Speaker: Joanna Lyngcoln, Manager, Heritage (Bushfire Recovery), Department of Transport and Planning.
Sadly we lost the stringers knob fire spotting Tower when the 2019-20 Black summer fires came through along with 1.4 million hectares of land that was lost.
Stringer's knob fast spotting Tower was on the Victorian Heritage register and it was recognized for its significance in history and also
the technical significance of how it was constructed.
So, the tower itself was an extraordinary piece of technology for its time. It was constructed in 1941 in response to the 1939 fires.
So, it lasted for so long and it was an absolute tragedy for the local community and also for the firefighting Community to lose this Tower we feel that the story and the social significance is so important that it will retain its registration.
Speaker: Garry Carr, Senior Forest Management Officer, Snowny District.
When we first came to the site the site was Bare of all vegetation trees were standing like black sticks in the landscape. So it would have been quite a horrific place to be during the fires.
Speaker: Joanna Lyngcoln, Manager, Heritage (Bushfire Recovery), Department of Transport and Planning.
We lost the Hut, we'd lost a majority of the tower timber itself, but there was still enough left on the ground that we could conserve.
Speaker: Garry Carr, Senior Forest Management Officer, Snowny District.
The people that used to work in the tower, their role was to basically spot fires across the landscape through a series of towers on high points across the countryside, they would radio in a bearing when a fire was detected, a smoke was detected, and a bearing from a second tower would be used across reference where that smoke was in the landscape.
It was a very unique design number of stay wires to keep it stable.
In the 40s to the late 60s, it would only have radio communication. So, yeah would have been a lonely existence at times, but an important one to further protection of community and assets across the landscape.
Speaker: Joanna Lyngcoln, Manager, Heritage (Bushfire Recovery), Department of Transport and Planning.
And, I think this site is a terrific acknowledgment of firefighting in Gippsland as well as in this particular spot, and we really look forward to people coming up and and visiting and having a look.
Page last updated: 14/03/23