^.'P,'''] Pyesidential Address. 55 



1920 J J J 



of some rare species of plants and animals endangered. 

 Incidentally, however, it follows that access to remote parts 

 of the State will become easier for the naturalist, and the 

 records of natural history pioneer work of such as Sir 

 Ferdinand von Mueller * or Dr. George Neumayer f will in time 

 read like romance. 



While bay and estuary and lake remain, therefore, much as 

 before — the silting up of the Gippsland Lakes being a very slow 

 process — the river and creek of the uplands, the small billabong 

 and anabranch of the plains or river flats, and all that is in 

 them or in their immediate environment, may fare badly before 

 many interesting problems have been solved. But at least 

 there should be left to us the forest reserves ; and this brings 

 me to the part of my address on which I would place most 

 emphasis. 



The Victorian reserved forest area J is about 4I million acres, 

 or, roughly, about 6,500 square miles, equal to, approximately, 

 one-thirteenth of the total area of the State — little enough 

 when compared with that of many other countries. In this 

 wealth of woodlands even the chief of the many commercial 

 assets is not fully understood, for the eucalypts (to say nothing 

 of their associates), whether in respect of their morphology, 

 physiology, ecology, or economics, have not yielded all their 

 secrets. With 4! milhon acres of land reserved we may feel 

 fairly safe against settlement (the area of forest land that can 

 be practically settled under provisions of the Discharged Soldiers 

 Settlement Act being negligible), but drought and fire and the 

 exigencies of timber famine have to be reckoned with, as well 

 as destruction by animals and by vegetable parasites, &c. And 

 this is where the Club's future usefulness might be maniferted. 



First as to collective and individual responsibility. In order 

 to be a custodian of the forests it is not necessary to have a 

 " gazetted " appointment. Are we not too prone to think of 

 the ownership of the forests with an air of detachment, as 

 affecting the property of the Government ? The forests are 

 the property of the people. Every member of this Club is part 

 owner, with, presumably, an intelligent interest in bis property, 

 or at least with a desire to know and appreciate it. They are 

 not a speculative concern. We cannot sell our shares ; our 

 liability is unlimited. Part of our income tax is money 

 invested in this property, which we are bound to guard, 

 cherish, and improve with as much /est as though it were a 

 sheep farm, a factory, or a dwelling-house. Now, all the zeal 

 and expert scientific treatment whieli we may have at our 

 command in the directorate an- of little effect unless backed 



* Vide Barnard, Vict. Nat., xxi., p. 17. 



t Vide Barnard, Vict. Nat., xx.xiv., \^. 185. 



I Vide Hardy, " Forests of Victoria," Vict. Nat., xxxii., pp. 69, uu. 



