THANK YOU TO KILCOY SHOW SOCIETY FOR A GREAT KILCOY SHOW
The Jimna Fire Tower Action Group (JFTAG) wishes to congratulate the Kilcoy Show Society committee, for putting on such a wonderful show last Saturday.The near continuous flow of people visiting the Jimna Fire Tower and Historical stall, was testimony of both the solid public support for the show,and the keen interest in issues such as the future of the Jimna Fire Tower.Sincere thanks also to Arthur Leis the legendary builder, who spent thirty five years building fire towers throughout Queensland, Arthur who is now eighty years young, travelled from Nambour to share his wealth of knowledge and awe inspiring experiences, with special mention of his crowning achievement, the completion of the grandest, the tallest,and the most imposing fire tower ever built,the Heritage Listed Jimna Fire Tower.
Arthur’s incredible story, which included the construction of twenty eight fire towers from 1957 till 1991,along with the rich history of the Forestry Industry, surely deserves to be recorded and publicly displayed for posterity.JFTAG could not suggest, or think of a more natural and fitting location for such a display than on the site of a redeveloped, and publicly accessible Jimna Fire Tower
Arthur has been honoured by the then Department of Forestry, for his innovative methods at a time when construction manuals were non existent and all carpentry work was done with handsaws and augurs, and also for his design of the three legged tower, which was not only cheaper to build, but had a greater bracing capacity than the original four legged structures. THE ARTHURIAN TOWERS, named in recognition of Arthurs dedication and passion for his calling, has brought international status to Queenslands three legged fire towers ,believed to be the only towers of their type in the world.
With Queensland’s fire towers being replaced by modern technology such as camera and satellite surveillance, it is only a matter of time before all fire towers are demolished and an era in the development of our multi billion dollar forestry industry is lost forever. We can only hope that the engineers at Forestry Plantations Queensland (FPQ) who are currently assessing public safety factors and future ownership options for the Historically significant Jimna Fire Tower, have inherited similar values fostered by Forestry pioneers such as the highly respected Arthur Leis.