Geoffrey Corry interviewed by Gregg Borschmann in the People's forest oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 2984255
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Corry, Geoffrey, 1926-2007, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 1995 March 2
- 2 digital audio tapes (ca. 180 min.)
- Series:
- People's forest oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Corry, timber worker, speaks about his family's involvement in the timber river trade along the Murray River since the late 1800s; his father and uncle starting in the saw milling business (later known as Corry Brothers Sawmillers) in 1914 at Bunyip, Vic., where he later started work at age 14 years; community life at the bush saw mill; growing up between Killarney, Vic. and Bendigo, Vic.; his move to Echuca on the Murray River for work with the bullock teams in connection with the sawmill. Corry recalls a number of sawmills operating along the river a few miles apart cutting mainly sleepers for export to India and China; how timber cutting and saw milling was a seasonal job, regular flooding of the Murray River having a great impact on the timber trade; use of puntoons till the late 1940s to transport logs down river.
Corry speaks about the importance of the bullock teams as late as 1948, noting that there was nothing to gain by mechanising at that stage; the railways being the backbone of the sawmilling industry; the Depression years when government created unemployment relief jobs such as thinning gangs, employed to clear the forest floors; with WWII the demand for timber became urgent, the timber industry being classified as a priority 3 job (i.e. essential service); forest management practices of experienced bushmen working in the timber industry throughout the first half of the 1900s. Corry gives his views on conservation issues and current forestry management practices and how these issues have been dealt with in the past.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on 2 March 1995 in Echuca, Vic.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-217052738
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Transcript (typescript, 67 leaves). Timed summary available.
- Subject:
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Borschmann, Gregg (Gregg John), 1955-, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the People's forest oral history project.
This collection contains 93 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2065 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1995
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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