Fearless forest workers carved their place into history of WA’s fire lookout towers

Just looking at the photographs are almost enough to bring about a queasy feeling in the stomach or a severe case of vertigo. But there he was. Legendary timber worker and axeman Dick Sproge. Standing high in the branches of a giant karri tree. Axe in hand. Not a sign of a harness or protective gear. Ready to work. It was the sort of bravery, strength, stamina and skill which saw the construction of remarkable structures on the top of such trees so that they could be used as fire lookouts in WA’s forests. For many years men and women would climb to work each day for a lonely vigil, keeping their eyes peeled for the first tell-tale puffs of smoke. Long-term forester Roger Underwood, in a 1983 article for Forest Focus, traced the history and evolution of these extraordinary lookouts. After the Forests Act was passed in 1918 it was realised that before any form of fire control could be introduced, an effective fire detection system was required, Underwood wrote. This led to the construction of the first lookouts, which were “rough wooden cabins or short towers located on prominent natural high points in the northern jarrah forest”. But in the karri forests in the south, the task was in an entirely new category. “The landscape is generally very level and naturally outstanding high points simply did not exist,” Underwood wrote. “Southern forests were tremendously tall — hundreds of square kilometres of karri forest, each tree up to 80m in height, were broken only by the scattered clearings of pioneer settlers.” But in the mid 1930s a young forest officer named Don Stewart, inspired by Sproge’s pioneering climbing and felling feats, came up with the solution — find a tall karri, clear the surrounding trees and build a lookout on the tree itself. In his book Diamond Tree, Celebrating a masterpiece of bush engineering, Underwood wrote that the genesis of the plan came about after Sproge set about solving a problem of a leaning karri tree which was threatening to fall on a railway line. “It could not be felled without falling across the line,” Underwood wrote in the book. “So Sproge drove a vertical ladderway of wooden pegs into the trunk and then, standing on a crude platform, axed off the crown of the tree, which fell harmlessly to the ground.” Sproge repeated the feat on other giant karris, and among those who watched on in awe was Stewart. Stewart enlisted the help of an assistant forester, Jack Watson, who took on the job of climbing trees — before they had been “pegged” to provide a ladderway — that seemed to have potential to check out their viability. To do so Watson used iron climbing spurs strapped to the inside of his legs, and a leather safety belt to which two ropes were attached — one to go around the trunk and one to loop over branches he encountered on the way to the top. Climbing up and back down again after taking observations took him many hours. Underwood’s book quoted Watson’s description of what was required to get past large tree limbs. “This necessitated the climber tying himself with the climbing rope, standing in the climbing irons and leaning back in the safety rope,” he said. “The second rope was then swung to and fro in an effort to gain sufficient momentum for it to swing around the tree and over the limb to be passed. “When this was done, the free end of the rope was made fast to the safety belt and the first rope released.” Trees selected, Sproge and then foresty officer George Reynolds set about tree pegging, lopping the limbs and building the lookout cabins, Underwood wrote. Reynolds “worked in the tree tops bare-footed, as he said this gave him a better grip, and he never wore a safety harness,” Underwood wrote. It was said that when the then conservator of forests visited when Reynolds was cutting the branches off the top of what was to become the Gloucester Tree, he was horrified at what he saw and instructed Reynolds to wear a safety belt at all times. According to Reynolds’ assistant Len Nicol, “Reynolds complied reluctantly . . . he tied one end of a piece of binder twine around his waist and attached the other to a small twig nearby,” Underwood wrote in his book. In Forest Focus, Underwood described how the cabins were made and installed in the tree tops. The cabins were specially designed for each tree, prefabricated on the ground and then hoisted up in sections, rigged to pulleys in the crown of the tree. In the Diamond Tree book, Underwood wrote that between 1937 and 1952, Stewart, Watson, Sproge and Reynolds constructed nine lookout trees: Alco Tree, the only non-karri, a tall marri west of Manjimup. Big Tree, at Channybearup, south of Manjimup. Pemberton Tree, at the forestry office. Gardner Tree Number One, south-west of Pemberton. Diamond Tree, south-west of Manimjup. Gardner Tree Number Two, near the first Gardner Tree. Gloucester Tree, east of Pemberton, (named after the Duke of Gloucester, who visited the tree and watched the pegging of the ladder and lopping of the branches to build the lookout). Boorara Tree, south-east of Northcliffe. Beard Tree, east of Quinninup. In his book Underwood wrote that the tower men and women sometimes lived at the foot of the tree in a small hut, but if the tree was near a town, they would often commute daily from their home. “The hours were 8am to 6pm, with an hour off for lunch, during which it was permissable to return to earth, provided this was according to a roster that ensured all the lookouts were not down at the same time,” Underwood wrote. When there were electrical storms with a risk of lightning, or when special weather readings were required, the lookouts could be asked to go up earlier or stay later. The towers were staffed seven days a week, with time off only when it rained, Underwood wrote. There would be a map mounted on a table in the tower cabin, with the tree marked as the centre, around which a compass was printed. Smoke sighted using a type of swivelling telescope would be plotted on the map and pinpointed where possible with readings from other towers. The information was then telephoned to forestry headquarters. Experienced tower staff would get to know precisely where the smoke was, and could even suggest what farm it might be coming from and even what side of a road. Underwood told The West that he had trained for a week on Carlotta Tower, near Nannup in the summer of 1959-60, and then trained for a few days up Gloucester Tree in the summer of 1960-61. “After this I worked as the lookout on Gardner Tree (No.2) for several stints. “I was a forestry student at the time, working my summer vacation in the karri forest. “We students were rostered one after the other, seven-days on. “We all took a crib with us up the tree, usually bread and cheese or cold sausages from the night before, a packet of Granita biscuits and a bottle of cold tea (before-thermos days). “You were allowed an hour for lunch, but nobody wanted to climb down, eat a sandwich and climb up again. “As for toilet breaks, you always went before you climbed, then if you needed a pee, you would pop down on to the rungs below the cabin and pee downwind.” Underwood said the record for climbing the Diamond Tree was held by “Winger” Symonds, a famous forestry worker, who had only one arm. “He could climb the 200 feet to the top of the tree in only about three minutes, scampering up like a squirrel.” Underwood said Gardner was “a fearsome tree, and no local would go up it”. The tree swayed like all the tree lookouts and also gyrated. “But I was only 18 and considered myself indestructible. ”Besides, I had a plan, given to me by the lookout man on Boorara Tree. “I asked him once, what would you do if your tree suddenly started to fall? ‘Nothing to it’ he replied. ‘I would ride her down until she was six inches from the ground, and then just step off’.” Over time more lookout towers were built. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions says there are still 13 fire lookout towers in operation, stretching from the Perth Hills to the south coast. Ten of these are in the high-risk bushfire zone of the South West. Aerial detection patrols began in 1972. DBCA now operates a fleet of 10 spotter aircraft, which also fly in support of bushfire suppression operations. Visitors were able to climb the Bicentennial Tree (65m), Gloucester (53m high) and Diamond (49m) treetop lookouts until they were closed due to safety concerns. The State Government recently announced $3 million for upgrades at the Gloucester and Bicentennial trees to allow climbing to reopen. A DBCA spokesperson said the department was working with engineers, arborists and other specialists to remove and replace the upper-tree towers on both trees. The trees were expected to remain closed for at least 12 months. Neither tree is still used for fire lookout purposes.