale PNGAA June 2009.Chris passed away on 16th September 2008 aged 81 years.