May 2015 – Edition 122

This article gives us some of the highlights of the timbergetting history in Australia. This history is almost unknown to modern Australlians despite the fact that it almost rivals the goldmining era in Australia in significance.

My interest in timbergetting goes back to the days when I grew up in a former timbergetting area in Sydney.

This area was on the top of a range of hills in the north of the Sydney region where there were stands of towering eucalypt trees exceeding 100 feet (30 metres) in height.

Sawmills dotted the area in the late 1800s, the last one closing in the 1960s. A nearby pub had a display on its wall of crosscut saws and photos of axemen standing nonchalantly next to huge logs.

Adding to this, other Jerrems families have lived in the Gippsland Ranges in Victoria, famous for some of the tallest trees in the world.

My experience with timbergetting. In my teens I cut down quite a lot of trees with my father to clear land, using axes and crosscut saws (see later).
We also used our crosscut saws to cut up logs for firewood, and split the logs using wedges.

When I was young we used to bushwalk along former timbergetting trails and would find the relics of former sawmills.

These experiences whetted my appetite to research the subject, which I have now finally achieved.

Brief history of timbergetting in Australia.
When white people first settled in Australia vast tracts of land on the east coast were heavily forested. Early settlers cleared the land for farming, using the timber for fencing and housing (depending on its suitability), and firewood. Later the heavily forested lands were selectively logged for timber for a number of specific purposes which I will describe later.

But what were they doing there? Perhaps they happened to be walking through a paddock, saw a large stump and decided to climb it using a rope someone happened to be carrying, and someone happened to have a camera to record the event.

An alternative (and much more likely) explanation which appeals to my romantic nature is that the family was celebrating the felling of the giant Mountain Ash tree. With a width of at least 12 feet (almost four metres) at its base it would have been in the realm of two hundred feet (60 metres) high. Although there would have been many taller trees in the area at the time it was still a prodigious feat to cut it down and (even more significantly) to cut it up, as you will see.

The photo shows the size of the cut required.

At first glance it would seem to be foolhardy to lie down in the cut, as shown in the photo, but the cut needed to be considerably deeper before the tree was likely to fall.

Judging when the tree was likely to fall required a lot of experience, but one particular indication was that the tree would start making creaking sounds. At this stage when I was felling a tree I would check that I had a clear exit route, something that would be difficult if the cut was high off the ground level.

Using an axe while standing on a springboard required a good sense of balance and strong shoulders.

Cutting up the fallen tree
Cutting down a large tree was in fact the easy part. The trunk then needed to be systematically cut up into lengths for transport to a sawmill, presumably starting at one end of the trunk and working along.

The fallen trunk of the tree obtained in the family photo would have been too thick for a crosscut saw to cut through in one cut, however, by using a very long saw and sawpit the trunk could be sawn across the top and bottom and down the sides, cumulatively leading to a full cut through the trunk.

Normally the smaller tree trunks were towed to a pit for cutting, using bullocks and winches. However in the case of a very big tree, which in the early stages could weigh 50 tonnes, this was not possible. A new pit had to be dug crossways for each cut.

Did size matter?
My feeling is that cutting down the tree shown in the family photo was probably a Pyrrhic victory. Cutting up the fallen trunk would have presented challenges and taken times which would have been out of all proportion to the value of the timber obtained.

However, perhaps the felling of the tree, possibly the last commercially useful tree in the paddock, had a symbolism. Perhaps it was a metaphor for “The family who chops together stops together”.

In theory the length of a saw would be limited only by the strength of the sawyers, taking into account the increased “drag” caused by the increased length of the saw and its corresponding increased weight.

There were still quite a lot of sawmills dotted around the landscape until the 1960s, so I was able to observe them in action.

Originally these sawmills were steam driven because powerful engines were required to turn the large circular saws and vertical saws. This resulted in high setting-up costs because boilers and other machinery had to be brought in and installed on strong foundations, and a reliable water supply was needed.

A large flat area was also required for unloading and stacking the logs. Another major item was a paddock for bullock wagons and bullocks, and possibly a store from which staff and bullockies could purchase supplies.

The upshot of this was that sawmills were built in locations where they could service large areas.The nearest sawmill could therefore have been some distance from the area where the trees were being felled.

Hardwood and softwood.
Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, where softwoods like conifers predominate, in Australia hardwoods grow extensively. They have very hard wood, as the name “Ironbark” for one type of tree would indicate.

The hardwood trees had names like Blue Gum, Turpentine, Sassafrass, Woolybutt, Blackbutt, Spotted Gum.

This wood, which resisted almost all pests, was ideal for railway sleepers, roads, roof shingles, fencing, harbour piers, outbuildings and firewood. In mining areas the wood was used for pit props. Trees like Spotted Gum were used widely for axe and other tool handles.

However, very useful softwoods also grew in Australia, and were used predominantly for house fittings, furniture and ornaments. Red and white cedar was particularly popular in the 1800s, and led to a thriving trade on the east coast of Australia. The coastal rivers were systematically logged for the valuable cedar, leading to the opening up of the areas for agriculture.

In the cooler mountain ranges of Eastern Victoria the good rainfall and fertile soils lead to the growth of forests of very tall trees vying for the sunlight. The most famous tree was the Mountain Ash.

Further south, in Tasmania , Huon Pine was much sought after, and in Western Australia Jarrah and Karri were extensively logged.

In the next article I will I continue the arboreal theme by telling you about the tallest trees in the world and in Australia) and other fascinating facts about this era of Australia’s history.