Waaje Fire Tower No.4 is a heritage-listed fire lookout tower at Barakula State Forest, Barakula, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1964 by Arthur Leis. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 January 2018.
History Waaje Fire Tower No.4, located in Barakula State Forest over north-northwest of Chinchilla, is a four-legged timber (Type G) fire tower with cabin, with single-length grey ironbark poles and a total height of approximately . It was erected in May 1964 by Arthur Leis, for the Queensland Forestry Department, to help pinpoint fire outbreaks within valuable native forest. It was the first Queensland fire tower to exceed in height, and is now the tallest surviving intact four-legged timber fire tower, the tallest Queensland timber fire tower with single-length poles, and the last intact 1960s four-legged timber fire tower. It and the other staffed fire towers in Queensland have been rendered obsolete by a shift to using remote camera surveillance to detect fires, instead of on-site human observers.In the "Brigalow Belt Bioregion Forestry and Timber Industry Cultural Heritage Assessment Project. Significance Indicator Assessment Workshop Workbook", Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, January 2003, (QPWS Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage Assessment Form 16) it was referred to as Waaje Fire Tower No.1.
Barakula State Forest, established in 1907, was part of Queensland Government's efforts to conserve native forests for sustainable forestry. Of Queensland's natural resources, timber was the most obvious and abundant to the first Europeans, and the timber industry played a vital role in the economic development of Queensland, while also providing its most important building material. From the earliest days of non-Indigenous occupation, Queensland's native timbers were exploited; by timber getters, as well as by settlers clearing agricultural or pastoral land. The first timber reserves, gazetted in 1870, were aimed at protecting timber for future railway use.J Powell, People and trees: a thematic history of South east Queensland with particular reference to forested areas, 1823-1997, Queensland CRA/RFA Steering Committee, 1998, p.21 The construction of railways, which both promoted closer settlement and increased access to timber resources, also used hardwood timber for sleepers.
Efforts began in the late 19th century to save the timber resource from being totally exhausted. The Crown Lands Act 1876 prohibited cutting of certain species on vacant Crown Land or pastoral leases, and placed girth limits on cutting pine and cedar, while the Crown Lands Act 1884 enabled the Queensland Government to reserve State Forests on Crown Land, and seek royalties from licensed timber getters on Crown Lands. However, these laws could not compete with the dominant philosophy of the time, which was to promote settlement and development. By 1885, there were 161 Timber Reserves (covering 636,484ha) and 16 State Forests (81,980ha) but the 1880s were also boom years for timber exploitation in Queensland.Powell, People and trees, pp.10-32'Timber', Thematic document prepared for State Wide Survey, North Coast Region, Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, 2007Crown Lands Act 1884 (Sections 95, 131).
During the 1890s there was increased concern that government revenue was being lost to unregulated timber exploitation.Powell, People and trees, p.36. The creation of the Forestry Branch in 1900 within the Lands Department represented a shift in approach. While the responsibility for leasing timber reserves and reservation of Crown Lands for forestry initially stayed with the Lands Department, the Forestry Branch became responsible for reforestation, research, land acquisition, the control and prohibition of fires, surveys, timber harvesting and marketing (including roads and logging), sawmill licenses, and (eventually) national park management.Powell, People and trees, p.103Queensland State Archives Agency ID383, "Lands Department, Forestry Department" The first staff consisted of an Inspector of Forests and two Forest Rangers. Forestry staff numbers were: 5 in 1906, 1900 in 1939, and 2127 in 1965–1966.Powell, People and Trees, pp.42, 122
Phillip MacMahon's appointment as Director of Forests (1905–10) marked the beginning of professional forestry in Queensland, and Minister for Lands Joshua Bell introduced the "State Forests and National Parks Bill" in November 1906. This allowed the permanent reservation of Crown Land for State Forests and National Parks, within which alienation of land was prohibited without an Act of Parliament, although there were special purpose and occupation licenses. Holders of leases and licenses could not cut timber without authorisation. The State Forests and National Parks Act 1906 took effect on 1 January 1907.
The quality of the ironbark trees in the Chinchilla District had been commented on in 1906 by FW Wade, State Forest Ranger, when he inspected the country north of the Western Railway between Chinchilla and Miles.The Western Railway had reached Miles by August 1878. The main trees in this area at the time were narrow-leafed ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata) and red and black cypress pine (Callitris spp). Ironbark (a fire tolerant hardwood) and cypress pine (a fire sensitive softwood) were already being cut, with new sawmills opening in the area.'Chinchilla District timber. State Forest Ranger's report. A valuable area'. Brisbane Courier, 17 July 1906, p.2 In 1935 it was also reported that there were large supplies of valuable timber such as cypress pine, spotted gum, and narrow leaf ironbark, in the Dalby forestry district.'Dalby District forest reserves. Training of juvenile workers', Dalby Herald, 15 November 1935, p.4
On 8 June 1907, a Reserve for a State Forest was created in the Dalby and Taroom Land Agent's Districts, under The State Forests and National Parks Act 1906, covering 479 square miles (306,560 acres or 124,060ha), in the counties of Newcastle, Auburn, Lytton; and the parishes of Coondarra, Goldsmith, Malcolm, Macdonald, Ballon and Burncluith.Powell, People and trees, pp.43-5The State Forests and National Parks Act, 1906Queensland Government Gazette, 1907. In 1908 the first National Parks were declared in Queensland: Witches Falls National Park at Tamborine Mountain and Bunya Mountains National Park.Powell, People and trees, p.46 Barakula State Forest was the largest in Queensland and it remains so in 2017, covering 283,500ha.DNRM Survey Plan FTY1964, 2012. It is also the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1908 the next largest State Forest, of 46,720 acres (18,907ha), was on the Blackdown Tableland Forest Reserve in the Rockhampton District.'Reserved for Forestry', Morning Bulletin, 17 March 1908, p.4
By 1912, a railway had been built into the State Forest, from Chinchilla, in order to obtain hardwood sleepers for the railways, and the terminus was named Barakula, the Aboriginal term for "big timber". A timber mill was also established at Barakula by the Queensland Government, and the State Forest was called Barakula State Forest by 1927.'An extensive forest', Brisbane Courier, 11 August 1908, p.4'Railway from Chinchilla. Light line to forest reserve. Matter promised consideration', Darling Downs Gazette, 11 November 1911, p.5'Stray gleanings', Darling Downs Gazette, 30 July 1912, p.7'Barakula State Mills to be closed immediately', Brisbane Courier, 27 March 1917, p.6'Forest Service. Open'. Brisbane Courier, 8 March 1927, p.6'Timber for the Railways', Queensland Times, 12 November 1927, p.8.
During the early 20th century, there was increased government concern about the depletion of native timber supplies. Under Norman William Jolly and then Edward Swain as Director of Forests (1911–1918, and 1918–1932 respectively), the Queensland Government established native softwood (hoop pine) plantations and attempted to regenerate native forest areas. The Forestry Branch applied silvicultural (forest cultivation) improvement regimes, including ringbarking old and unproductive trees, regeneration burns, and slashing new growth competing with seedlings.'SE2.5, Wood and Wood Products Industry background and situation analysis, final report', Queensland CRA/RFA Steering Committee, 1998, p.8. www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/rfa/regions/qld.../qld_se_se25.pdf (accessed 21 June 2017). Under Swain, offices were established in six forestry regions: Atherton, Brisbane, Bundaberg-Rockhampton, Gympie, Maryborough, and Dalby (Barakula State Forest lies within the latter).Powell, People and trees, pp.49-59, 103'Forestry Annual Report 1979-80', Appendix 1 By 1919 there were five nurseries, 27 plantations, and 23 regeneration areas.Powell, People and trees, p.59
Part of the work of the Forestry Branch, and its later incarnations, was protecting plantations and State Forests from fire. The Provisional Forestry Board was created in 1924 with Forestry becoming a sub-department of the Department of Lands in 1932, and an independent department in 1957.Powell, People and trees, pp.65, 76, 103Queensland State Archives Agency ID383, 'Lands Department, Forestry Department' Consideration was given to the need for effective fire protection as early as 1911, when it was discussed at an Interstate Conference on Forestry held in Sydney.'Jimna Fire Tower', QHR 601814. As the new Forestry Branch initially had few resources, fire protection was limited to roads and firebreaks, with fire spotters operating from natural high points and trees. During the 1930s, the Forestry Branch applied a fire exclusion policy, where fire breaks were created adjacent to the forest to be protected, with no burn-offs within the State Forest or reserve. The early detection of any wildfires within the protected forests was thus vital. This policy continued into the 1940s and 1950s but a series of bad fires in the 1950s and early 1960s led to a reappraisal of the exclusion policy (which had led to a build-up of dry fuel for fires) and a change to controlled burning in suitable weather.P Holzworth, Silent Sentinels. The story of Queensland's forest fire towers and the people who built them, Brisbane, DPI Forestry, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2006, pp.9-10 Experiments in controlled burning occurred in the late 1950s.Powell, People and trees, p.106
The requirement for early fire detection in Queensland led to the construction of lookouts, lowset fire cabins, and cabins on towers, which would work alongside improved communications, firebreaks, fire huts with water tanks, and access roads for fire-fighting.'Brigalow Belt Bioregion Forestry and Timber Industry Cultural Heritage Assessment Project', QPWS Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage Assessment Form 12, "Turkey Mountain Fire Cabin No.6". The first official lookout station was at Observation Hill, at Good Night Scrub State Forest west of Bundaberg, in 1931. A high four-legged timber fire tower with a cabin and telephone was built in 1933–4 at Wongabel, the first of its kind in Queensland; and the first standard design timber ground cabin, Watalgan Fire Cabin No.4, was built in the Littabella Forest Reserve in 1935.Holzworth, Silent Sentinels, p.8'Queensland Fire Observation Structures, Cultural Heritage Significance Assessment Project Report', EPA QPWS, and DPI Forestry, 14 December 2004, pp.49, 55 Wongabel Fire Tower No.1 (demolished) was in the Barron State Forest. Watalgan Fire Cabin No.4 may no longer exist; in 2004 it was reported that it was last seen in 1997, and may have been destroyed by fire.'Queensland Fire Observation Structures, Cultural Heritage Significance Assessment Project Report', p.34