About

The FCRPA is an association of employees of the former Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) which formed in 1979 primarily for social purposes but also to collect, preserve and maintain forest memorabilia and to establish and maintain a Forestry Heritage Museum.

Our collection

Forestry Heritage Museum (2003)

The Forestry Heritage Museum is in the historic precinct on Ford Street, Beechworth. The Museum is in the “Gold Warden's Office”, one of the town's original buildings, which served for many years as the Forests Commission's District Office.

The Museum was officially opened in July 2003 and is managed by volunteers from the Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association [Vic.] Inc.

The collection gives a glimpse into how Victoria's forests were administered, managed and protected. Items include.

• radio communications equipment

• tools, equipment and pumps used to fight bushfires.

• hand tools used by farmers and timber workers before the days of chainsaws and powertools.

• equipment to survey and measure forests as well as estimate the quantities of timber products.

• photographs, signs and memorabilia depicting the history of forest protection, use and management in Victoria.

The Forests Commission Victoria (FCV), established in 1918, managed the State's forests until 1983 when the Commission, along with other Victorian land management departments, was absorbed into the then newly created Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands (CFL).

The collection provides evidence that, although vast quantities of trees were felled for construction timber, rail sleepers, fencing, fuel and pulpwood, the forests were managed in such a way that new tree seedlings were established after harvesting to regenerate the forest, a renewable resource of wood material. Managed scientifically, the forests are able to produce indefinitely, the materials and benefits sought by the people of Victoria.

Themes: Transforming and managing land and natural resources