Photo from University
Year Book
Year Book
Vic Jurskis with his family
Vic Jurskis has written about 20 papers, some in cooperation with other colleagues, which are published in journals and other formats, many in "Australian Forestry". He has addressed conferences such as the "3rd International Wildland Fire Conference" and the "Joint Australia and New Zealand Institute of Forestry Conference" in 2003. Vics main field of interest is in forest health and fire management in Australian forests. He has been involved in research of forest regeneration and growth, forest decline, prescribed burning for biodiversity and protection of society, koalas, smoky mice and mistletoes.
Vic Jurskis has agreed to share his life and interests with the readers. Isolde Poželaitė-Davis AM has conducted the interview.
ID: When did your parents come to Australia and where were you born?
VJ: My parents came to Australia after WW II. My mother Konstancija Kunigunda Jurskis, née Brundžaitė, was among the first Lithuanian migrants who came to Australia in December 1947 on the SS "General Stuart Heintzelman". After a few days in Freemantle, they boarded the HMAS "Kanimbla" and came to Melbourne on the 07.12.1947. On their arrival, they were greeted by the then Minister for Immigration, the Hon. Arthur A.Calwell. A photo of mum in Lithuanian national dress, shaking hands with Arthur Caldwell was reproduced in a story about the ALP in the Sydney Morning Herald (8.5.2001). My father Vytautas Jurskis came to Sydney, Australia, in 1948 on board the SS "Wooster Victory". My parents were married in Camperdown, New South Wales, in 1952. I was born in Cooma in 1955. I have an older brother Paul, who is a Certified Computer Technician, and a younger sister Annemarie Jonson, MA (UTS) MA (Sydney), who is a writer on the arts and has been a lecturer in the Arts Informatics Program at UTS, Macquarie and Sydney Universities.
Vic Jurskis in a forest near the Clarence River
VJ: I loved playing football ( rugby league, rugby union), fishing and bushwalking.
ID: Where did you attend Primary and Secondary Schools?
VJ: I went to St Patricks Primary School in Port Kembla and then to Chevalier College (Boarding School) in Bowral and finally to Edmund Rice College in Wollongong.
ID: What did particularly attract you to tertiary education in your chosen field?
VJ: In 1973 I went to Wollongong University. Then from 1974 to 1976 to the Australian National University in Canberra, where I obtained my B.Sc.(Forestry) degree. A career adviser at college suggested forestry as an interesting career, because I did well at science and liked being in the bush. His advice sounded good to me.
ID: How did your professional career develop?
VJ: When I graduated from university, I started working as a fieldworker in pine plantations around Lithgow. A couple of years later, the Forestry Commisssion advertised for some additional graduate foresters and I was appointed as a junior forester at Casino. From 1979 to 1985 I worked as a forester at various locations on the far north coast, managing coastal native forests (rainforest and eucalypt).
Vic Jurskis in a forest
Between 1996 and 2002 I was Planning Manager for the Eden Region, doing strategic planning for native forest management. Since 2002 I have worked as Silviculturist in native forests throughout NSW, but continue to work from Eden. I provide advice, direction, education and monitoring relevant to silviculture policy and practice, and have a particular interest in forest health management and fire ecology. In 2004 I was awarded a Fellowship by the Gottstein Trust to examine forest health issues in Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.
I have published scientific articles in various journals and other publications, the most recent being a review of forest decline in "Forest Ecology and Management". I have also presented papers at various conferences in Australia and New Zealand, including the "XXII Congress of International Union Forest Research Organisations" in Brisbane in August, 2005.
With IUFRO (International Union Forest
Research Organisations) Congress delegates
Research Organisations) Congress delegates
VJ: Well, my wife Wendy has had to look after the family and home while Ive often been away. She has been very good at it. We were married at Lithgow in 1981 and our eldest son Steven was born in Lismore in 1982. David was also born in Lismore in 1984, while our daughter Vicki was born in Cobar in 1985 and Lisa in Pambula in 1988.
ID: Your wife Wendy must be an exceptionally good organiser in moving house, seeing that your four children were born in different places. So, have you time to pursue your hobbies?
VJ: Unfortunately I have little time for hobbies at present. Wendy does most of the home brewing and bottling, so I can enjoy a beer while doing a bit of gardening. However, in a few years time I might take up fishing again and travel around Australia.
ID: What goals would you like to reach in the future?
VJ: I would like to see forestry recognised as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable industry on the planet; I also would like to see improved management of public forests, especially National Parks. Country Music Singer Ernie Constance has very well described our present attitude concerning National Parks. The words of his song hit the nail on the head:
" ..lock it up and let it burn when wildfires are ablaze....
The conservation movement should hang its head in shame
Just lock it up and let it burn in conservations name."
The conservation movement should hang its head in shame
Just lock it up and let it burn in conservations name."
ID: Thank you, Vic, for sharing with us your concerns for Australias greatest assets - the wonderful forests of this great island continent.
Isolde Poželaitė - Davis AM
Sydney, 29.09.2005