Site launched in January 2026

This blog contains short stories written by Michael Bleby, collected over his 40 year career as a forester in South Australia.

Life as an operational forester involved many and varied contacts with people which sometimes had nothing to do with growing trees. These accounts typify the interesting and unusual incidents and events that arose during everyday life on a Forest District.

Michael graduated in Forestry from ANU in 1970 and worked in SA Radiata Pine industry for 40 years, in the South East, the mid North of SA and the Mt Lofty Ranges. His career spanned all aspects of forest operations, fire protection, and nursery management. He was District Forester at Mt Crawford and at Mt Burr during the extensive replanting of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire area. Subsequently he worked in Operations Development, Harvesting and Sales, in the Green Triangle. After retiring he lectured in Forest Operations for Southern Cross University, served on the South East Natural Resources Board, the SE Water Conservation & Drainage Board - and is a writer of Forestry memoirs. 

Michael H. Bleby   OAM
B.Sc For (ANU) FIFA, JP