Unsung Heroes: Des Donnelly is passionate about protecting the Ludlow Tuart Forest

The South West is well-known for its picturesque bushland and whimsical forest scenes — but did you know it is home to the last remaining section of pure tuart forest in the world? Busselton resident Des Donnelly certainly does, and he’s dedicated his retirement to caring for local forests and ensuring the beautiful Ludlow Tuart Forest can be revived and rehabilitated to full health. Growing up in Toodyay along the Avon River, he said the natural environment fostered a love for nature from a young age, leaving school at 16 to take up a factory job chipping eucalyptus wandoo to recover the tannins, his curiosity around forestry was kindled. “There was a huge resource available for chipping and extracting the resin, which is how I got a job there as a junior clerk ... I just like doing things with my hands and being out in the open air,” he said. “The factory job also allowed me to work with very competent managers who became role models only too willing to explain machinery and processes. “Wandoo had very good durability and strength properties and produced high quality tannins, railway sleepers and bridge building materials, which were in great demand in those days. “The government of the day was supporting land clearing for agriculture and most of the wandoo woodlands were lost,” he said. After the factory closed, Des was led to take on a cadetship in the forestry industry — where he would remain for 38 years. Bundling up his belongs in 1958, he made the journey to Dwellingup to start the role, travelling by train, bus and the tray of an open truck. He recalls memories as if it were yesterday. “We lived in little self-contained huts, they were forestry single men’s huts about 12 foot square,” he said. “Oven in one end, fireplace and cyclone bed, you brought your own mattress and that was it. If you wanted anything else, you had to find it yourself. “The forests department taught us to do field work, we learnt how to mark trees for extraction and forest silviculture, pine plantation establishment and management, the essential role of fire in our native forests for regeneration and protection. “All of the roles were science-based with regard for Aboriginal heritage and practical experience. “We had lectures every week and had to pass regular tests. Promotion during our career was based on examination, experience and performance.” A stark change from the university degrees and studies people are able to attain today, Des said the enjoyed the hands-on learning experiencing and working with the leaders and mentors that he still keeps in touch with today. As he gradually progressed through industry ranks from forest guard to senior forester, his job took him all around the South West, living and working in Grimwade, Walpole, Nannup and Manjimup where he met his beloved wife, Judy. “We met in the little hall down in Manjimup called Dingup Hall,” he remembered fondly. “In those days, there was a dance every Friday or Saturday night ... we all loved it and it’s where most of us met our partners. “Judy was a nurse which made it really easy with all the moving we did, every time we went to a new town, she’d only have to walk up to the hospital and they’d willingly provide employment.” Together the pair and their young family continued to move around he South West, also residing in Collie and Harvey before taking a role as district forester at the Ludlow Tuart Forest in 1972. “It was partly because of my experience in saw milling and wood processing,” he said. “We were at a stage where the softwood plantations were becoming very productive and we had to make a decision as to whether the forest department would maintain and expand existing government sawmills or offer the resource to private industry for processing. “The right decision was made and we now have a modern, sustainable and renewable forest-based softwood industry producing many of our daily wood fibre needs from less than 100,000 hectares of plantation. “Before we could do that we had to convince the public that structural softwood could take over from hardwood, and that was part of my job, to go around the area saw-millers and home builders to begin the transition from native hardwood to plantation-grown softwood. Des worked at Ludlow for about six years, establishing tuart seedlings, ending tuart timber harvesting in State forest and finally closing the tuart sawmill entirely. Later promoted to a research, development and quality assurance and training role in Bunbury, he remained there until his retirement in 1996. Never one to sit still, he bought a sawmill to fill his days and spent 12 years milling tuart logs salvaged producing and selling house flooring. It was then some work friends, in particular Evelyn Taylor — the wife of a prominent progressive forester — together and Capel community members, began expressing their concerns for the tuart forest and wanted to turn their attention to preserving it. “We had a meeting in Evelyn’s kitchen and decided we’d form a group called the Ludlow Tuart Forest Restoration Group, and see if we could do something about restoring this threatened forest ... I’ve always had a soft spot for this forest,” the now 84-year-old recalled of how the group was formed. Dedicating the past five years to “restoring and protecting” the forest and the heritage listed Ludlow mill and settlement for future generations, he described the group’s achievements since forming as a “huge success”. “We’ve managed to transform the forestry office — it was completely derelict, vandalised and abandoned when we started,” he said. “We’ve planted over 100,000 tuart seedlings over the past five years, with the help of over 1000 school children, parents, teachers and community members to rejuvenate the area, and we’ve had a great deal of community interest from people wanting to be involved and becoming members. “Our membership is now at 670 people who clearly want this restoration work to continue to support the protection of this threatened remnant ecosystem and its dependant biodiversity.” The group’s main goal is to get young people interested and engaged in the project, with plans to make the tuart forest and heritage Ludlow settlement and sawmill a must-visit tourism hot spot destination unique to Western Australia However, the not-for-profit group is lacking in wider financial support to help make the dream a reality and hopes regional organisations or government bodies can get behind the cause. Des said the younger generation and wider community should take an interest in the restoration of the forest because it would serve the area and dependant humanity forever. “It’s our collective human responsibility to ensure this forest is fully funded, and intensively managed for all of its values, if we don’t start looking after it, it will disappear. There’s no doubt about that,” he admitted. “Simply changing land tenure to national park and declaring the trees rare and endangered will not save them. The ability of healthy growing forest to mitigate climate change must also be recognised, accepted and funded forever. “We just want to make sure that this place is retained, and the history is retained, so future generations can understand it and see where they’ve come from. “It’s the largest of its kind left, we can’t let it continue to decline .”