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by Morris Lake #7634
Highlights of the 2018 Kalgoorlie-Boulder Meeting  Group photo of the conference attendees gathered at the Credo Station after having an agreeable lunch provided by the Goldfields
SpecialtyTimber Industry Group This unique site for the IWCS
Australasian Conference and Annual General Meeting, Sunday 16th – Saturday 22nd September, 2018, attracted 42 members to the great western woodlands of Western Australia for what turned out to be an exhilarating meeting.
Members arrived by plane, train, four-wheel drive—with many towing a caravan—and Kalgoorlie was an unforgettable experience. Adding to this, no one expected to be entering a multimillion hectare "woodland" in the "dead heart" of the driest continent on this planet. David Munzberg pointed out, Kalgoorlie-Boulder is one of the most remote cities in the world (in the Goldfields region is south eastern WA). This meeting was possibly the most remote IWCS meeting held in the world—WOW. Also, most of us left home in a near record-breaking drought—and the two superlatives just never appear together—desert and woodland. Surprise number one. But here we were—so let's get on with the story.
This unique site for the IWCS Australasian Conference and Annual General Meeting, Sunday 16th – Saturday 22nd September, 2018, attracted 42
members to the great western woodlands of Western Australia for what turned out to be an exhilarating meeting. Members arrived by plane, train, four-wheel drive—with many towing a caravan—and Kalgoorlie was an unforgettable experience. Adding to this, no one expected to be entering a multimillion hectare "woodland" in the "dead heart" of the driest continent on this planet. David Munzberg pointed out, Kalgoorlie-Boulder is one of the most remote cities in the world (in the Goldfields region is south eastern WA). This meeting was possibly the most remote IWCS meeting held in the world—WOW. Also, most of us left home in a near record-breaking drought—and the two superlatives just never appear together—desert and woodland. Surprise number one. But here we were—so let's get on with the story.
On Sunday, for those arriving early, we all met at the Goldfields Art Centre, which was to be our conference centre for the week—and a beautifully apportioned community centre this was. The layout and preparations began, with greetings all-round.
Monday started with a visit to the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, where we were introduced to a bronze statue of Patrick "Paddy" Hannan who was the gold prospector whose lucrative discovery of gold on 14 June 1893, near Kalgoorlie, set off a major gold rush in the area.
We were then shown through the old Town Hall and received a comprehensive history of the 125 years of gold mining in the now city of Kalgoorlie and its surrounding 'flat earth'.
During the evening session the Mayor of the City of Kalgoorlie- Boulder, John Bowler welcomed us and opened the meeting. John Lyons, the AustralAsia trustee, presented him with a gift (made of 17 species of wood from the Goldfields area) and thanked him for the generous contribution to the conference.
Mick Cotter, OAM (Order of Australia) and former MP (Member of the Parliament) for Kalgoorlie, spoke about the early days around Kalgoorlie. He told what it was like during his early life in the area as a pastoralist, miner, prospector and contractor before his election to Canberra in 1975. He introduced those present to the era of "woodlines".
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