Man of the Forest

By David Drangsholt

This book is about the history of exploration and survey of Victoria's timber resources. It is the story of three Norwegians, but more especially my father, Kristian Drangsholt. It also encompasses the way of life at that time and the growing up of a family in the forests and the constant moving from place to place. It is an enigma how three Norwegian foresters from the same town, Kristiansand, in Norway would all end up working for the Victorian Forests Commission in the early part of the twentieth century.Before that time no extensive or quality assessment of Victoria's forests' values had been undertaken.These men who were well educated were the pioneers of forest assessment in this country, and my father led the way for thirty years. One of these men,Bjarne Dahl was so attached to the forests here, that in his will he bequeathed a large proportion of his considerable wealth to the Forest Commission to educate the masses and plant trees for the future of the forests. No one knew this man well, but because he was a countryman and close friend of my father, I was interviewed by Peter Evans about him and subsequently attended Government house, met the Governor and was on hand at the launch of the Bjarne Dahl Trust. This experience prompted me to finish my father's own story as he too, had spent all of his life with the Forests Commission, and was a leader in assessment in this country.What he had given, although not in monetary value was priceless in its' own way!

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadOnTime BV
• Release date: Mar 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781742844893

Book preview

Man of the Forest

David Drangsholt

The Conquest of the Bush

The old man who stood on the Alps divide

Grew to a blond giant, where the old Viking did bide

In the land of Peer Gynt, of mountain and fiord,

The land he forsook to Australia to explore,

He gazed o’er the rolling ridges to the hazy beyond,

Weathered creased face aglow, grey hairs hiding the blond.

His daydreams take him back to the year twenty-seven,

When a mate as a chainman and two packhorses to be driven

He had first tackled the scrub of Victoria’s ranges,

Determined to conquer the tangled undergrowth and it’s dangers,

To put on the map his adopted State’s growing wealth,

He had tramped the blue ridges, no pity for himself.

The dusty green of the eucalypts bored him at first,

Because he yearned for his native spruce and fir,

But when a man has nature in his veins,

He had to settle down whether in dusty desert or bamboo canes,

He had adopted the giant mountain ash and the leeches in the creeks

He sniffed for the eucalyptus laden air of which the bushland reeks.

This was a job no other had tried,

To tramp the timbered spurs dropping off the Great Divide,

To mark on the map where the snow-fed streams gurgle and leap,

To record for all time the contours of our mountains, rugged and steep,

To battle Mother Nature, her wiregrass and rocky terrain,

To live with her moods through snowstorm and rain.

From the yellow box slopes of NowaNowa,

Where the apiarists bring their bees to suck the scented flower,

To the snowfields and formidable heights of lofty Mt Buller,

To Gaffney’s creek where the prospectors wash for the precious colour,

His tireless legs had taken him, and the valleys also felt his boots

Though his footprints were no more, his maps were the living proofs.

He stood alone in memory, his eyes alive with love,

For the creatures of the forest floor, for the songsters up above,

For the mates of his endeavour, his friends of many a campfire chat,

For his pannikin of billy tea, for mountain tops he sat,

For a heart as big as an oxen, now strained under it’s mighty tasks,

For the three million acres he had drawn up on linen charts.

His dreams have faded now, his eyes see the change,

A molten ball now straddles yonder silent black range

Ghostly ash relics pencilled on yon fiery black rim,

Shadows are filling tree-fern gullies, as the light begins to dim,

Fluffy golden edged puffs float o’er the dipping sun,

Alone he stands in final salute, his life’s work over and done.

Bernhard Drangsholt 1956

Man of the Forest

Copyright © 2014 David Drangsholt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Smashwords Edition

The information, views, opinions and visuals expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the publisher. The publisher disclaims any liabilities or responsibilities whatsoever for any damages, libel or liabilities arising directly or indirectly from the contents of this publication.

A copy of this publication can be found in the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-1-742844-89-3 (pbk. )

Published by Book Pal

www. bookpal. com. au

Dedication

For my family, and to all those who value our history.

These words on a sign appear at the entrance to a public park in Portugal. They define, I feel’ what trees mean to us :

‘Ye who would pass by and raise your hand against me, harken ere you harm me. I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights; the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun; and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on. I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat. I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin. I am the gift of God and friend of man. ‘

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the photos I have used from the Forests Commission of Victoria, and the data used and collected from my father’s association with the FCV.

The information gleaned from other historians has been a great help to complement this book.

Most of the photos in the book are from our family collection, unless otherwise noted and data collected is from my work in the field.

True, it is to say, that I have thoroughly enjoyed researching the material and blending my own thoughts and findings together to finish this book.

Firstly , I would like to thank Peter Evans for giving me the encouragement and help I needed to complete this work.

Encouragement also from the Bjarne Dahl Trust further inspired me to tell this story of these Norwegian foresters. They were indeed explorers and pioneers.

Todays world would find it hard to understand how we lived and loved all those years ago, and the conditions in which we worked under.

Thankyou to Jennie, and to my daughter, Erica for their help and encouragement in the proof reading of this manuscript.

I apologise for the condition of some photos but even as they are old they still complement the story.

History should be written down and shared or all else is forgotten.

David Drangsholt

Foster 2014.

Contents

Author’s Foreword

Introduction

Early Days in Norway

Schooling

The Antarctic – Whaling

To Australia - the Growth of Forestry

Forest Commission

Assessment in Victoria

ABERFELDY

The Other Two Norwegians

History in the Mountain Ash Forests

FIRE! FIRE!

My Young Years

The Keppels and A Mountain Journey

Working with Father

The Smell of the Gumleaves

Timber Tramways

Author’s Foreword

Three Norwegian Foresters

Dahl, Drangsholt and Johannesenn

It is an enigma why three Norwegians all born in Kristiansand in Southern Norway would all come to Australia and become leading foresters in this country. These Norwegian foresters, were transplanted from the conifer forests of their homeland, to the eucalypt forests of Victoria; where they trod the low foothill forests along the coast to the highest ramparts of the Great Dividing Range. This is a story that all Victorians and Australians should know, of three foreigners in a strange land leading the way in the conservation of our forests in this country.

Now, one of them, my Uncle Bjarne, has bequeathed to the Victorian Forests Commission his entire wealth of $2. 5 m for the betterment of the forests, specifically eucalypts. To this end the Government has established a Trust called the Bjarne. K. Dahl Trust which will foster and improve the education of conservation motives in our forests. I am proud and humble to think that this philanthrophic idea came from a man who I knew well, and who obviously learnt to love this country and the forests he had adopted.

Further to this, I have decided to write my own father’s story and the influence and purpose it had in affecting the trail I have travelled since as well. I wish to note the influence of his love for the Australian eucalypts which governed his life. The legacy that Dahl and Drangsholt, and to a lesser extent Johannessenn left behind cannot be quantified to any great extent, . except that they were leaders in Forest Assessment in the Victorian forests for many years. It was the first time this work had ever been done. They were hard, tough men who blazed a trail through forests never before visited. They were true explorers in the Norwegian tradition. Bjarne Dahl left the Forests Commission in 1948 and was employed from then on by APM. He was a clever businessman, and with his penchant for buying and selling properties over the years he became a very wealthy man. . In leaving such a legacy to the State of Victoria shows the passion and enjoy-ment he must have attained from his work in the Victorian forests.

Bernhard Johannessen was my father’s closest associate, and these two seemed to be much more outgoing and fun loving than their contemporary, Dahl.

Johannessenn had a good background in forestry having studied in both Nor-way and Germany, and left the Forest Commission early on when he applied, and was accepted, for a Forest Officers position in Java. My father was upset to see his good friend go, and followed him to Java for a while but returned to his work with the Forests Commission eventually. Johannessen never left Java, and was eventually captured by the Japanese in the Second World War and not heard of again. He was a good and hard worker, and a great friend of my father. My brother, Bernhard, was given the same Christian name as Johannessenn when he was born as was the Norwegian custom. Of course he was both Bernhard’s and my Godfather.

My father’s own forestry work covered all his working life in Australia. He arrived here in 1927, and worked in the forests and for the Forests Commission until his retirement in 1965. A short stint in Java working for the Government there was the only break he had away from his Commission job. Forest Assessment work was hard and demanding and for the first 30 years of it in Victoria, my father led the way. It was the era when these Norwegians were the first to practise sustainable harvesting of forests in this country. To designate which tree should stay and which should go, speaking in lay man’s terms, had never been practised before to any great degree.

Johannessen, Dahl and Drangsholt on arrival in Australia

My father lived in conditions very primitive, received little recognition for his work but truly loved his job and grew to love the country that he had adopted. He was a true man of the trees, and for thirty years of his working life, Kris Drangsholt led the way in Forest Assessment in this country. Like his fellow Norwegians, Drangsholt would have seen more of Victoria’s forests than most foresters ever did. A man of exceptional strength and sense of purpose, he was the ideal man to lead his men through a time of great achievement. Little recognition was given to his work by his peers, but it should be noted that Drangsholt in particular blazed a broad trail that few could follow

Drangsholt home in Norway

Johannessen and Drangsholt at St Kilda on arrival

Introduction

Viking of The Forest - Kristian Drangsholt

It seems in this book about my father and his Norwegian friends we should first talk a little of their ancestors and indeed mine, the Vikings. These men of war and pillaging were born in a time when it was a cruel age, when men fought men to achieve their aims in plunder and greed. But we must not forget that these men were also great explorers, and some were poets.

However, the bulk were just subsistence farmers. Certainly many left and took up a new life in lands distant to where they were born, and achieved a great place in history for their deeds in battle and also exploration. Here is a little of their history.

On the eighth day of June, A. D. 793, the first Vikings, raided the small tidal island of Lindisfarne off Britain’s east coast, sailing across the North Sea in small unstable ships. They were indeed great seafarers and their skill in boat building is still seen today. Their invasion of Lindisfarne did cause a statement that brought the Vikings into history -’The harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed God’s church in Lindis-farne by rapine and slaughter’ recorded the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of the time. Those first Vikings set the pattern for centuries of pillaging and murder from then on. The bearded giants from the North, who worshipped strange gods and sought glory in death rather than serenity in life, were fierce in their desire to plunder and conquer. So ceaseless were their campaigns to plunder that the congregations through Christendom prayed ‘A furoreNormannorumliberanos, Domine’ - From the fury of the Norsemen deliver us, O Lord!’,

For sure the Vikings were cruel; but so were those times. For example, on