Minister for Forests (New South Wales)
former government minister in the state of New South Wales, Australia
The Minister for Forests was a ministry in New South Wales responsible for the management of forests for the purpose of the timber industry and was established in 1916 and abolished in 2019. While it was a separate portfolio for much of this period, it was generally held in conjunction with another portfolio, typically Lands or Agriculture.
History
Forests had been the responsibility of the Lands Department since 1897. In 1907 a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate the management and sustainability of forests for the purposes of the timber industry, comprising Alexander Kethel MLC, William Fehon/J A Curtis, and William Freeman. The Royal Commission found that at the rate of consumption, commercial hardwood would be exhausted in 36 years and softwood within 20 years. Their recommendations included that the administration and control of forests should be given to 3 independent commissioners instead of the Department of Lands. This recommendation was only partially implemented, with the Forestry Act 1909, creating a Forestry Department that reported to the Minister for Agriculture. The department was abolished in 1916 and replaced with the Forestry Commission which reported directly to the newly created Minister for Forests, who concurrently held the portfolio of Minister for Lands.
In 2011 the portfolio was absorbed into Lands and Water. Since 2013 forests in NSW are managed by the Forestry Corporation of NSW, a state owned corporation.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Minister for Forests (New South Wales)” is former government minister in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Minister, Forests and South, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “former government minister in the state of New South Wales, Australia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q107570255. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 2019, 1897 and 1907.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Minister for Forests (New South Wales)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Minister for Forests (New South Wales) primary sources, Minister for Forests (New South Wales) archive and Minister research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Minister for Forests (New South Wales)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.