Ray Else-Mitchell
Springwood
resident Ray Else-Mitchell loved the magnificent Blue Gums across
the street from his home, and was shocked, one day in the early
1950s, to find the land owner showing logging contractors around the
property. Determined to save the trees, he donated enough money to
Council to purchase the blocks of the land for a public park. A
neighbouring landowner, Mr Miller, donated part of his property, and
Else- Mitchell Park was created.
Development of the Springwood industrial estate in the 1970s
resulted in the loss of a large area of Blue Gum Forest on part of
40 ha granted to explorer William Lawson in 1834. In 1978, when a
townhouse development was planned for the last 13 hectares of this
patch, concerned members of the community pointed out the site’s
considerable ecological and historical significance, and
extraordinary natural beauty. Council eventually purchased the land
to preserve the forest: this became Deanei Reserve |