Forests Commission, Victoria (Corporate Name)

Responsibility for the forests function was shared by a number of portfolios until 1909 when the Minister of Forests assumed responsibility for the Department of State Forests. On 1 October 1919 the three member Forests Commission assumed control of the operations of the Department of State Forests and all staff were transferred to the Commission. Although not formally abolished the Department of State Forests appears to have ceased to exist in the late 1930s. The Forests Commission inherited all powers, duties and responsibilities formerly exercised by the Department. In 1939 the officers of the Forests Commission were transferred to the State Forests Department. The "old" Department of State Forests was resurrected but the Forests Commission was not abolished and continued to operate as the controlling authority for forests policy and operations within the Department of State Forests. Over the years the two titles were inextricably associated and the agency continued to be known as the Forests Commission. Administratively this situation continued until 1983 when three Departments were consolidated into the new Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands among them the Forests Commission (Department of State Forests). Apparently forestry functions in new dept. continued by Division of Forests.

Above ground biomass of a mixed eucalypt forest in eastern Victoria , 1979 t.p. (by H.T.L. Stewart, D.W. Flinn and B.C. Aeberli)