One of Charles Lane Pooles recommendations was for the establishment of a Forestry School. He believed that all Forests should be managed by educated foresters.
Ludlow was the primary site for the first Forestry School in Western Australia and the first attendees are pictured in this photo.
"The students of the Ludlow Forestry School 1923, (l-r) Dick Perry (without hat), Bill Ross, Claude Kinsella, John Thomson, and George Glover. A tuart tree is in the background. Perry and Thomson were known as the "OO's" (double O's), or the "old originals". Perry and Thomson started as forest apprentices in March 1917 with the W.A. Forests Dept. Ross, Kinsella and Glover started approximately nine months late".
Take a look at the outline for the training of Foresters as prepared by Charles Lane-Poole
Establishing a successful soft wood industry
By the early 1890’s, it was clear that the insatious appetite for timber would see our Western Australian native timber reserves completely decimated if an alternative wasn’t found soon.
In the late 1890s and into the early 1900s trials began in earnest to find a suitable species of pine that would thrive in Western Australia. Luckily, they found two – Pinus Pinaster and Pinus Radiata.
You can read all about the early pine trials and tribulations in this publication `In search of the Perfect Pine` and follow the journey of Dick Perry, one of our first Forestry School graduates from Ludlow.
Ludlow’s role in the pine plantation history was in the initial development of Radiata Pine plantations in WA.