PENOLA (NORTH)

	Grid Reference	-37.466108, 140.859808 (GDA 94)
	Department	ForestrySA - OneFortyOne
	Work Centre	?
	District	Penola
	Grading	?
	Elevation (ASL)	78m
	Height	Original: ?m 2nd one: 34.1m 3rd one: 37m
	Construction	Original: Timber 2nd & 3rd: Steel
	Cabin size	Original: ?m 2nd one: 2.6m x 1.7m 3rd one: ?m x ?m
	Public access to site	Yes
	In use since	Original: 1935 - ?? 2nd one: ?? - 2023 3rd one: 2024 -

Photo and information supplied by Dennis R. Page, via Alison McLeod

An article in the Advertiser newspaper from Dec 2013 states: Forestry and timber investment group OneFortyOne Plantations will spend around $100,000 to upgrade the Penola North fire tower to provide safer access for firefighters with a more functional top tower stand. The last improvement to the tower was in the 1970s.
We've been unable to find any further details. If you can add any more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

Cabin load/weight details, supplied by Alan Furguson, the current, 2017, FLO
Alan also provided the cabin size measurements.

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

These 3 photos above are Copyright ForestrySA and provided by the City of Mount Gambier Library in March 2022 and used with permission. The 1st photo was taken in 1945 and the other 2 in 1953.
For the City of Mount Gambier Library's website page with the collection of fire tower photos, please click here. On this page, you can click on the individual photo for detailed description.

Below is an extract from the Fire Tower chapter of a book, Forestry Tales, that was written by Michael H. Bleby OAM. It is used with permission, thanks Michael.
My next fire tower encounter was at Penola Forest and part of the serious network of towers in the vast Pine plantations of the very flat landscape of the South East of SA. As a student I was assigned at times as a tower observer during vacation employment. The Penola District had 3 fires towers, the principle Number 1 tower on Tower Road, the Nangwarry tower which was an open wooden box with a roof on top of the large concrete water tower in the town, and the tower at Patchells to the south in a remote location on top of a sand hill, which had a small cramped open cabin.
While at Penola forest, the internal phone rang in our house late one evening and it was my boss the District Forester from his house across the paddock. In his very English 'landed gentry' voice I heard "Err, hello Mike, Number 1's gone!" He meant that our Penola North fire tower was itself on fire. On turning the corner into Tower road to investigate, the distant tower in the darkness looked like a roman candle, with the cabin and each of the wooden landings at each ladder section well alight. Nothing much could be done except to let it burn and control anything at ground level from falling embers. We later concluded that the tower man must have that day, incompletely stubbed his cigarette on the floorboards, which hours later got going in the cabin and the falling embers lit up each of the wood floor landings below. This led to ensuring that ash trays of sand were always present in the cabin, and later there was a ban on all smoking in towers.

At the start of the 2019-20 fire season, the FLO was made redundant and replaced by a FireHawk camera.

In early February 2026, we received an email from OneFortyOne with the news that the Penola North fire tower was replaced in 2024 with a complete new 37m structure, conforming to all Australian Standards. It has steps rather than ladders and no trapdoor entry. It was constructed on the same site as the Penola North fire tower and is now known as the Penola fire tower. Whitty Engineering was the principal contractor. The tower is staffed with an FLO and there are no cameras.
The pictures below were supplied by OneFortyOne in February 2026 and used with permission. The first photo is an 'artist impression', second and third photos are the cabin being constructed, the fourth photo is a section of the frame, the fifth photo shows the new footings and the sixth photos shows the new tower.

For an article by OneFortyOne about the tower upgrade please click here.
The article (14th Nov 2025) also contains a link to a YouTube video clip of the new tower.

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