Tree Farmer of the Year
Property: 'Mounefontein' Kingaroy, Queensland
Mounefontein is a 5,156ha beef cattle held by the McLaughlin family for over 100 years west of Kingaroy. It was the practice in early years to remove trees by ring-barking or arsenic poisoning to encourage greater growth of grass. The property's timber resource was regarded as a reserve for periods of financial stress such as a fall in cattle prices, with little concern about managing it for future timber productivity. John and Jane realised that the supply of timber for property use was going to become a problem in the future if stands of better quality stems were not retained.
