AUSTRALIAN FORESTERS in PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1922-1975
PNGAF MAGAZINE ISSUE # 9B-5B4G4 of 2nd June 2022 FOREST MANAGEMENT. Eminent TPNG Forester Ian Grundy.
Ian Grundy1 2004. Ian at their son Neale’s 2004 Wedding. Photo credit Pauline Grundy and family.
Editor R B McCarthy2 2021. 1 2
Ian Grundy TPNG Forests 1955-1966. Dick McCarthy District Forester TPNG Forests 1963-1975.
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Early Days Ian was born at Jandowae on the Darling Downs. During high school he boarded at the Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) in Brisbane, matriculating in 1954. PNG Days He was awarded a TPNG Administration Scholarship to enable him to undertake the 4-year course at the University of Queensland/Australian Forestry School, plus a field year (1957) in PNG largely spent at Kerevat and Bulolo. Ian graduated from the AFS in 1959 and became a Member of the IFA at that time. His first posting with the PNG Department of Forests was to Brown River, 42 km north of Port Moresby, in charge of the forest station, teak plantation establishment and a large native labour force. Those who have been to Brown River Forest Station would fondly recall the park area which extended from in front of the Station up to the riverbank. This park with its large, shady raintrees was the scene of many memorable forestry social events. Ian created the park. While at a Department of Forests picnic at Fisherman’s Island, Ian met his future wife, Pauline, who had come to the Territory in 1958. They had two children, Robyn in late 1961 and Neale in 1966. In PNG in the early 1960’s Ian went through the forest station management and regional forest administration process, and as an officer in the Department’s Utilisation Division, played an important role in laying the foundations for improved utilisation of the PNG forests which led to the development of the log export industry, without inhibiting local processing. [That initiative was unfortunately subverted long after Ian left PNG.] Life after PNG Due to a need for special health care for one of his children, the family was forced back to Australia in 1966, where he joined APM in Gippsland, Victoria, (now Amcor) to run part of their Victorian forest estate. He was invited by Kel McGrath to join the Savoy Corporation in 1970, moved to Melbourne, and as a Project Director was largely responsible for the development of Northern Woodchips in Tasmania as well as managing a collection of forest plantations in Queensland and searching for new project opportunities. With the Bond Corporation’s takeover of Savoy Corporation there was a change in corporate direction and attitude which did not appeal to any of the foresters employed at the time. Ian was invited back to APM in 1974 and moved to Brisbane where he managed and expanded their Queensland forest estate, remaining with APM/Amcor for a further 19 years. In later years he played an important role in obtaining ISO14001 qualification for APM operations in Queensland, one of the early managers in the forestry sector to do so. In 1993 the expatriate life called again, and Ian and Pauline went to Banda Aceh (of recent notoriety) in Indonesia for 3 years. There, Ian was General Manager of a projected pulp and paper enterprise and guided the development of a major forest plantation project with a shortterm target of 165,000 ha. An interesting experience, given the political influences, wild elephants and tigers scattered throughout the concession, and the frustrations of dubious land tenure, illegal logging organised by the people charged with stamping it out, and the odd firefight between the army and the independence movement in Aceh. In his retirement, Ian was pleased to be invited by Amcor Carton board (a division of Amcor Packaging (Australia) Pty Ltd) to assist in the environmental enhancement program of their 2
237-hectare site at Petrie. The Petrie Mill was the only coated carton board manufacturing plant in Australia producing over 120,000 tonnes per year. He provided forestry advice on the establishment or re-establishment of a range of rainforest, open forest, and wetland environments, and then, being the hands-on person, he was, Ian took up a spade to plant trees and shrubs. The result is a credit to the Amcor team involved, and Ian was justly pleased with his own contribution.
Source AMCOR. APM Petrie Mill. Today the site is the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) Moreton Bay campus. Of the 200-ha site, 65 ha is developable land and the balance conservation area. A fitting legacy to Ian Grundy’s conservation work. As a graduate forester of the 1950’s, Ian Grundy was trained in a broad variety of fields, and successfully practised in all those fields at some stage in his career, plus some activities for which no specific training was possible. In such areas your skill depends on your character and Ian had what it takes. He dealt with the inhabitants of some, then untamed, areas in PNG, with some highly prominent union officials in Australia, with Indonesian Ministers, Provincial Governors, and Officials, and at times with rebels, as well as with Australian associates. He handled it all well - as relaxed with the garbage collector as with the Governor. Ian was always very concerned for the welfare of his staff and, as a result, they would willingly walk over hot coals to help him. He never had any trouble with callouts to fight fires! Ian had the ability to cut through the bumf, to get to the core of a situation and fix it, while others would continue to waffle on, hoping the problem would fix itself or at least go
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away. He had the persistence, perhaps at times doggedness, to stay with a problem until it was solved, and the humility not to boast about his successes, but rather to share the credit. He had that rare quality we used to call “common sense”, and he used it well. Ian had a level of integrity that is less evident in today’s corporate and political worlds – and he will be missed for his demand that things be done right and in the open. Alan Cameron Alan Cameron3 advised IFA members of the death on 17 January 2006 of Ian Grundy in Brisbane at 68 years of age. Short Bibliography of Ian Grundy. NAME YEAR OF BIRTH DATE JOINED FORESTRY PNG WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION WHAT LOCALITIES OF WORK WHAT DATE DID YOU LEAVE PNG LIFE AFTER PNG DID YOU RECEIVE A PNG FORESTRY CADETSHIP DATE OF GRADUATION
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Ian Grundy 1937-2006 1955 Forest Officer Throughout PNG 1966 APM Forests Gippsland and Queensland 1955 1960
Obituary by Alan Cameron. IFA The Forester March 2006 Vol 49 No 1 www.forestry.org.au
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ACRONYMS ACT ACIAR ACLMP AEC AFS AFPNG AIF AMF ANBG ANGAU ANU APMF APPM ASIO ASOPA AusAID BA BCOF “Beer Time” BFC BGD BUC C cm CALM CFA CNGT CRE CRE
CSIRO CHAH DASF DBH/ dbh DEPT DPI DOF e.g. Etc FAO F &TB FIM FPRC
Australian Capital Territory Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research AusAid funded World Bank Land Mobilisation program. Administrators Executive Committee Australian Forestry School Association of Foresters of PNG Australian Infantry Forces Australian Military Forces Australian National Botanical Gardens Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit Australian National University Australian Paper Manufacturers Forestry Pty Ltd Australia Paper and Pulp Manufacturers Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Australian School of Pacific Administration Australian Aid Agency basal area British Commonwealth Occupational Force 1945-52 Any time. Bulolo Forestry College Bulolo Gold Dredging Company Bulolo University College Commonwealth Centimetre Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management Commonwealth Forestry Association Commonwealth New Guinea Timbers Bulolo Commander Royal Engineers CRE is a term inherited by RAE from RE and is the term for the Commanding Officer of a RAE unit which is headed by a Lt Col. Although the officer is called the CRE the name is also used for the name of his unit. E.g., CRE Aust Forestry Group or 1(NG Forests). Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria Dept of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries Diameter at breast height Department Department of Primary Industry Department of Forests For example et cetera (more of the same) Food and Agriculture Organisation Forest and Timber Bureau Canberra Forest Information System Forest Products Research Centre Hohola 5
FRG FRI Forkol GAB Gbhob Gubab GIS ha IBRD IFA IFY ITTO JICA L of N LRRS m3 MM NAA NARI NB NFCAP no. NG NGF NGIB NGO NGVR NZ NSW NTSC OISCA P or p PIB PIR PNG PNGAA PNGAF PNGFA PNGFIA PNGRIS PNGUT POM Q QF RAE RPC RRA SFM
Forest Red Gum Forest Research Institute Lae Bulolo Forestry College Girth above buttress Girth breast height over bark Girth under bark above buttress Geographic Information Systems Hectare International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Institute of Foresters of Australia International Year of the Forest International Tropical Timber Organization Japanese International Cooperation Agency League of Nations Land Resource Soils Survey (branch of CSIRO) cubic metre Military Medal National Archives Australia National Agriculture Research Institute New Britain PNG National Forestry and Conservation Action Plan Number New Guinea New Guinea Forces (relates to plant collection of Lae Herbarium) New Guinea Infantry Battalion Non-Government Organisation New Guinea Volunteer Rifles New Zealand New South Wales National Tree Seed Centre PNG Bulolo Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International Japan. page Papuan Infantry Battalion Pacific Islands Regiment Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Australia Association Papua New Guinea Australian Foresters Magazine Series Papua New Guinea Forest Authority PNG Forest Industries Association Papua New Guinea Resource Information System PNG University of Technology Port Moresby Queensland Queensland Forestry Royal Australian Engineers/Australian Army Royal Papuan Constabulary Rapid Resource Appraisal Sustainable Forest Management
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SP UK UN Unasylva UNE UNEP UNI UNITECH UNRE UPNG UQ US USA TPNG TUBL TA TA TRP Vol VSF WA WB
South Pacific United Kingdom United Nations Journal of FAO of UN University of New England Armidale NSW United Nations Environment Program University University of Technology Lae PNG University of Natural Resources and Environment University of Papua New Guinea University of Queensland United States United States of America Territory of Papua and New Guinea Territory United Brewery Ltd Timber Area Timber Authority Timber Rights Purchase volume Victorian School of Forestry Western Australia World Bank
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