ROBIN MORWOOD MEMORIAL PRIZE

A Trust Fund was established by the Morwood family in memory of their son Robin to provide a prize for the student showing the highest academic achievement in the diploma course at the Bulolo Forestry College.

The inaugural award for the Robin Morwood Memorial Prize was presented in 1965 to James Isorua3at the official opening of the Bulolo Forestry College by the Minister for Territories, the Honourable C E Barnes MP.

Table Of Contents

Contact with Morwood Family Relations

Early Days

Australian TPNG Foresters Cadetship Scheme

Australian Forestry School Days 1955-1956

Employment TPNG

Father-in-law Frank Vickery

Death of Robin Morwood page 4 page 5 page 7 page 7 page 16 page 18 page 22

Son Brian Morwood page 26

First Principal Bulolo Forestry College Joe Havel page 27

Second Principal Bulolo Forestry College Leon Clifford page 27

Third Principal Bulolo Forestry College Robin Angus page 28

Fourth Principal Bulolo Forestry College John Godlee page 28

PNG Investigations re Robin Morwood Award

ACROYNMS page 29 page 36

Contact With Morwood Family Relations

4Through Dick McCarthy’s article re the project of Australian Foresters in PNG before Independence in Una Voice, John Egerton5 , a relation of Robin Morwood made contact.

John Egerton6 was the first cadet veterinary officer to graduate and go to TPNG. He was stationed in Port Moresby at the Kila Kila Veterinary Laboratory. He started there on 4th January 1956 and stayed in the territory service until September 1964. He had several close friends in Forestry from that time such as David and Sheila Dun, Don and Barbara McIntosh, Frank Coppock, Greg and Vicki McDonald. John Egerton later became Professor of Veterinary Science at Sydney University. Currently he is editor of PNG Kundu (the magazine of the PNG Australia association)

John Egerton’s7 older brother Bill was married to Robin’s sister Nancy. Robin and John were both freshers at King’s College and shared some classes in first year uni before he went off to Canberra. John was at Robin’s wedding to Joan in Wau and recalls meeting Frank Vickery then and only a year or two later at Robin’s funeral in Lae.

Through John Egerton8 providing Norman Morwood's address, Norm 9 made available Brian Morwood’s address. Brian is Robin’s son and is of course in close contact with his mother Joan, Robin’s wife. Norm copied in their two sisters Mary and Hazel. Sadly, Hazel has since passed away. Now there are only the two of us left (Norm and Mary) from the original eight R.B. Morwood children.

4 Cartoon from Bob Brown’s Grass Roots Guide to PNG Pidgin South Pacific Post.

5 Personal communication John Egerton 7/9/2018.

6 Personal communication John Egerton 7/9/2018.

7 Personal communication John Egerton 6/12/2022.

8 Personal communication John Egerton 16/9/2018.

9 Personal Communication Norman Morwood 25/2/2019

Early Days

Robin Morwood10 was one of eight siblings of Roy and Ethel Morwood - Nancy, David, Robin, Peter, Lorna, Mary, Norman, Hazel. Sort of a rhythm there with all the names having 2 syllables. Roy and his brother Eric in the early 1900’s attended Toowoomba Grammar School followed by several descendants.

Morwood to Morewood?11 That "e" has been a problem for many years. It keeps appearing in written stuff. The photo is a rather scary demonstration of the problem of increasing population. Lucky, they don't all have 8 kids these days. Norm’s daughter Karen hosted a larger family "reunion" to have a non-funeral one now that Roy and Ethel's children are down from 8 to just 2 of us Unfortunately, Brian did not get here in time from Brisbane because of bad traffic on the day, but we had his son Connor Joan does not travel much these days Mary and Norm right in the middle with the blue shirts.

Morwood Clan 2022. Photo credit Norm Morwood. Mary Morwood12 recalled Robin as someone who did not always follow all the rules.

Norm Morwood’s13 recollections are limited Robin was one of the older siblings and lived in a different world. I remember fondly Robin and Joan picking me up from Toowoomba Grammar boarding school and taking me out for the day, a great break from the usual stuff. We used to camp at Mooloolaba and one year when Robin came home from “Nasho” complete with 303 rifle, we went over to Point Cartwright by canoe and did a bit of shooting. So different a time to now.

Hazel Green nee Morwood14 recalled that like Norm she did not spend a lot of time with Robin who was in the older half of the family, and any extra memories would be welcome. She does not remember about Norm’s adventures with a rifle and probably never knew. She remembers when the family went camping at Mooloolaba and there wasn't enough room in the car. She was very jealous when you and Robin came by train, and Robin bought you a proper meat pie.

10 Norm Morwood person communication 10/12/2022.

11 Personal communication Norm Morwood 20/12/2022.

12 Mary Morwood personal communication 26/2/2019.

13 Norm Morwood personal communication 25th Feb 2019.

14 Personal communication Hazel Green nee Morwood 27/2/2019.

Hazel recalls that Robin did his forestry course in Canberra - was that at ANU? She had the impression he went to PNG straight after that?? It must have been round about when they returned from Fiji in 1956. She wasn't with him much when he or he and Joan came back to Australia for holidays, but she remembers he was fun to be with. Some of her information about him came from letters from their mother while she was at boarding school. Her mother mentioned going to a circus once hoping to bring a smile to Robin - did he sometimes have mild depression? I also remember her letter saying that Robin had been in hospital but was much improved and going home soon. Just after that, they came to the school and told me he had died.

Norm reports that now there is just Mary and him. Not much wrong with Mary now 83 (just passed David for longevity). Norm can still do nearly everything he wants to, including commuting by pushy, planting and maintaining a 10-acre native forest in Palmwoods.

Robin was educated at Toowoomba Grammar School and later graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Robin Morwood and John Egerton were both freshers at King’s College. They shared some classes in first year university before Robin went off to AFS in Canberra.

Dick Pegg15 recalls that Robin's nickname was Buckey. Dick also recalls that Robin’s brother Peter was nicknamed Pineboard. He has no clue on the reason for either.

Dick Pegg recalls that Robin16 passed the Qld senior exam in 1950 with 4 As and 3 Bs, high for a Forestry student of those days (Dick says in his year 2 A’s was the norm) In 1951, Dick recalls that Robin was a Qld. cadet or maybe scholarship holder - it was about that time that the scheme changed from a cadetship to a scholarship holder. He recalls Robin failed 2nd year in 1952 and repeated it at his own expense in 1953 after which he accepted a PNG cadetship. There were few survivors in the Forestry course at UQ at that time because of the difficulty students had in passing chemistry in either the first or second year