"The past is never fully gone. It is absorbed into the present and the future. It stays to shape what we are and what we do."
Sir William Deane, Governor-General of Australia, Inaugural Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture, August 1996.

Maps

This page will provide access to historical maps as they become available. These maps will also be connected to articles when appropriate.

1939 Fires

This map has been derived from an FCV map produced in 1939. The map provides an indication of the extent of the fires across the State during the 1938/39 fire season. Given the scale and the limitations that would have been inherent in producing the original map, DO NOT expect this map's boundaries to be accurate enough to use at a local level.

(See also this article)

 
Erica, Tyers, Thomson Tramlines and Sawmills (1910 -1950)

This map is based solely on information generously provided by Mike McCarthy, who is a member of the Light Rail Research Society of Australia and the author of several books related to Victoria’s history of sawmilling, and the use of tramlines to move sawlogs to mills and sawn timber to market. It has been prepared by digitizing four maps provided by Mike. All of the maps overlap to some extent, and the image below shows the areas of each map from which data have been extracted.

 
mccarthyindex.jpg
 

There are about 61 sawmill sites and approximately 420 km of tramline shown on this map as a whole. The map by map breakdown is:

  • Erica - 28 sawmills & 318 km of tramline - of which the FCV owned 25 km, sawmillers 164 km, and those associated with mining and Walhalla and the adjoining settlements total 129 km.
  • Gould - 13 sawmills & 43 km of tramline.
  • Tanjil Bren - 16 sawmills & 30 km of tramline of which the FCV owned, but did not operate, about 5.5 km. The remaining lines were owned by sawmillers.
  • Thomson - 4 sawmills & 29 km of tramline of which the FCV owned about 20 km.

See also:

Post 1939 Recovery & Salvage
FCV Sawmills
The FCV's Erica Tramline
Tramline Photo Gallery

 

Mt Disappointment Tramlines & Sawmills

This map is based upon tramline data prepared by Colin Harvey, and other locations from a 1970 FCV Map prepared by M Wade. Have confidence in the tramline routes, but the sawmill location information needs to be checked. It is however, useful as an indicator of the extent of timber harvesting in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

(See also this article)

 

West Gippsland Plus - Tramlines & Sawmills late 1800's to mid 1900's

...  at one point in the 1920s it was theoretically possible to travel between Warburton, Powelltown, Gembrook, Noojee, Longwarry and Gembrook by tramway! A couple of gauge changes would have meant hopping off one tram onto another but you could do it." M McCarthy (July 2020)

This map is based solely on information generously provided by Mike McCarthy, who is a member of the Light Rail Research Society of Australia and the author of several books related to Victoria’s history of sawmilling, and the use of tramlines to move sawlogs to mills and sawn timber to market. It has been prepared by digitizing eight maps provided by Mike. The maps overlap to some extent and the image below shows the areas of each map from which data have largely been extracted.

 

 
centralhighlandsindex.jpg
 

There are about 446 sawmill sites and approximately 1247 km of tramline shown on this map as a whole. The map by map breakdown is:

  • Gembrook - 88 sawmills & 200 km of tramline.
  • Longwarry - 40 sawmills & 120 km of tramline.
  • Neerim - 29 sawmills & 102 km of trmaline.
  • Noojee - 36 sawmills & 118 km of tramline.
  • Powelltown - 131 sawmills & 395 km of tramline.
  • Warbuton - 52 sawmills & 169 km of tramline.
  • Warragul/Hillend - 70 sawmills & 143 km of tramline

See also:

Powelltown Forests
A Walk into History

West Gippsland Plus - Sawmill Sites Through Time

This map combines Mike McCarthy's data from the above Erica, Tyers etc. map and the West Gippsland Plus map. Where dates are available, the five year periods within which a sawmill existed on a given site have been used to classify sawmill locations through time. A sawmill that existed for one year only will still be shown as present in the relevant five year period.

Timber Reconnaissance by JA McKinty, 1940 and 1941

This map is based upon the original maps and notes of JA McKinty, and it covers his reconnaissance work of 1940 and 1941 in what would become the FCV's Heyfield District.

See also:

Jim McKinty - Forest Assessor

Macalister River Watershed 1959

In 1959 the FCV produced a highly detailed map of the Macalister River watershed.

Heyfield - Timber Town

This map is connected with this story about Heyfield from the 1940s onwards.

FCV Administration Boundaries, Reserved Forest, Species Distribution - June 1928

This Map was included with the document produced by the FCV for the 1935 Empire forestry Conference

 

Forestry Locations

 

Forest Nurseries

With a lot of assistance from many FCRPA Members, the map below shows the location, as best we know them, of Victoria's forest nurseries from 1872 onwards.

Firebombing Bases

With a lot of assistance from Bryan Rees, the map below shows the location of past and present firebombing bases.

Other Locations

You will find an excellent site about Fire Towers here

This map is intended to show historic forestry locations (camps, towers,roads, offices etc) with popup photos, but it is still in development. The firebombing bases in this map do not reflect the latest information in the map above. New location information will be added as it is prepared.

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