Alan Gregg, Chewton
Expressions of interest are invited for the creation of a memorial to the bush workers and sawmillers of the Black Forest/Wombat Forest region, including the names of the sawmills and their workers, the pulpwood cutters, tree fellers, etc., of the forest. Those interested in forming a committee to discuss this memorial, please contact me on 0488 068 189.
Most people are probably unaware that a big part of early Melbourne was built by timber from the Black/Wombat region including the piers at the Melbourne wharves.
Most of the early roads were built on log timber boilers across swampy areas, the sleepers for the early railways were cut from the forest, all backbreaking work done by the men and women who worked and lived around the forest. Almost all the towns surrounding the forest were sawmill towns.
These people should all be remembered for their contribution to the early part of our local history. Most men and women who worked in the bush were lucky to live to 70 years of age – their bodies worn out through the years of hard manual labour.
We would also like to include a special memorial to Dr Gwen Wisewould for her dedicated service to her people of the bush and all the other pioneer women of the early days. If you have a family who were bush workers in the early days we would like to hear from you. If you have photos or newspaper articles or stories of your family’s past that we could use, we would like to hear from you.
We would like this memorial to be owned by the community and run by the community.
