Joseph Storr Lister

Lister joined South African forestry during a period when commercial plantations of exotic timbers were being established and expanded on a large scale.

Remarkably he was also selected to be custodian of Langalibalele, who had been banished to Robben Island after a mock trial by the British authorities for his part in a Zulu rebellion, and Cetewayo, deposed and exiled, first to Cape Town, and then to London for his role in the Anglo-Zulu War.

Lister soon came to understand the urgent need for growing exotic timbers which would reduce the pressure on indigenous species, and started by establishing at Worcester in 1876 a plantation of fast-growing Eucalypts to supply fuel for the railways.

[1] In 1877, Lister turned his attention to driftsand reclamation at Bellville near Cape Town, where sand was threatening both the road and railway line to the north.

The Port Elizabeth suburb of Listerwood was named in his honour, and a small stone monument, next to Marine Drive in Summerstrand, was built as a memorial.