ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection

HMSS 0272 Forest Research Institute Photograph Album

Scope and Content Notes

Dr Darcy Ananda Neil Cromer was director of the Forest Research Institute 1963-1970.  The Forest Research Institute was formed in 1964, from the silviculture and forest resources divisions of the Forestry and Timber Bureau. In February 1970 Neil Cromer became Director General of the Forestry and Timber Bureau, retiring in 1975. In 1975 the Forest Research Institute and the Forestry and Timber Bureau formed the CSIRO Division of Forest Research.

Neil Cromer studied forestry at the Australian Forestry School, Canberra, enrolling in 1930 and was a close colleague of Lyndsay Prior.

He oversaw the construction of a headquarters for the Forest Research Institute, which was opened in Yarralumla in 1967.

The album in this collection is of black and white images of the construction and opening of the Forest Research Institute.  The photographer was Institute employee Allan G. Edward.  The album was presented to Cromer as a memento of the building's completion.

It was donated by Dr Cromer's daughter, Wendy Benson, in 2004.