AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
PNGAF MAG ISSUE # 9J W4 of 20th August 2023. Part 3
PNG WOODS SERIES
PNG FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH CENTRE HOHOLA
PART 3
Personal Recollections
1 District Forester TPNG 1963-1975
Source: WOOD Lefteri C ISBN 2880456458.
FORWOOD
PNG has constantly been wrestling with the task of making effective use of the great range and number of timber species that are available.
Wood was and still is, the prime structural material. In bygone times, although there existed little formal engineering expertise, some very remarkable buildings were constructed From the smallest yam storage house to the great Haus Tambaran 30 metre long and 15 metres high, their skills were practical and often highly developed.
Around about the turn of the century, wood lost its pre-eminent position as a structural material partly due to problems related to the maintenance and durability of timber structures sited in exposed locations. Although other new structural materials such as wrought iron and reinforced concrete emerged because they were imported materials, wood continued to be used for house framing and bridge construction.
It was within this environment that the ongoing work of wood scientists became critical for the ongoing nation infrastructure building and population shelter commitments.
By the 1970’s, detailed investigations of the mechanical, physical, and working properties of PNG timber species had been undertaken.
To the users of PNG timbers, data was available on:
• the physical and mechanical properties of the major timber species.
• Strength group classifications.
• Standardisation of PNG woods.
• Air dry density and basic density evaluations.
• Shrinkage and movement figures.
• Drying, seasoning and kiln drying schedules.
• Pressure permeability.
• Lyctus susceptibility.
• Marine biology
• Decay durability.
• Wood preservation treatments depending on site usage.
• Chemical characteristic.
• Extractives
• Sawing and machining properties.
• Gluing, painting, finishing.
• Manufacture and varnishing.
• Pulp and paper investigations.
• Peeling and slicing.
• Manufacture of veneer and plywood.
• Manufacture of particle board and hardboard.
• Manufacture of charcoal.
• Fire performance of timber.
• Specifying of timber for structures.
• Timber house construction.
• Technical standards, building standards/regulations.
• Fastening of wood in terms of nails, screws, adhesives.
Research has been undertaken over many years by institutions as FPRC Hohola, CSIRO Melbourne, TRADA UK, FRI Rotorua NZ, Japanese Wood Research Institutes at Ushiku and Kyoto and in many instances continuing.
This magazine (PNGAF MAG ISSUE # 9J W4 of 20th July 2023 Part 3) details some personal recollections of those involved in the detailed investigations of the mechanical, physical, and working properties of PNG timber species.
Editor
Colwell S. J. 1973 Some Thoughts on Forest Products Research in PNG.
Des Harries. A Personal Recollection of FPRC Hohola
Des Harries6 1971. Photo Credit Des Harries. 1971
Prior to Independence in 1975, the Forestry Department of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea was organized in the traditional manner of Australian Government Departments. In this case, under the Director, were the various Divisions with their Chiefs - thus Divisions of Silviculture; Management; Botany and Utilization.
John Colwell, after experience with CSIRO Division of Forest Products in Melbourne, was appointed as the first Chief, Division of Utilization, initially based at Konedobu, Port Moresby. The role of this Division was the oversight of local TPNG wood processing, and in this capacity, Colwell established a good rapport with the timber industry leadership. His contacts with CSIRO Forest Products were of great value, particularly regarding his achievement of getting the Forest Products Research Centre established on a site in the Port Moresby industrial area of Hohola. While I was working out of the Forest Office in Rabaul, Colwell approached me in early 1965 with the proposal to join the new Centre - I declined, with the impression that my level of experience was insufficient. However, two years later, having been working in the Particle Board industry in Australia, I reconsidered my position and John obtained a position for me at Hohola.
During my absence in Australia Gerry Vickers had taken on the role of supporting John Colwell in establishing the Centre. The building itself was a show case of fine timber craftsmanship - an exhibit of the best of local timbers. Guidance in the fit-out of the laboratories had come from CSIRO, and the technical excellence of this brought great credit to both Colwell and Vickers.
Some excellent people were also recruited. Wood preservation research was led by Vickers with the technical support of Colin Levy, a chemist who had previously been with the Department of Agriculture at the Kerevat Research Station. Minor Forest Product research and development was the field of Mr. Jack Zieck, formerly a senior officer in Dutch controlled West New Guinea. Wood identification and the preparation of associated timber property publications was handled by Peter Eddowes. The supporting workshop was run by Les Austin, who for many years had run the Kerevat Sawmill workshop. Experimental sawmilling equipment was run by Arthur Mobbs, who likewise had spent many years in the Department’s sawmill at Kerevat. The extensive wood-working facility at Hohola was managed by a local officer and wood tradesman, Joel Nalong. Several apprentices became skilled tradesmen working under Joel during these years, 1960’s-70’s.
When I joined in June 1968, I was given the new task of monitoring the possible development of a woodchip export industry.
Subsequently Warwick Stokes was recruited and took on the task of developing kiln drying schedules. Canadian recruit, Col Stelmack, carried on this work when Stokes was transferred for a stint at the Bulolo Forestry College.
The main building of the Forest Products Research Centre became the office of the Chief of Division of Utilization as well as that of Forest Products research officers. In effect the role of the Division of Utilization within the Department of Forests had changed considerably. The majority of interaction between the Department and Industry had now devolved to the Central Office of the Department. This latter office also took up new quarters in a building at Hohola adjacent to the Forest Products Research Centre.
The Department during these years also saw the development of Forestry Research facilities at Bulolo somewhat in parallel to the Hohola facilities.
The construction of the main building mentioned above provided for the housing of a Forest Products themed library, a wood sample room featuring collections of timbers of all continents as well as New Guinea, a chemical laboratory and work spaces as well as office accommodation and reception/typing facilities, and a photographic darkroom. Another feature was the provision of two rooms with special air-conditioning which was a possible requirement for certain research projects. One of these subsequently became the special microscope room used extensively in the measurement of wood fibres, as part of the wood pulping studies done in cooperation with CSIRO in Melbourne, and the other for wood decay studies.
The offices were lined with beautifully prepared plywood featuring selected New Guinea timbers and peeled at the then Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers plywood mill in Bulolo. These plywood panels were beaded with narrow strips of New Guinea ebony. Work benches were features in themselves, being constructed of Klinkii pine.
It was not many years before extensions became necessary with the increasing workload. An extension to the chemistry laboratory was first. This was followed by two large storage areas, one of which was devoted to the extensive wood collection involved with the afore mentioned wood pulping studies.
Located on the Hohola site was a caretaker’s cottage, which subsequently was taken over for housing expatriate staff.
This large landholding off Frangipani Street, Hohola also housed special research facilities including pressure treatment plant, wood kiln, woodchipper and wood chip storage/treatment facility, sawmill, including a twin edge circular saw bench and saw sharpening facility, mechanical workshop, cabinet making workshop, inflamables storage shed and an accommodation block for local officers.
7 The construction of the inflamables storage shed is of special interest. It was the last building to be put up at the Hohola site and was concurrent with the planning for the new House of Assembly near the University at Waigani. We decided to demonstrate the use of pressure treated timber shingles for the roof of this building, using plantationgrown Eucalyptus deglupta (Kamarere) from the Brown River.
Amazingly, for it was quite a small building, and about 200 metres from the main road, this roof was spotted by architects passing by on their way to the House of Assembly site. They came inquiring about the nature of this roof. The result was that they chose this material (treated kamarere shingles) for the roof of the ‘Haus Tambaran’ style House of Assembly
building. It created a great deal of work manufacturing these shingles in the relatively small treatment plant at Hohola.
I was certainly fortunate to have been allotted the task of looking after the development of the woodchip export industry in New Guinea.
Pulping studies of New Guinea (Papua) woods had in fact been initiated decades earlier in the days of Jim McAdam. It arose out of the realisation that the proposed development of the ‘cutch industry’ - stripping the bark of mangrove trees in the Gulf of Papua for tannin production - would lead to massive volumes of otherwise wasted wood. CSIRO was coopted to evaluate the suitability of this wood for pulp production. Frank Phillips was recruited by the Forest Products Laboratory in Melbourne to do this work, and after an extensive lull, this New Guinea project was to be revitalised, but in a much more complex, yet promising way.
Japanese pulping interests had led the industry of exporting woodchips from southern Australian Eucalypt timbers, and they now looked to New Guinea as a further source of wood chips, all-be-it with different pulping properties, yet to be determined.
The Gogol Timber purchase area outside Madang was the first to be targeted, and so Madang and the Gogol became my fieldwork area. A Company called Japan New Guinea Timbers (JNT) was formed and three Japanese officers arrived in New Guinea to get things going. They were Messrs. Sato, Ito, and Takahashi. I got to know them very well, as we collected the first large-scale sample of logs for trial pulp and paper making in Japan. But the project did not stop there.
We next worked on collecting a massive sample from the Vanimo area during the resource assessment survey of that area8 The PNG Administration initiated a project designed to evaluate the pulping and papermaking potential of mixed tropical hardwoods in the Vanimo Timber area in detail. The intended outcome of this work is that it would then identify other timber resource areas in PNG as a source of wood chips.
Vanimo Survey 1970. (Big Ev) Evan Shield with Dick McCarthy at the scales at Ossima/ airstrip optimising pulpwood samples for loads for the Cessna trips.
Photo Credit Ian Whyte.
To determine the quality and potential market quality of the PNG forests for pulping potential, the Department of Forests through its Forest Products Research Centre Hohola engaged CSIRO Forest Products Laboratory9 to undertake that work.
A statistically based sampling plan was developed by Mr. Bill Balodis of CSIRO in Melbourne, who became a regular visitor. We also carried out a study, based in Vanimo, of the behaviour of woodchips stored in piles.
Dr. Harry Greaves, wood decay expert, also from CSIRO in Melbourne, was involved in this study, as was Col Levy from the Forest Products Research Centre at Hohola.
The scientific paper10 based on this work was presented by me at a Conference of the Australia New Zealand Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association (APPITA) held in Hobart in March 1972. This was the first scientific paper sourced in the Forest Products Research Centre to be published.
11
The scale of the pulpwood sample work at Hohola led to the need for more assistance. Possibly the first indigenous females to be recruited by the Department of Forests were engaged. Misses Olwyn Kila and Jean Holmes commenced work as Laboratory Assistants under the supervision of Miss Lorraine Richardson. In the wood sample preparation work the team included Macdonald Wagapani.
With the woodchip export industry obviously developing, John Colwell considered that international pulp and paper industry experience could be useful. The result was the engagement of retired Canadian Industry executive, Mr. Larry Wickwire, who spent a year in New Guinea, lending his high-level support.
Although the pulping studies kept me busy until 1976 when I returned to Australia to join the Forestry and Timber Bureau in Canberra, there were numerous projects which I was able to assist with. These included providing advice to the Department of Public Works with improvements to their sawmill at Mendi in the Southern Highlands; log grading studies, an old-fashioned sort of project which took up a lot of time, although to my mind of little practical purpose; improvements in logging equipment, in particular wheeled skidders, by organising demonstrations for the timber industry.
Thinning and utilisation of stems from the Department of Forests’ Brown River Plantations was an interesting exercise. Some twenty-five truckloads of teak thinnings were brought into the Hohola site for processing into squared post material suitable for low-cost housing
structures which were proliferating on the fringes of Port Moresby and creating in Col Levy’s words, “an unsolicited demand”.
After the studies of mixed species pulping were completed by CSIRO, we embarked upon another significant study, this time of the pulping qualities of plantation grown species, primarily Eucalyptus deglupta - Kamarere. Fortuitously this study was facilitated by an interesting set of trial plots established in the vicinity of the Gogol Timber area near Madang. The trial involved plantation plots of Kamarere from several provenances.
We were able to complement the samples taken from the provenance trial plots with samples from a wide range of ages taken from plantations established over the years at Kerevat. The Japanese paper industry provided a complementary study of this species by taking a whole compartment (1957 planting from memory) which was shipped to Japan and converted into paper.
My decade working in the Forest Products Research Centre in Port Moresby was a highlight of my career. It allowed me to confirm, to myself at least, the amazing potential for forestry that resides in this land of Papua New Guinea. It also demonstrated to me the capacity of its people when trained, to deal with the complexities associated with a scientific approach to the use of forest products.
Establishing this institution was probably the most significant achievement of John Colwell’s career also. In his later years at Hohola the focus of his direction deteriorated. His health had seriously declined, and the Administration suffered from the inevitable anxieties associated with the achievement of National Independence. Sadly, there had been insufficient time for local officers to develop the maturity to cope with the technical complexities faced in this field. But I feel that the results obtained prior to Independence have proved of enduring value.
FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH CENTRE - A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION.
Peter Eddowes12Photo credit Gabbie Eddowes.
Peter described the work of the Division of Utilisation which then became the Forest Products Research Centre (FPRC).
The Division of Utilisation was established in 1961 under the direction of S.J. Colwell (ex. CSIRO). The Division operated from a purpose-built building incl., woodworking machinery, at the bottom of Lawes Road, Konedobu, NCD. The Division was established to commence studies into the general wood & working properties of the major, commercial timber species, and to undertake field work to commence studies into the collection of authentic wood materials for testing by the CSIRO (Melbourne) to establish the physical & mechanical properties of the commercial timber species. The initial field studies were carried out by Greg McDonald, John Dobson & Maru Kumul, to cover the environs of Port Moresby incl., Brown & Vanapa rivers, Rigo & the Sogeri plateau. Barry Hartwell was the workshop manager and together with five (indigenous) apprentices (carpentry & joinery & wood machining), were responsible for the undertaking of the initial studies on the machining & finishing properties of the (authentic) wood materials as collected. John Dobson then left the Division of Utilisation in 1962. As the workload was to increase, Peter Eddowes was recruited upon his completion of the course in forestry at the BFS in 1963. Together with McDonald & Hartwell, the trio was responsible for the setting up & monitoring of tests & trials including:
• Marine wood borer trials (Fairfax Harbour/POM).
• Graveyard (durability) trials at Brown River (NCD) & Kerevat Forest Station (Gazelle Peninsula/New Britain).
• Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) tests to establish the EMC at all main regional centres.
• Wood seasoning trials.
• Machining & finishing trials of authentic wood materials (upon air-drying).
• The first of the (major) wood collection programmes incl., Toimonapu plantation (Terminali brassii) & Tonolei harbour (Bougainville island).
• Lufa (outside of Goroka), EHD. (Re. Nothofagus field study & wood collections).
• Oriomo river forest area (Daru, W.P).
Peter recalled 13 it was 1966 when the Division was preparing to move to a new establishment at Hohola. NCD Greg McDonald departed PNG &in 1965 and took up a position with a logging company in the Solomon Islands. He was later, to take up a position with the Forestry Department in Brisbane.
It was a gradual/transitional move from Konedobu to Hohola. John Colwell (Chief, Division of Utilisation) was stationed at Forests H.Q, Konedobu whilst Barry Hartwell, Greg McDonald & me were stationed at the Utilisation workshop in Lawes Road, Konedobu.
It was left to Barry Hartwell and Peter to pack up at Lawes Road & move to Hohola (FPRC). Also, it was in 1966 that Botany called upon the services of Maru Kumul & Peter to
12 Peter Eddowes Personal Communication 20 April 2020 & PNGAF Mag # 9B-5B4E2 Eminent TPNG Forester & Wood technologist Peter Eddowes 1961-1981.
13 Personal recollection Peter Eddowes 11th July 2020.
accompany a botanical expedition with Andy Gillison & Michael Galore, to the Papuan Islands, onboard the M.V Yellongilly. Peter recalled that preparations & provisioning for this expedition was undertaken at FPRC (Hohola).
In 1966 the Division of Utilisation moved into new premises at Hohola, NCD.
Peter Eddowes 14 recalled that the whole interior of FPRC was fitted out by Barry Hartwell & his carpenters. The Utilisation (FPRC) workshop at Hohola, was one of the first buildings to be built so as to 'service' the building & fitting-out of the main FPRC building. There were also 3 houses built (on-site) to accommodate the 2 senior (local) carpenters & joiners and their families, and one for Maru Kumul (Peter’s field assistant & his family).
John Colwell had arranged with the Plymill (CNGT) in Bulolo, to provide a range of 'cabinettype' woods to be made up into plywood panels to 'fit-out' the respective offices. Peter was involved in the selection of the 'wood' materials to be used for the building including the Wood utilisation office. These timbers were collected, well in advance, and fully seasoned before being moulded into 19mm thick moulded panel. As each part of the building was finished each individual took occupancy. Peter was one of the first to take up office together with John Colwell & Barry Hartwell whose main office was in the Joinery workshop.
The whole interior of the new building was lined with a range of PNG timbers as prepared & machined by Barry Hartwell & apprentices, at the Lawe's road building from the (authentic) wood materials as collected by Eddowes & Kumul. This then, became the Forest Products Research Centre (FPRC). The centre also included purpose-built housing for the apprentices, and a house for the Centre/Yard manager (Bruce Breckenridge), as also built by Hartwell & his apprentices. The team also built & established a wood working workshop, a mechanical workshop, a Saw Doctor's workshop, and a Kiln drying shed.
It was therefore a gradual process of occupancy upon the final recruitment/secondment, of Des Harries, Gerry Vickers, Rick Stokes & Colin Stelmack, Colin Levy & Kevin Garbutt, Jack Zieck, Sue Rayner and then, followed Les Austin (Mechanical workshop), Arthur Mobbs (Sawmill) and Norm Hillary (Saw doctor workshop) upon the closure of the Government sawmill at Kerevat.
Peter does not re-call any "official" opening of FPRC?
The 'research' employees, under the leadership of S.J. Colwell (OIC) included, Gerry Vickers (wood preservation), Colin Levy & Kevin Garbutt (chemistry & photography/wood preservation), Jack Zieck (Minor Forest Products) ex. Forestry, Dutch New Guinea (Netherlands Forestry), Des Harries (pulp & paper), Warwick Stokes & Colin Stelmack (wood seasoning & kiln drying), Peter Eddowes (wood identification, timber utilisation & marketing), Barry Hartwell (wood-working & wood machining) & apprentice training, Les Austin (mechanical workshop) & apprentice training, Arthur Mobbs (sawmill) & apprentice training, Norm Hillary (saw Doctor) & apprentice training and later, Sue Rayner (Marine Biologist).
The CSIRO expertise at this time were involved with:
• the wood preservation "Dip-diffusion" process (Norm Tamblyn & Harry Greives)
• Wood anatomy (Bob Ingle), 14 Personal recollection Peter Eddowes 12th June 2020.
• Pulp & paper (Bill Balodis, Frank Philips & Alan Logan).
The Division of Utilisation (Hartwell & Eddowes. Lawes Road, NCD), was called upon to manufacture the very first (official) 'mace' for the first sitting of Parliament as held in Port Moresby (NCD). The 'mace' was manufactured from an official drawing and upon manufacture, included the (authentic) timbers of ebony, silver ash, Aglaia & PNG walnut. The 'mace' was housed in a special, purpose-built box lined with satin.
PNG Parliament The Mace. Source National 7/12/2022. Lalai Vali, 55, from Imuagoro village in Rigo, Central is the Sergeant-at-Arms at Parliament. His job is to carry the mace into the chamber at the start of a Parliament session. The mace is the symbol of the Queen’s authority and without it the House cannot meet nor pass laws. It symbolises the authority of the Speaker.
Later, the FPRC (Hohola. NCD) was called upon to manufacture the laminated beams for the building of the new Parliament Haus at Hohola? The beams were manufactured from PNG kempas (Koompassia grandiflora).
Eddowes, P. J. 1977.
Commercial timbers of Papua New Guinea: their properties and uses.
Office of Forests, Department of Primary Industry, Port Moresby, FPRC, Hohola. Pp. 1-195, plus maps.
Eddowes P.J. 1979
The Utilization of Papua New Guinea Timbers
Forest Products Research Office of Forests Dept of Primary Industry. Pp 1-28.
Eddowes P.J. 1980
Lesser-known Timber Species of SEALPA Countries
South East Asia Lumber Producers Association 1980.
Peter Eddowes and CSIRO Wood Research with Bob Ingle and Jugo Ilic. 15
Peter Eddowes in 1965 spent a period three months, at CSIRO, to study the wood anatomy of timbers, under the tutelage of Bob Ingle (Wood Anatomist). Peter had been working in close association with Bob since the collection of materials started for testing by CSIRO. During this period, Bob would receive, from Eddowes, small wood blocks of duplicate wood material from the (authentic) ‘NGF’ series, of wood collections. From these wood samples, Bob then prepared a full collection of microscopic slides which were invaluable in the support identification and authenticity, of the wood material as collected for testing by CSIRO.
Peter Eddowes advised that PNG relied heavily upon local sawmills to mill the wood samples, as collected in their area, for ongoing research purposes, and in the cutting of the flitches of the collected (authentic) materials for consignment to the CSIRO in Melbourne. Sawmillers included Jack Lindquist (Amplex / New Britain, Golden Pines / Bulolo, Wau sawmills), Vince Sanders (Brown River), Bill McLellan (Lae), Jack Eustice (Oriomo), Ed Fitzgerald (Madang), Bert Counsel (Ihu / Gulf), Bill Bailey (Open Bay / New Britain), Simon Hirata (Stettin Bay / New Britain), Jack Thick (Lufa / Goroka), Don Neate (Woodlark Island), Ron Neville (Mendi), and the Stewardson brothers (Normanby Island/ Milne Bay).
Peter Eddowes advised that in the period 1961-1975, much wood technology work was undertaken to determine both the physical and mechanical properties of the major timber species and better publicise the main species of timber in PNG by the Forestry Department in Port Moresby in conjunction with Division of Forest Products of the CSIRO. The team of John Colwell, Greg McDonald, Barry Hartwell, Maru Kumul and Peter Eddowes, together with the members of the Division of Building Research CSIRO, including Nora Bolza, Bob Ingle, Jugo Ilic, Bill Keating et al, were responsible for establishing a true record for the properties and potential uses for the major commercial timber species of Papua New Guinea.
By 1975, some 200 tree species had economic potential but only a few species (up to 30) accounted for the bulk of merchantable timber.
15 Source. Eminent TPNG Forester/wood technologist late Peter Eddowes Reflections of past times in PNG Forestry submitted 27/6/2018.
Peter Eddowes (1935-2021) Legacy - Forthcoming publication titled “The Forest Resources of Papuasia”.
Peter Eddowes joined TPNG Forests in June 1961 as a forest ranger. Peter then moved to TPNG Forests - Forest Products Research Centre Hohola. He became the Department of Forests chief wood technologist rising to Officer in Charge of the Timber Utilization and Marketing Section. He authored the book, “Commercial Timbers of Papua New Guinea”. In 1981, Peter left the PNG Department of Forests. He went into private practice in PNG and worked with the Forest Industries Council till 1993.
After 1993, Peter returned to Australia where he was actively involved in private consulting and timber importation activities from PNG.
For some years, wood technologist Peter Eddowes had been working on his forthcoming publication titled “The Forest Resources of Papuasia” covering the major and minor commercial timber species of Papua New Guinea and including species from Irian Jaya and the Solomon Islands.
But Peter Eddowes (PNG’s wood technologist) passed away on the 18th of July 2021 and has been cremated. A wealth of PNG scientific wood technology has now gone. His wife Gabbie16 advises that his son Matthew is co-ordinating activities to ensure the book is published.
With the nature of the forest resource continually changing especially in terms of strength; shrinkage and durability; Peter’s publication will be invaluable to the future forest industry to continue to develop the region’s future timber markets. It captures and records for all timber users, his expertise and lifetime experience in wood technology in the region. This publication of modern timber technology research will allow the range of uses of wood from this region to be continually extended. At the same time, in terms of the global timber market, this book will continue attempts to standardise names for commercial woods.
Within the publications, each wood description of individual timbers is described against the international basis for scientific names of the tree species (i.e., the botanical system of nomenclature). This is invaluable when marketing timbers on the global market. Ordering and buying wood can be incredibly daunting, especially in this region. This publication will greatly assist the buyer with its specific and detailed information on woods including their colouring and grading.
Jugo Ilic Wood Identification PNG Species 17
Jugo spent 36 years working at CSIRO studying and researching wood quality in addition to specialising in wood identification. Now he works as R & D Projects Officer at Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), writes technical articles for AWR, and runs a wood identification service called Knowyourwood. Jugo Ilic’s first article for AWR appeared in AWR#50, March 2006.
Q: You have spent decades studying wood how did you get so involved with this natural material?
A: Yes! Three and half decades to be exact. When I was a somewhat younger man and having applied for two jobs as junior technical assistant at CSIRO in Forest Products and one in the Division of Applied Chemistry, I asked my year 12 chemistry teacher (matric. in those days) which of the two jobs would be better? He replied, ‘You don’t want to be chopping trees all your life’, so I didn’t listen, and I took the job at Forest Products. There I learned about wood with the aid of the second largest collection of wood specimens in the world.
Q: What have the main areas of your work and research focussed on?
A: The main areas of my work centred less around the appearance or beauty but rather it was more about cataloguing and describing the structure to enable me to identify unknown specimens. My teacher was Bob Ingle who had an uncanny ability to identify most samples on sight but often he would use a microscope. The intriguing thing was the incredible structural variation of the different groups of species. I quickly learned that the microscope was a young wood anatomist’s best friend.
Q: What is the best thing about wood in your opinion?
A: The best thing about wood was its variability. No two pieces looked alike and yet there was something magical about it. Generally, the depth and warmth of colour, the lustre, and the grain that all contribute to its figure. The other thing is its utility. When you think about it at one time even aeroplanes were made of wood it is and was used for everything from agricultural implements and vehicles to boats (the British navy used to grow oak forests for its ships), boxes, cooperage, matches and toothpicks; fine furniture and cabinetry, flooring, turning, carving/sculpture, veneer and plywood for dyes, scientific, professional, and musical instruments, patterns, sporting goods, tool handles…
Q: What is the most common misconception people have about working with wood?
A: We forget that it is not uniform and that it moves.
Q: What is the most common mistake people make with regard to identifying wood?
A: That it can always be identified to a species.
Q: How has the digital age impacted on our understanding of wood?
A: It has brought together a multitude of readily accessible information about wood for almost everyone and it has more than ever before enabled experience to be shared.
Q: From a wood science point of view what is the biggest mistake woodworkers make?
A: Remarkably few. They usually know what works, when it will work and usually how it is going to turn out but maybe they don’t always know why.
Q: What are your favourite timber species?
A: Favourite species are many; I like African mahogany because it has a beautiful reddish colour, lustre, and stripe figure. Close behind would be Australian blackwood for its richness of colour, lustre, and figure. Of the pale woods, true fir with its delicate resin smell, narrow growth rings and tiny knots and coachwood because it has a beautiful tracery of figure from the soft tissue, as well as a gentle harmonious colour and a smell of caramels when worked.
Q: Have you ever done any woodwork?
A: No that would be like asking a house painter if he has ever painted the Mona Lisa.
Q: The thing I would most like to change about wood is…
A: Absolutely nothing other than to impart properties quickly similar to those gained by storage in a basement over many years.
Q: The thing I would most like to change about woodworkers is…
A: Maybe expose them to a greater variety of timbers and teach them about the unique characteristics that work for them and against them.
Q: My final word on woodwork is…
A: I would hate to live in a world devoid of the Trojan horse, the Golden Hind, the Steinway sound board, a Stradivarius, or small wooden toys made from fir or a skilfully turned bowl turned from walnut or olive…
A TASTE OF TEAK18
Many young officers of Papua New Guinea’s Forestry Department, pre-Independence, experienced an introduction to the process of growing plantations of Teak trees.
All knew of the fame of Teak as one of, if not the premium timbers of the world. But it was very much a “foreign” entity - not an Australian, or for that matter, PNG thing - truly exotic. However, this was the wet tropics, and Teak was a native of that environment in southern Asia. Also, the former German Administration had established trials prior to 1914. Those few Australian foresters who got to see these post-1945, must have been impressed enough by the species as an investment worth trying.
During 1957 a fifty-year-old tree was cut from the Kokopo plantation and sawn into planks at the Kerevat mill. This must have been an attempt to evaluate the potential of the product, and there is no doubt that this was seen to be satisfactory.
The result was the commencement in the early 1950s of the plantations at Kerevat and Brown River (Mt. Laws). At Kerevat, Teak, Techtona grandis and Kamarere, Eucalyptus deglupta, were grown on neighbouring blocks on the river flats, mostly in pure stands but also in admixture, with the faster grown, Kamarere being tried as a sort of “cover crop”, soon to be abandoned.
Still, there remained some doubt as to the wisdom of this investment and on the occasion of a pre-conference tour by some delegates to the Seventh British Commonwealth Forestry Conference, held in Australia, August to October 1957, Des recalls the then Director, Jim McAdam, intently probing experienced foresters for their opinions when the group visited Kerevat. Des thinks that not too much was gained from this, but certainly the program of planting Teak was not deterred.
At the Brown River, by 1971, the planting program had steadied at about 200 ha per year. But at Kerevat, the onset of local land ownership claims curtailed further planting.
Initially seed for the Kerevat plantation was collected from old German plantings near Kokopo and on New Ireland. In 1957 this was being organised by Regional Forest Officer, Alex Richardson and Regional staff officer, Ms. Lorraine Taylor.
The seed, sown in small nurseries, was allowed to grow into small plants which, at the time of planting out were cut into “stumps”. The planted “stumps” were protected from attack by the plague of giant African snails with cardboard rings soaked in snail deterrent.
Some years later a seed orchard was established at Kerevat in an area isolated from the main plantations. These selected trees were an important part of the Department of Forests’ Tree Improvement Program.
In 1971, the Forest Products Research Centre at Hohola, Port Moresby, conducted a Teak plantation thinning trial at Brown River, with the cooperation of the then OIC, Bob Bruce. The thinnings were cut into squared poles for low-cost building, for which there was a high demand around Port Moresby.
Studies of the wood in these thinnings showed that while the true heartwood had the natural durability associated with Teak, there was an ‘intermediate zone’ of lesser durability between the heartwood and the sapwood. The latter was distinguishable on the basis of its colour, but not so the ‘intermediate zone’. It seemed anomalous that an artificial preservative treatment was necessary to obtain a durable product from these teak plantations. Such a treatment certainly diminished the demand for these products for low-cost structures, as the builders of such structures would have preferred the lower cost of untreated wood. Nevertheless, the Forest Products Research Centre included the pressure treatment of thinnings products in its trial, preliminary leading to a marketing study.
Des Harries FPRC Hohola. Teak Plantations Thinning and Utilisation Study.
The Department of Forests has been engaged in the establishment of Teak (Tectona grandis) plantations in the Central District of Papua since 1954. Until 1964 annual planting areas were small, commensurate with the pilot nature of such reforestation and limited availability of suitable seed at that time.
The choice of Teak as a reforestation species was influenced by a number of factors, some of which have become redundant due to changing demands in the market and technology in the timber industry. The species is suitable for the monsoonal climate and soils of the lower foothills in this District. It's growth rate from early trials appeared satisfactory.
The intrinsic value of Teak is based on the remarkable natural durability and stability of its heartwood. However, with the development of chemical timber preservation methods the durability factor has been largely superseded by its stability and appearance for high-class furniture. Even its remarkable stability has largely become a redundant property as a result of the wide-spread development of thin veneers on a stable plywood or particle board structure. We are thus left with the characteristic appearance of teak, combined with the world-wide fame of the name, as the major selling feature of Teak wood.
The distinct appearance of the wood, for which it is now largely sought, is dependent on the ring porous structure and seasonal deposits giving textural and colour patterns to the finished wood surface. It has become apparent that to develop this characteristic, teak must be grown on sites where the combined effect of seasonal drought and poorer soils result in the essential periodic growth restraint, with ‘growth rings’ at fairly close intervals.
Because the market for high quality cabinet woods is a limited one and has an ever-present risk of disappearing due to the whims of furniture fashions and development of substitutes, other end-uses are required to justify plantation establishment. These end-uses appear to be sawn timber, mainly for local use, plus round material from younger thinning’s for use as posts, poles, etc.
With the rapid growth of population in the Port Moresby area the demand for such building materials is intensifying. There should be little difficulty in disposing of the products from the current plantation programs of 400 acres per annum, the yield of thinning’s from which will taper off to a constant level over the next ten years.
The initial problems of utilising material from these plantations are intimately involved with developing the most satisfactory products from the early thinning’s to meet local demand. While these thinning operations constitute a necessary silvicultural treatment in the course of producing high quality wood it must be done as cheaply as possible. Even a small economic return from the thinning’s material is advantageous, particularly if a demand for this type of raw material is satisfied at the same time.
A combination of factors has precipitated this study. The first was the desirability of finding a commercial outlet for the early teak thinning’s, and at the same time meeting an increasing local demand for such products as could be developed from them. The second following from the first, was the need to develop a method of harvesting most suitable for local conditions and which would be adaptable to a commercial thinning operation.
This project was initiated following discussions in July 1971 between staff of the Regional Forest Office, the Forest Products Research Centre and the Manager, Equipment Division, Ela Motors Pty. Limited, Port Moresby.
The following steps were planned: -
(a) An initial appraisal of the local market potential for the type of product which we could expect to be produced from teak thinning’s - house stumps, fence posts, road marker posts, etc.
The use of pressure treated round timbers in these categories appeared most promising.
(b) A thinning’s extraction study covering the range of topographical conditions in the teak plantations.
(c) A pilot study on the production of marketable products from the thinning’s material, covering seasoning, debarking, grading, pressure treatment and product handling methods. Finally using the stock of end products obtained, market promotion and education was to be commenced.
Thinnings ready for skidding along a skid track constructed using a Caterpillar D6 Tractor operated by Bob Cattanach from Bulolo.
Photo credit. Des Harries.
Des Harries with small Massey Ferguson Crawler Tractor loaned for the exercise, by Ela Motors, Port Moresby. It proved too small for the skid track construction task.
Photo Credit. Des Harries.
A load of teak thinnings as taken to the Forest Products Research Centre at Hohola, Port Moresby.
Photo Credit.
Des Harries.
A large market stall using CCA treated teak.
Source Col Levy 1975 paper Wood preservation in PNG.
A simple market stall using treated teak and bamboo in Port Moresby.
Source Col Levy 1975 Paper Wood preservation in PNG.
A low cost house using CCA treated teak and bamboo.
Source Col Levy 1975 paper Wood preservation in PNG.
CSIRO Wood Scientists Association with PNG.
A long association has existed between TPNG and CSIRO Forest Products personnel back to 1938 when Jim McAdam and John d’Espeissis visited prior to journeying onto PNG. This was followed by a close working relationship detailed in each relevant CSIRO Forest Products Conference.
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Phillips, Frank Hiram19FRACI FIWSc ARMTC
Frank (Hiram) Phillips graduated from an Associate Diploma in Applied Chemistry in 1959. After the war, he found there was a big demand in the manufacturing industries for chemists and although he initially joined the Australian Paper Manufacturing industry (Chemical Assistant at the Central Laboratory of Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd 1948-1955). He then joined CSIRO in 1956 in the division of forest products where he worked for a marathon 31 years. After retirement from the CSIRO, he worked as a consultant for several years. He submitted a thesis based on 62 published scientific papers to RMIT University and was granted a senior doctorate Doctor of Applied Science in 1993. While at the CSIRO Frank conducted 62 scientific research papers which he then submitted to RMIT, and he was able to convert these to a PhD.
19 Source: Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation.
Herbert Eric Dadswell’s (1903-1964) story is described on page 51 of PNGAF MAG # 9J W4 of 30th June 2023 Part Two FPRC.
Dr. Vilnis (Bill) Balodis
Bill Balodis, an MSc graduate from the University of Queensland, joined CSIRO in 1962. He had published more than 50 peer reviewed papers on topics ranging from timber and paper physics to pulpwood surveys of large native forests in Australia, PNG, and Sarawak. As an Honorary CSIRO Research Fellow, he was involved in projects to establish pulpwood testing laboratories in China and Indonesia. Bill died in 2022.
In recent times he was involved in digitizing DFP photos, films and publications for electronic storage and distribution. One example is The Chronicles of the Forest Products Laboratory 1918-2008. A presentation by Bill Balodis July 2008 as part of the CSIRO Forest Biosciences 2008 Seminar series Ian Wark Laboratory Clayton.
William Edwin (Ted) Higgins’s (1921-2008) story is described on page 52 of PNGAF MAG # 9J W4 of 30th June 2023 Part Two FPRC.
Kloot, Nigel Henry20 (1918 - 2000)
Harry Kloot worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for 44 years. He joined at age 15 and quickly progressed through the ranks. Kloot had an international reputation as a quality wood scientist and helped change Australia's timber use practices. He oversaw the testing of the mechanical properties of Australian and Pacific timber and was instrumental in the introduction and acceptance of plantation softwoods, plywood, hardboard, and particle board in Australia. Kloot was also advisor to the Australian Standards Association, a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and one of the first Fellows of the Institute of Wood Science.
Wilby Cohen
Wilby Cohen worked for CSIR/O c.1930-1967, as Officer-in-Charge of the Wood Chemistry Section (1930-1952) and Assistant Chief, Division of Forest Products (1966-1967). After leaving CSIRO he worked as a consultant to the pulp and paper industry.
20 Source: Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation
SIGNIFICANCE OF DADSWELL21 22WOOD COLLECTION.
Dr Eric Dadswell (1903-1964) was recognised globally for his work in the field of wood technology. He was Chief of the Division of Forest Products of the CSIRO. During WW 2 he assisted in the school run by the New Guinea Forests Unit to recognise New Guinea species. Full details re Dr Eric Dadswell endeavours are covered on page 51 in PNGAF Mag #9 W4 of 30th June 2021 Part 2.
Dadswell and Ingle (1948), reported on a survey dealing with the timbers of the southwest Pacific area and covering 22 genera of the family Anacardiaceae. Based on the examination of available species, the anatomical features of each genus were summarized and the relationship between botanical classification and the wood anatomy of the genera discussed. From the information presented it was suggested that a simple card sorting key can be readily developed.
Material for this survey was taken from the standard collection of the Division of Forest Products CSIR. This included various authenticated specimens received on an exchange basis from forestry authorities in India, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. Special reference must be made to the specimens of Malayan timbers received in 1941 through the courtesy of Dr. H. E. Desch; to specimens of New Guinea timbers, kindly made available by Mr. C. E. Lane-Poole, collected during his survey in that region in 1924; to specimens from the Waterhouse collection in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands supplied by the late Dean S. J. Record of Yale School of Forestry; to specimens of timbers from New Guinea and surrounding islands and from North Borneo collected by the Australian Army Forestry Units during the Pacific war period; to specimens from New Guinea supplied by Mr. J. B. McAdam, of the PNG Forests Department; and to specimens from the British Solomon Islands collected by Mr. F. S. Walker in 1945 and 1946. The botanical identifications of the material from New Guinea, collected by Mr. Lane-Poole and by the Australian Army, and of that from the British Solomon Islands collected by Mr. F. S. Walker were conducted by Mr. C. T. White, Government Botanist, Brisbane.
An example below is of a card sorting system like that Dadswell produced for timbers of New Guinea and neighbouring islands in 1958.
Eric Dadswell collected wood samples of species which were thought to have commercial potential became known as the ‘Dadswell Collection’ and, like other timber collections provided the basis for research into the commercial applications of wood.
Research on Australia’s native timbers sometime after Federation and R.T. Baker’s23 Hardwoods of Australia was amongst the first works which described native hardwoods. C.E. Carter24 further researched eucalypt species from the point of view of their commercial applications. Eric Dadswell worked with him in the late 1920s and later assumed responsibilities at CSIR Forest Products Division in Melbourne. His team looked at the wood anatomy of native species and published several works. The work done during that period was the basis of Australia’s current knowledge of the wood anatomy of native species.
During the previous decade the collection was reduced in physical size smaller samples were cut from billets and retained as part of CSIRO’s existing collection. The offcuts of the billets were crated and relegated to an outdoor storage area and the makeshift protection of a tarpaulin. Some of these have now been converted into objects25 which symbolise and exemplify their original beauty.
Gordon Dadswell, John Dargavel and Phil Evans26 in 2014, described that there is a process by which scientific collections become heritage. The case of a wood collection, or xylarium, at the Australian National University (ANU) is discussed from its start in the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau in 1926, its association with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research/Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1928, its transfer to ANU in 1965, its manifold uses at ANU, and its decline and heritage assessment in 2011. The collection, consisting of 8,400 wood samples, microscope slides, panels, and artefacts, was used for teaching forestry students, research into wood anatomy, and for identifying timber. Its future is uncertain.
The history, size, and status of each of Australia’s 12 public wood collections, or ‘xylaria’, are reviewed in 201527by Dadswell, Dargavel and Evans considering the uncertain future of most of them. Their history is traced from the colonial era to the present. Australian colonies sent wood samples to Britain and international exhibitions from early in the nineteenth century to promote their timber exports. In the 1880s Queensland and New South Wales started the first two scientific reference collections of wood, other states followed, and in the 1920s the Commonwealth started two large national collections. The collections were used to develop classification systems for identifying samples of wood in the absence of botanical specimens. There are currently 12 collections held by public institutions, of which the largest, with 47 000 specimens, is held by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Their expansion was followed by gradual retractions of government funding, staff, and interest over the last 30 years. Ten of the 12 collections are now
23 Page 21-22 PNGAF Mag # 9J W 4 OF 30TH June 2023 Part Two.
24 Page 42-43 Carter and Eddy PNGAF Mag # 9J W 4 OF 30TH June 2023 Part Two.
25 Rings of History: Contemporary Craft From Historical Timbers is reprinted here from issue 32 of Australian Wood Review, published September 2001
26 2014 From Science to Heritage: the History of a Wood Collection. John Dargavel, Philip D. Evans, and Gordon Dadswell. Historical Records of Australian Science 25(1) 43 – 54. Published: 05 May 2014.
27 Gordon Dadswell, John Dargavel & Philip D. Evans (2015) Wood collections in Australia: a history of expansion and retraction, Australian Forestry, 78:1, 18-28, DOI: 10.1080/00049158.2015.1011798
considered to be secure, six are in institutions that can conserve them, and only two are in use. Consolidation of the national collections under a professional curator is needed.
Attached is Gordon Dadswell 28 and John Dargavel’s29 article - The Future of Australia’s Wood Collections? 30
28 PhD Candidate, History and Philosophy of Science Melb. Uni. (son of Eric Dadswell)
29 Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU.
30 The Forester Volume 55, Number 1 March 2012.
Update June 2023 re Dadswell Collection
Following inquiries 31by Dick McCarthy re the status of the Australian wood collection –formerly Dadswell collection of CSIRO/ANU etc as to whether it was going to be relocated to Black Mountain CSIRO and then displayed with the other “organic” collections in media reports of a separate building for all these collections. Further to that in the documentation of all things re PNG wood research for PNG does this collection have representatives of PNG wood species.
David Bush CSIRO32 advised that the Dadswell wood collection is in storage in Canberra
it is being stored under suitable conditions. It is not going to be relocated to the new collections building although that was considered. That building will house the Australian National Insect Collection and the Australian National Wildlife Collection, and the building will link through to the Australian National Herbarium. The Australian Tree Seed Centre, like the wood collection, was originally going to be moved into the upgraded facility but that did not eventuate. A further phase of collections precinct renovation has been planned (though not yet funded!) in which the wood collection would be relocated to Black Mountain.
The ANU also has a wood collection comprising a large number of samples that are common to the CSIRO collection. It would probably make sense to consolidate these collections when the CSIRO wood is finally removed from storage. Dr Matthew Brookhouse is the person who knows most about the ANU collection and is one of the few scientists in Australia with the expertise to make use of these collections.
I believe the Dadswell collection would be very likely to have PNG wood specimens. There may well be a catalogue that would answer this question and quantify. I will make enquiries –Jugo will know the answer immediately of course.
Dr Jugo Ilic33 advised that the HE Dadswell Memorial Wood collection has the largest collection of PNG specimens within it. These are samples specifically from the NGF, Schodde (Sc), Saunders (Sa), and other collectors as well as samples in the main or standard collection which were from PNG. From memory there were thousands of matchbox-size samples in a multi drawer brown wood cabinet all of which were from PNG. There was also a dedicated set of index cards for those specimens. The cards are organised in alphabetical order by genus & species, but the samples are organised sequentially by each collector (NGF etc) numerically. [e.g., to find Campnosperma brevitetiolata, the index card indicates all the samples of that species with their corresponding collection numbers. Using this number collection number, e.g., C119 from the Camnosperma index card, the sample can then be found from the appropriate drawer]. In addition, each individual sample also has a corresponding photograph and scale. All the original data and index cards are PDF’s and are also included in single excel format which contains all the specimens from the entire collection (PNG samples are in one tab). All these data are held by the Biological collections unit in Canberra and will, at some point, be uploaded to ALA.
David Bush34 CSIRO thanked Jugo re the message about the PDF documentation and he will consult Brendan Lepschi (Curator, ANH) where we keep those files.
Dick McCarthy35 on behalf of the PNG mob, thank David and Jugo for their updates re the records and holdings of these wood samples within the CSIRO sphere. It is not only invaluable but of current and future historical sense. Hopefully one day, these wood samples will be linked to national herbariums for future generations.
Note
PNG holds small wood collections at PNG FRI Lae36, BFC Bulolo, Unitech Forestry Lae and TITC Lae.
33 Personal communication Dr Jugo Ilic 25th June 2023.
34 Personal communication David Bush CSIRO NCMI Black Mountain 26th June 2023
35 Personal communication Dick McCarthy 25th June 2023
36 Personal Communication Kipiro Damas PNG FRI, Forest Biodiversity program Manager- linkage wood sample collection to PNG national herbarium specimens.
Dr Bill Heather37 Endeavours
Bill Heather (TPNG Forests 1947-1955) was a Regional Forest Officer at Rabaul New Britain in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s in Papua New Guinea. He and forest ranger W R Fryar started the Kerevat Forest plantation program with Eucalyptus deglupta (Kamarere) at Kerevat New Britain in 1948. He undertook plant collections from Sogeri (Papua) and New Britain in the NGF series (CF New Guinea Forces Lae after 1945.)
In 1955, Bill published Heather, W. A. (1955) The Kamarere (Eucalyptus deglupta) forests of New Britain. Empire Forestry Review, 34: 255-278.vol 3.
After TPNG, Bill was senior lecturer at AFS and the ANU Department of Forestry. His subject topics included wood technology, forest pathology and silviculture.
In 1965 Bill Heather was awarded a PhD for his thesis Some aspects of the ecology and pathology of phaeoseptoria eucalypti Hans. emend. Walker on some species of the genus eucalyptus Heather, William Aloysius Source ANU Open Access Theses.
