The extract below is taken from Glimpses of a glorious Past a PDF book by my friend Prem Rao:
”The area around Lovedale was thickly forested and the school was blessed over time to acquire around 750+ acres which earlier generations of school boys explored to the full. The early British settlers saw the danger of deforestation as Ooty and Coonoor developed. They recognized the need to have rapidly growing trees and introduced trees like the Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), wattle (Acacia dealbata), and blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus). It was reported that in 1849-50, 20,000 Blackwood trees were planted around the picturesque Ooty Lake. The year 1863 saw the establishment of a blue-gum plantations of over 1,600 acres in Ooty and another of 1,300 acres in Coonoor. This foresight helped alter the appearance and ecology of the region over the next few decades, covering the “rolling hills with dense foliage.” With more relevance to Lovedale, there is a minute by the President of the Asylum Committee dated July 12, 1864: “I have visited the site of the new Lawrence Asylum, and am of the opinion that it would be desirable to commence immediately the plantations which are required to shelter the buildings against the action of the south west and north east monsoons. Some attempts were made last year to plant some trees to the westward of the buildings but those being made without any definite plan, and upon no system, have failed altogether. I have been over the ground with Mr. McIvor, and been sketched out upon the plan and noted upon the ground the extent of the plantations which will be required, which may be roughly estimated to extend over about 100 acres; and as it is very desirable that the plantations should be sufficient to shelter the buildings by the time that these latter are fit to receive the children, no time should be lost in preparing the ground and planting the trees. I think it would be wise to entrust this work to Mr. McIvor, and to hand over to him such a number of convicts as may be required to get the whole of the land in order for planting with as little delay as possible. He should be called upon to submit a sketch of the plantations he proposed to make with an estimate of the amount of labour required to
complete the preparation of the ground by the time that the season of 1865 will permit the planting to
commence. As upwards of 200,000 trees will be required, I have written privately to the Governors of the
Australian Colonies, requesting them to cause seeds of the different forest trees to be collected and sent to Madras.
This course of action has resulted in an environmental disaster in the Nilgiri Hills. The trees imported from Australia absorb an inordinate amount of water and this has ruined the water table built over millennia!
I set out below an extract from my Page – School Reports Sent to British Army
Mr. P.S. Nair continues in the post of Estate Manager, and his work is chiefly concerned with trying to make good the impoverishment that has arisen through haphazard and unscientific felling and planting of trees during recent years…………….Mr. Nair planted several thousands of young blue gum trees last year and he is about to plant out many thousands more from his nursery.
Note 1 from Jitu: The blue gum tree, not a native tree to the Nilgiri Hills took off to such an extent that now it has replaced all native species. The local eco-system built since the beginning of life on Earth was completely messed up as the rapidly growing and renewable blue gum absorbs so much water that there was not much water for human consumption. This caused severe problems throughout the period I was in Lovedale and continue to cause problems even to this day! In 2018 many 68ers (i.e., Old Lawrencians from my year) gathered for a reunion. We stayed at Sterling Resorts, a 5 star hotel in Fern Hill. Almost every Old Lawrencian and accompanying family member went down with severe food poisoning because the Hotel used contaminated water transported by truck to the hotel.
Note 2 from Jitu: Mr Nair was the first Indian member of staff to reach such a senior and responsible position.