01 June 2021
All associated with the Trust are delighted to be
marking the 50th anniversary at a celebration in Canberra at the
National Press Club on 22nd June 2021.
The evening will be hosted by the current Trustees
Suzette Weeding, John Simon, Brian Farmer, Nils Gunnersen, James Malone, Carlie
Porteous and Cara Pearson. The chair Suzette Weeding will do the honours with
an address of thanks and celebration of the Trust’s significant impact and benefit
for the industry and a look into the future.
Since establishment successive committed Trustees have
continued to secure the build-up of trust funds which are invested in
supporting people to investigate innovative ideas and come forward with projects
that may advance the industry. Among the ranks of former trustees are industry
luminaries as Western Australia’s Denis Cullity (snr) who still resides in
Perth, Peter Gunnersen, Warren Hyne and Glenn Britton who are no longer with us.
The anniversary event major sponsor Wesbeam has
been joined by sponsors Forico, Hyne Timber and ForestOne to make the event
possible. “The generosity and goodwill of the sponsors has made this special
event possible,” said Suzette Weeding, chair of trustees. “We are delighted
that firms with decades long links to the Gottstein Trust will join us on the
night as well as those who are newer to the fold.”
Marking three generations of involvement with the
Trust, the Culliity family will be represented by Denis (jnr) at the
celebration, his grandfather Thomas Cullity (who founded Cullity Timbers in
1928 which has evolved into Wesbeam) was one of three signatories to the
founding trust fund deed in 1971 alongside CSIRO’s then Forest Products
division chief Robert WR Muncey and Edvard Alstergren of Softwood Holdings, an
innovative timber industry firm that was founded by the Alstergren, LeMessurier
and Gunnersen families.
It is hoped a CSIRO representative will attend via
communications with chief executive Dr. Larry Marshall. Bill Gottstein was an
esteemed CSIRO Forest Products research scientist, and the organisation gave
extensive support managing the affairs of the trust for decades.
The Gunnersen family is another with deep linkages.
Current trustee Nils Gunnersen’s father Thorry Gunnersen was an early Gottstein
fellowship recipient in 1977. “My father’s project was a study tour to north
America investigating the role forest-based industries were playing in the
“conservation debate” and in land-use decision making as it applied to forests;
in order that policy recommendations be made to the Australian industry,” said
Mr Gunnersen. He succeeded his uncle Peter Gunnersen as a trustee when he stood
down as chair more than a decade ago; and later Nils followed his uncle Peter’s
footsteps with a term as chair. He is a non-executive director of Midway
Limited which is a patron donor company to the Trust. Midway has also sponsored
a place for an ANU forestry science master’s graduate in the upcoming Gottstein
Understanding Wood Science course.
Representatives from the Trust’s valued industry
donors are expected to shake off Canberra’s cold June winter air and enjoy the
warmth of the 50th celebration. Among others attending will be Gottstein
fellowship alumni from various states.
A special Zoom networking event will celebrate the 50th anniversary will be held later this year for fellowship alumni. We hope former
fellowship recipients will make contact so we can invite them to be a part of more
active networking for peers, hosted by the Trust.
ENDS