Swain, Edward Harold Fulcher   (1883 - 1970)

Born in Sydney, N.S.W., on 6 April 1883 and died in Brisbane, Qld, on 3 July 1970.

His first appointment was as a cadet forester with the then Department of Forestry, NSW, in 1899, but he rose to District Forester in charge of the North West Forestry District (1911-16).

Then he became District Forest Inspector in the Forestry Department of Queensland (1916-18). In the period 1918-24 he was Director of Forests and later Chairman of the Forestry Board until 1932.

Then he was sole Commissioner of Forests in New South Wales from 1935 until he was 65 in 1948.

After his retirement he did several tasks for the F.A.O., including a stint in Ethiopia.

Swain was a man of considerable ability and tremendous drive and capacity for work. Whilst he did not have tertiary qualifications in forestry he had matriculated at the University of Sydney (1900), attended that University (1901) and was an honours graduate in botany at Sydney Technological College (1902), besides having passed the New South Wales Public Service examination in forestry (1899) and gained a first class pass in the District Foresters' examination (1906). In those days Australia did not have a university course in forestry.

An indication of his enthusiasm for anything he took up was that when he considered he did not have sufficient background in forest botany he undertook work at the National Herbarium, Sydney, from 10 May to 3 August 1904.

There is no question that he made a notable impact on forestry in Australia, but due to conflict with political authorities and the Public Service Board in New South Wales his stormy period of office negated to some extent the excellent results he attained in management and silviculture.

Amongst his writings the one with possibly the most lasting value was the Timbers and Forest Products of Queensland (1928), a book for which C. J. J. Watson of the Forest Department of the State did much of the detailed examination of timber properties. Another book on a somewhat similar topic was Universal Index of Wood (1923).

Excerpts from Swain's application for the position of District Forest inspector in the Gympie and Nanango Districts.
13 October 1916:

"I am an Australian, thirty-three years of age, married and occupy at present the position of District Forester in the New South Wales Forest Service. I have had seventeen years' experience of forestry, forestry administration, the major portion of it being among eucalypus and hoop pine forests of the North Coast of NSW.
Being a close student and omnivorous reader of forestry literature, I offer evidence of my interest in the subject in my private forestry library, which is probably the most extensive in Australia.
In the USA I attended a special course at the Forestry School, University of Montana, and subsequently carried out an exhaustive investigation into American forest practice and administration, I have visitod also New Zealand and Queensland and have made some inquiry into forestry matters in those places. I am the author of the papers on the forestry systems of both countries.
I am a mnember of the Royal Society of NSW and he holder of the only Higher Grade Diploma of Forestry in NSW. My applications for the degree of Batchelor of Science in Forestry from the Univensity of Montana ... is pending.
It is also, perhaps, some recommendation as to my administration capacity, that I have secured the loyal and enthusiastic cooperation of my officers who are prepared to follow me to any State, should I leave NSW and should there be openings for them."

Source: Extracted from:
Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. CSIRO, Melbourne.
Huth, J. (2022) 'As We Were - prose, poetry and people, from Queensland's Forest History', p.123-127.
Queensland State Archives, Item No. 934639.
Portrait Photo: c.1948, from Huth book above.

Collecting localities for 'Swain, E.H.F.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 633 specimens