Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 1 (2022), p. 157

This is a book about a period of pioneering forestry, mostly in New Zealand. It is set in the first half of the twentieth century when timber supplies from indigenous forests were projected to run out and this catalysed a huge state planting programme in New Zealand. Mary Sutherland was at the heart of this initiative. It must have been an exciting time to be a professional forester. However, this book is much more than a study of forestry in New Zealand in the mid-twentieth century. It is about changing attitudes to forestry, about innovative research, education and silviculture, and it is also about one woman’s struggle to overcome gender bias and prejudices in what was a profession traditionally dominated, indeed almost exclusively populated, by men.

Vivien Edwards has provided a well-researched and detailed account of the life of Mary Sutherland. Born in 1893 in Stoke Newington on the outskirts of London, Mary studied forestry at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, enrolling in July 1912 and graduating in 1916. In 1918 she joined the newly created Interim Forest Authority, transferring to the experimental and research branch of the newly formed Forestry Commission in 1919. Her first job was being in charge of the Windsor Crown Woods experimental nursery. In a scenario all too familiar to modern audiences, a few years later, government expenditure was drastically reduced and many skilled and experienced foresters, including Mary, lost their jobs. Unemployed servicemen returning from the First World War were given priority for any jobs and Mary began to look overseas for work, notably to New Zealand where her sister Kate was living. Edwards points out that Mary was already well respected. John Sutherland (no relation) Assistant Commissioner for the Forestry Commission in Scotland, wrote to William Massey the prime minister of New Zealand informing him that Mary had given good service in connection with timber work during the war and in her subsequent Forestry Commission employment and that ‘she is capable and enthusiastic about whatever work she has to undertake’. Harold Dale, assistant secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries also wrote on Mary’s behalf to the assistant director of New Zealand’s Department of Agriculture, Frederick Pope. Nevertheless, it was without a job to go to that at the age of 30 Mary left Liverpool for New Zealand in 1923.

Three months after arriving Mary obtained a temporary position with the New Zealand State Forest Service, initially in a clerical role, and so began her long association with forestry in New Zealand. By 1924 Mary had been transferred to the silviculture branch, and sent to Rotorua on the North Island to undertake a study of the region’s forestry operations, from seed collection to plantation forestry. Unsurprisingly, the local conservator Halbert Goudie treated her arrival with suspicion. Not only had Mary been sent by Head Office, namely by Leon McIntosh Ellis, the Director of the New Zealand State Forest Service, but she was a graduate and a woman. Ellis however, was a supporter and something of a mentor for Mary. He complimented her on the report and she was then sent to assist at a Ranger School and then to Hanmer Springs on the South Island. Here she became very involved in promoting educational programmes for children, in particular school tree nurseries. Ironically, Mary told Ellis that the Forest Service should establish holiday camps for boys where they could learn about forest management. The proposal was not adopted.

Mary’s work on the programme of afforestation was recognized and her position was made permanent by the end of 1926. Goudie had been replaced by William Morrison and he was also unhappy about Mary reporting directly to Ellis. Clear lines of authority are essential in any organization and this apparently muddled management structure was not helping any of the staff, least of all Mary Sutherland.

Mary played an important role in ensuring that science was incorporated into New Zealand’s forest management programme. She was at the meeting in 1927 which began the process of forming a professional body, and was to play an active role in the Institute throughout her life. At this time, as well as her other duties, Mary was putting together a manual of forestation. Progress on this could not have been helped by the sudden resignation of Leon Ellis who left for Australia. He was replaced as Director by Edward Phillips Turner and Mary found herself caught between two masters, Turner and Arnold Hansson, making the completion of the manual an almost impossible task.

Forestry in New Zealand was then hit by the economic crisis of the late 1920s and early 1930s and Mary again lost her job. Whilst in the forestry service, however, she had developed contacts with the Dominium Museum in Wellington and she was offered a post as a librarian and botanist a position that became one of full-time botanist in 1935. Her work was interrupted by World War II and Mary left to do national service at the Woburn YWCA hostel. In 1946 she joined the Department of Agriculture as the department’s first farm forestry adviser. Specifically, her job was to offer advice and guidance for farm shelter, tree plantations and wood lots and to write for the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. Her work on farm forestry was ahead of its time, and it is clear that her gift for communication and her passion for public education coupled with her innate capacity for hard work made this a halcyon period in her career. Sadly, Mary Sutherland’s work was brought to a premature end. She became ill and died early in 1955 at the age of 61.

Vivien Edwards has produced a valuable biography of Mary Sutherland. It is a story of someone’s deep love of trees who had a determination to overcome antagonism and mistrust about both her gender and her graduate qualification. The book is to be recommended for anyone with an interest in land use policies in the early to mid-twentieth century, and also to those with an interest in social history and the struggle of women forging a career in a male dominated profession.