Edwin James Semmens

Edwin James Semmens, MBE was the Principal of the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) at Creswick, Victoria, Australia for 23 years from 1928 to 1951; a local historian and a community leader.

Edwin was born on 20 January 1886 at the small Gippsland township of Toongabbie in eastern Victoria, as the eldest of nine children of Josiah Semmens, and his wife Agnes, née Veitch.

His father Josiah, worked as an Inspector of Forests in the Lands Department at the time and the family moved at some stage to Maryborough in northwest Victoria where Edwin attended elementary school and later the nearby Bendigo School of Mines.

Principal of the Victorian School of Forestry 1928-1951 Known fondly to his students as E.J. or Teddo, he immediately introduced a new and broad curriculum of subjects and set high personal standards. The academic rigour of the course was ensured by a Board of Examiners headed by the Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne, Professor Alfred James Ewart (1872–1937). Many of his students later established themselves as notable leaders with the Forests Commission after graduating from VSF. Two students, James Hamlin Willis, and Richard Bond became outstanding botanists, while many others established prominent careers within the National Parks Service, Fisheries and Wildlife, Soil Conservation Authority, teaching at tertiary institutions or the private forestry sector. Some like Alfred John Leslie became truly international foresters. for the expanding school herbarium, and was elected a Fellow honoris causa of the prestigious Linnean Society of London (FLS) in 1935 for his work.

Semmens retired after 23 years as Principal of the Victorian School of Forestry at the end of 1951, aged 65 . He later donated some of his collection of early documents, photos, paintings and artefacts to the Creswick museum which he helped establish, but the bulk of his collection was bequeathed to the University of Melbourne Archives. The collection has been described as "one of the most important collections of local history source material assembled in Australia". as well as serving 24 years as a councillor of the Shire of Creswick (1951–75), with a stint at Shire President in 1956.

On 8 June 1968, Edwin James Semmens was honoured in the Queen's Birthday List with a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to local government.

Later in 1977, in recognition of his outstanding and lasting legacy to forestry and local history, the University of Melbourne conferred a Doctorate of Forest Science honoris causa.

He died on 31 December 1980, aged 92.