Vale Alan CameronFriday 1 Aug 2025
Alan commenced his tertiary studies in forestry after he was interviewed by Jim McAdam MM Director of Forests TPNG and awarded a TPNG Forestry cadetship in 1956. He graduated B.Sc. For. (Hons) University of Queensland (1962) and Diploma of Forestry (with distinction) Australian Forestry School (1960). He was dux of his final year at the Australian Forestry School Canberra being awarded the Sir William Schlich Memorial Gold Medal (1960). As part of his cadetship, after two years at the University of Queensland, at the end of 1957, Alan spent 13 months of field work in Bulolo, Wau and Kerevat plantations in PNG. Alan then went to Canberra (Australian Forestry School) to do the last 2 years of the 5-year course. In January 1961, Alan returned to PNG and was based at the Brown River Forest Station. In 1962 Alan commenced investigations into the characteristics of both Teak and Kamarere and the tree breeding program for both species was commenced. This was extended to Hoop and Klinkii pine later with Bulolo as the area of focus. Several teak plantations were inspected, including the original Teak area near Madang, where the Germans had introduced the species to PNG in the 1880’s. The purpose was to assess the more desirable trees that could be used to establish “Seed Orchards.” This program commenced in 1963 at the Brown River and Kerevat with a couple of Forest Officers and a few local staff involved. In February 1964 Alan received training in computer use and program writing. He wrote the program for treatment of tree measurement data and started processing plantation growth data with the computer that year and extended it to written reports soon after. Alan’s scientific writings included “Genetic improvement of teak in New Guinea.” Australian Forester, 30: 76-87 (1966), and “Forest tree improvement in New Guinea. 1 Teak.” Paper prepared for 9th Commonwealth Forestry Conference, New Delhi 1968). In 1965 Alan was awarded the W.N. Hedges Prize, also known as the W.N. Hedges Prize Essay, - an award associated with the journal Australian Forestry. It recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of forestry, specifically through a written essay. The prize is named after W.N. Hedges, and the award is given in conjunction with the journal's publication. In 1966 Alan was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate the Teak improvement programs in Malaya, Thailand, Burma, India, and Ceylon in 1966. Because of the military takeover of Burma in 1962 Alan was unable to visit any of their Teak forests. The most progressive operations were in India. He fortunately found some remarkable trees in the southwest and collected some cuttings and sent them to PNG for grafting. They were the best shaped Teak I have ever seen. More >> | ||
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