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by Enrico Hoover (Author)
New Zealand's oldest and (for a while anyway), largest industry was Forestry. From European navies looking to re-mast their ships, to settlers needing to clear land for pasture, from building bridges to making houses, and then furniture to fill their homes, our first and biggest resource was timber.
People were needed to manage this resource, and that labour was always in short supply. Enter the training schemes that would produce Forest Rangers, Deer Cullers and Woodsmen.
For over 30 years, boys leaving school were invited to learn the 'Skilled Crafts of Forestry' and they attended a number of Woodsman Schools throughout the country. Many of them, if not most, became the backbone of Forestry's management structure.
The work was hard, the pay low, the food often terrible, but they thrived on learning new skills.
With the sale of Forests to private industry, the training schemes were abandoned in the 80's but these men kept on doing what they had always done, they work hard and play hard.
They were the WOODSMEN. This book is about their journey.
