Pre-FCV Organisation

The content of this article is taken entirely from the Handbook of Forestry in Victoria, 1928.

"A summary of the changes of control to which the forests have been subjected is appended hereunder, as it goes far to explain the disabilities under which the forest administration previously laboured, and will make clear the position faced by the Commission at the time of its appointment.

1876 - Forests controlled by the Department of Agriculture, which was then a branch of the Lands and Survey Department.
1880 - Forests Branch under the Lands Department.
1884 - Forests Branch under the Department of Agriculture.
1888 - Forests Branch under the Lands Department.
1891 - Forests Branch under the Mines Department.
1893 - Forests Branch under the Lands Department.
1903 - Forests Branch under the Department of Agriculture.
1905 - Forests Branch under the Mines Department.
1908 - A separate Forests Department under a Minister for Forests.
1919 - Forests placed under the control of Forests Commission.

As a result of the dual control existing up to 1908, and the continual buffeting from one Department to another, any constructive policy was out of the question."