Timber Tales

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Early timber history

In 1852, William Pettigrew opened a sawmill in Brisbane. Pettigrew was the timber pioneer of the Wide Bay area. By 1859, timber was being milled in the Wide Bay area. In 1862, Pettigrew looked further afield for timber supplies, and took explorer friend Tom Petrie. They visited the settlement of Maryborough and explored the forests of Cooloola, Tin Can Bay and K’Gari (Fraser Island).

The first timber getters in our district were cutting cedar, and it was scattered in the rainforests bordering the Mary River. During the winter they felled the giant cedars, and with the summer rain, they freshed the logs down the creeks and rivers to the mills.

Already it was the wild west, a cut-throat business. Pettigrew wrote to the Secretary for Lands and Works urging a change in regulations. Pettigrew said it was common for one gang to sabotage and drive away another gang’s bullocks. Physical fighting and much worse, setting fire to opponent’s timber. And thus, in 1864, the Government introduced special timber licenses giving exclusive rights to cut timber within a defined area.

First local sawmill

The first sawmill in the Widgee Shire was opened in 1868 at Chatsworth by Ferguson and Co (known as the Union Sawmill). In the same year, the mill was moved to Mary Street (where the Memorial Park now stands). This mill was integral for cutting timber for the goldfield. In 1917, the mill moved over to Nashville, near One Mile School to be near the railway line.

Cooloola Railway

In the Cooloola rainforest, William Pettigrew and William Sim focused attention on the cypress pine and beech. Sim took a lease in 1872 for 1000 acres and the first timber was used to form a track for Queensland’s first private railway – the Cooloola railway, which was built to carry timber to Tin Can Bay. It opened 1873 with 3.5 miles of track extending inland from the rafting grounds and jetty built at Poverty Point. A steam driven engine built by Walker and Co at Maryborough, was named the “Mary Ann”, after both Sims and Pettigrew had daughters of that same name. It operated for just over a decade, however sadly Sim did not live to see its success. He was fatally crushed by a log in the rafting grounds about a month after its opening.

Our local industry

The local timber industry was literally the foundation of our region’s infrastructure. The timber was used for homes, pit props in the mines, bridge and buildings, railways, firewood to stoke the boilers amongst many more uses. Our timber also went to Maryborough mills who were calling for timber. Numerous local mills blossomed around our district and shire. The timber industry was a big employer of axe-men, teamsters and mill hands. However, it was said that Gympie’s sawmilling capacity was often inadequate for the amount of timber felled and hauled to town. Maryborough was reverse, plenty of saw-benches but not enough timber, hence the railing of log timber.

In 1910, the Gympie Lands office conducted their largest auction of standing timber in the Widgee Shire. It was at the head of Eel Creek near Groundwater’s selection. Lots of timber offered ranged from 80,000 to 2.484million superficial feet to be taken out for periods up to 5 years. Buyers included Groundwater, Tamlyn, Oden Meyers, Treeby, Griffiths and James Campbell and Sons. If a local, you would definitely recognise those names particulary owing to the then setting up of two large mills there by Oden and Christie Meyers and James Campbell and Sons.

In 1920, four State-owned Sawmills merged with the Forestry Branch to become Forest Service Sawmills. One large sawmill was built in the Imbil area. It was worked for about a decade but wasn’t a long term success.

Reforestation works were commencing from the end of WWI with planting works near Imbil – not terribly successful again at the start with theories for planting resulting in stunted growth.

A nursery was set up at Sterling’s Crossing near Imbil – where teamstear Bob Sterling once cut oaks for his bullock’s yokes. In 1920, the Imbil Forestry Office was built. Gradually the forestry programme increased and hoop pine plantations were extended towards Amamoor area. The nursery at Sterling’s included experimental plantings of several species. Sterling’s Crossing had a boarding area for forestry employees. First workings saw 100 acres of plantation pine established. In successive five year periods from 1925, the plantations increased by 1000, 2000 and 3000 acres until WWII slowed it down. After WWII, plantation pine was cut for the first time for commercial purposes in the Mary Valley.

In April 1922 there was an Australian Forestry Conference and delegates visited Gympie and Imbil including the Brooloo State Forest and the Imbil Forestry Nursery.

Timber was also felled and cleared for the agriculture industry – for pastures and the dairy industry as well as the banana industry in the 1920’s. This industry spawned a new industry of small case mills, to provide containers for booming crops.

Bullocky teams

Did you know that before bullocks were trained to haul timber that the convicts of Australia in the late 1700’s were used. The first use of bullocks teams in Australia commenced around 1795. Bullocks (desexed/steers) of any breed were used as they are sturdy and quiet animals. You can see many photos of local bullock teams in the slideshow above. Bullock pairs were matched for equal sizing and grouped with a wooden yoke secured by a metal bow/wing nut (you can see some of this detail in the photos). Leaders (headers) of the team were chosen as the best leads and next were usually the heavier and older animals. Any newly trained animals added to a team would be placed central, surrounded by more disciplined older animals in the team. Of course, over time teams were replaced by mechanical engineering with engines and tractors.

More Changes

Over time, the natural forest was removed, and the change came in the new industry of re-forestation. Mainly hoop pine and exotic slash pine. Axes were swapped for chainsaws and machinery replaced horses and bullocks. This however affected the mills, with reductions in numbers of both mills and workers.

Forestry industry

The Forestry plantations in the Gympie region in their prime were the biggest in the State, thousands of acreage of highly valued native pines and other exotic coastal pine. Today, Plantation trees found in Queensland include hoop pine, Southern pine, Gympie messmate, spotted gum and African Mahogany. Now most plantation pine harvested in Queensland is harvested by HQ Plantations, growing almost 100 millions trees in their plantations all over Queensland. HQ Plantations are also harvesting locally from Tuan State Forest, Toolara State Forest, Brooyar State Forest, Cinnabar, Jimmy’s Scrub, Kabunga, Oakview, Wrattens, King, Glastonbury, Mary’s Creek, Amamoor, Gallangowan, Elgin Vale, Upper Kandanga, Imbil, Yabba, Jimna, and small areas of privately HQ owned land.

A dangerous industry

Timbergetting was a dangerous industry. Moreso that our mining industry. With instant deaths from felling, springboard chopping or shooting logs down hillsides. Not to mention the amount of fingers lost in sawmill accidents.

Women in the industry – The Lynch Sisters

The four sisters were Mary, Kate, Nell and Rose. Daughters of an Irish immigrant Cornelius Lynch who set up a 90 acre cattle property in the pocket formed by the junction of Pie and Eel Creeks.

In 1902, drought and tick fever, known as redwater, destroyed their fathers bullock herd, so the young women worked together. Father taught the girls to clear and fell timber. They learnt to fell pine and hardwood mill logs, also carrying out contract fencing and carted cord wood for the Gympie mines. They were hard working women, stood no nonsense. Fiesty Irish blood perhaps!?

A popular story is that a neighbour noticed them working hatless in the sun. Returning from a trip to Gympie, the neighbour left a hat for each of them to shade their sweaty brows. The story goes that he went past again the next day to see the four hats nailed to a fence post.

They made a good living cutting hoop pines and when timber became scarce in Gympie they moved to Nanango and Kingaroy districts. They worked with their cross saws and axes and always dressed in long black dresses when they were working. They were also competitive, entering district show events and were “Special Guests” at Kingaroy Show.

Gympie Regional Memories

preserving the memories of the Gympie region

Timber Tales

Timber Tales

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