KIRUP - MULLALYUP

This tower is known by 3 names: Kirup, Mullalyup and Gavin's Tree. After lengthy discussions in early 2020 with a few very knowledgeable Western Australian Forestry people (some retired) and Fire Tower enthusiasts, it was decided to stick with the name KIRUP. Although it did appear in an official WA Forest Department as Mullalyup, the general consensus was, that Mullalyup came from the Forestry Block it is located in. Dave Evans, in his excellent book, Lookouts of the Karri Country, also calls it the Kirup Lookout.
The locals know it also as Gavin's Tree. This is after Gavin Wall, a long time FLO (Fire Lookout Observer) who's mode of transport to the tower was a pushbike.

	Grid Reference	-33.72178, 115.86742
	Department	DEC
	Work Centre	?
	District	Blackwood
	Grading	?
	Elevation (ASL)	?m
	Height	19m
	Construction	Tree
	Cabin size	?
	Public access to site	?
	In use since	1938 - 1947?

Photo was supplied by Brett Fitzgerald. The photo (2017) was taken from an article written by Mick Zwart.

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

Photos were taken Mick Zwart in 2009.
He actually merged two photos together to get the whole treee in the picture.
They were supplied by Brett Fitzgerald in early March 2020

Photos were taken and supplied by Jack Bradshaw in February 2020

Here follows a quote from Dave Evans's book Lookouts of the Karri Country: 'Kirup tree was manned during each fire season from January until the first rains of late autumn fell. Sitting in the roofless cabin through the mid-summer months must have been extremely unpleasant for the towerman, such as Bill Price (1937-38) who carried out the task. However, it remained in operation until Kelson tower was built in the late 1940s. The tree still stands today (written in 1992) but is closed to climbers because the timbers have become so rickety'.

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