Last week the Ecko Rd forestry cottage was demolished, bringing to a close almost 100 years of local and state history.
The single-storey timber weatherboard was built in 1933 for the then District Forest Officer, Allan Cuthbert Harris, who later on became the Conservator for Forests.
Mr Harris was responsible for reversing the thirty-year state fire exclusion policy from WA forests, replacing it with 10 percent annual broad-based, rotational prescribed burning.
He also introduced the idea of aerial ignition to the world. And later on, he was instrumental in securing the State Forest estate.
In the mid-1950s, the CSIRO established a regional research and field station on the lot beside Mr Harris’s house.
By 1975 this became a designated research laboratory and, from this humble Mt Nasura location, the Division of Forest Research successfully determined the aetiology of the fungus causing Jarrah dieback and ways to prevent its spread.
The lot Mr Harris’ forestry cottage occupied has been owned by the Department of Health since 2006, who outlined a long-term plan to use the site for the future expansion of the Armadale Hospital.
But for now, the site will be planted out as parkland-cleared landscape.
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Sad day as piece of Armadale forestry history set to be demolished
