Circumspice '59 is an account of the lives of twelve students from the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF), Creswick, who graduated at the end of 1961 after three years training, and of their subsequent careers.
The book—text and photographs—is presented in
two sections. The first addresses the various aspects
of the VSF—part boarding school/part professional
academy/part tertiary institution—giving its history,
personnel and personalities, the curriculum, the
dimensions of life therein and one's progression
through it, with many 'reflections'. The second part
describes the subsequent career paths of the various
individuals, largely within the Forests Commission
Victoria and its later reinventions.
A number of professions, expanding post-World War
II, produced appropriately qualified staff educated at
tertiary level by way of scholarship schemes, thereby
opening to many people educational opportunities
previously inaccessible. Such was the case here, with
training, subsistence and a small living allowance
provided for three years, in return for five years
subsequent bonded service, the schooling leading to
professional diplomas for annual intakes of around
twelve cadets. First year was essentially a standard
tertiary science course: chemistry, physics, botany, geology. Two years followed of forestry training by
way of morning classes, coupled with afternoon
fieldwork in the neighbouring forests directed towards
the understanding, management, sustainability and
protection of Victoria's forests, particularly relating to
the timber industry.
As a similarly bonded secondary teacher aged
twenty-one, after a surprise summons one Friday,
my principal informed me the department had been
on the phone. 'Currently the Victorian School of
Forestry requires a secondment to teach chemistry
and physics. You appear suitably qualified; be there
on Monday.' Or words to that effect. So I arrived
at the school, an institution previously unknown to
myself and most other people, to receive an amiably
gruff Scots greeting from the principal, Billo Litster.
I became one of the handful of staff charged with
the education of the state's future foresters, some of
them older than myself, and others comrades from my
recent stint of national service.
And so began an engrossing three years, in a unique
institution, housed in the old Creswick hospital,
now heritage-listed, and imposingly situated on
the hill to the east of the town. The exhortation
Circumspice, ‘look around you’, the school's motto, was pervasive, as was the advice 'by their fruits
shall ye know them', referring to the identification
of the multitudinous eucalypt and other species
growing locally. The VSF no longer exists, its
function and purpose having evolved via absorption
into The University of Melbourne, and changes in
government policy, but its fruits have served Victoria
and its forests with dedication, professionalism and
distinction since the school's inception in 1910. It is
fitting in 2010, a hundred years later, that a cohort of
former students, the lively 1959 intake, themselves
now fifty years on, has undertaken to record its
experiences at the VSF before they become lost to
us.
Smoky, Stiffy and Homer—all students were endowed with nicknames during their initiation rites—have
done a splendid and imaginative job of preserving
this cultural heritage. They present a vivid, generally
sympathetic but uninhibited portrayal of the saga of
the stern Billo and his charges. Herewith is a record
of their achievements, tribulations, escapades and
subversions, within and without the rather regimented
environment typical of that era, recounted with
knowledge and understanding. (Moreover, this
reviewer considers himself fortunate in being let off
lightly.) All is expressed with flair and a perceptive undercurrent of dry/wry humour. Well done! Oh for a
similar record of life as a national serviceman during
that era!
Emeritus Professor Allan White, University of Western
Australia |
