By 1856 ships were
calling in to the Camden Haven specifically to pick up Red Cedar
(then Toona australis now Toona ciliata). They dumped their ballast
of Sydney sandstone before proceeding upriver to present-day Kendall
where the first organised timber milling took place as early as
Cedar was prized
by many for its beauty but its ease of working meant that its use
became indiscriminate. Whole houses were built of it, public buildings,
fine furniture, packing cases, paling fences, farm buildings. There
was so much of it that it could be used as deal.
The cedar getters
developed a special technique. Crosscut saw, axe, standing boards
were their only equipment. Cedars are buttressed, the bases are
often hollow, so they felled them at heights up to six metres off
the ground. They would cut a slot about shoulder height –
they called it a scaffold hold – drive in a board, stand on
it, cut the next slot and drive in another board, perhaps another
and another. Since boards were awkward to carry through the bush,
many used one board only. After they had cut the second slot they
would cut a toe hold to stand in while they moved the board up.
Getting down as the tree was beginning to fall required great dexterity.
In the latter part
of the nineteenth century attention turned to the valuable hardwoods
of the area and, with occasional exceptions, the last of the great
cedar trees remained in their hidden gullies and gorges.
The New South Wales
Government, aware that the superb softwoods had been almost completely
cut out, was anxious not to have this repeated with the excellent
hardwoods. From 1883, Crown Land in the Port Macquarie district
was 'set aside from sale for preservation and growth of timber’.
Forest Reserves were established in 1892 and, in 1907, a Royal Commission
of Enquiry into Forests was set up. The enquiry took local evidence
during which Robert Longworth reported that his Laurieton mill had
a weekly output of 75,000 feet [225 cubic metres] of sawn timber,
mostly ‘Blackbutt, Tallow-wood, Brush Box, and several species
of gum, including grey gum’, drawn from areas around Kendall.
Most of it was exported to England, America and Germany. As a result
of the Royal Commission, the 1909 Forestry Act was passed to endeavour
to ensure a sustainable supply.
Wherever they were
accessible, the very big trees were taken out first. Boards rammed
into slots were used there too, shod boards were used for extra
Shod boards |
The average yield per tree
decreased as the size of available trees decreased, although
there would still have been some 'giants' taken as mechanisation
- crawler tractors and haulers - allowed access formerly
denied by the steep conditions.Large quantities of timber
left the Kendall district for use in mine shafts and props.
Rufus McCarthy, timber getter and agent, and Ray O’Neill,
who worked with him for 23 years, cut poles, piles, girders
and bridge timbers: bloodwood for poles, turpentine for
piles, tallowwood, grey gum, grey box and white mahogany
for bridge timbers. Hundreds of bloodwood poles moved to
the dry country around Bourke when electricity lines were
Following the Second
World War, management of native forests was driven for the next
two decades by the material demands of a building boom and post-war
expansion. Extensive new areas were dedicated to State forest tenure
and large areas of forest were opened up to intensive logging and
management for the first time.
In the 1950s and
60s, it was realised that Australian native forest resources were
insufficient to sustain the increasing rate of cut indefinitely.
Furthermore, the rate of timber importation was of concern. In 1976
NSW native forests were covered by the Forestry Commission's landmark
Indigenous Forest Policy in 1976, which recognised that the best
and most accessible of the State's native forests would be managed
on a carefully controlled sustainable basis. Kendall Management
Area became a showcase of this approach.
Since then, many
pieces of legislation have had an impact on forestry practices and
timber in the Kendall district, among them Regional Forest Agreements,
Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 and the Threatened
Species Conservation Act. In 1992, the Commonwealth and States reached
a landmark agreement in the National Forest Policy which drove the
subsequent Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRA) and Regional
Forest Agreements (RFA).
Within the Kendall region,
significant areas of public forest were transferred from
State Forests' management to that of the National Parks
& Wildlife Service (NPWS) to enshrine their primary
purpose of conservation. Under the regime of the last fifty
years, large areas have re-afforested.
The older timber men of the
district say that there are now five times more trees than
there were at the time of the arrival of the settlers. Their
claim is undoubtedly correct, re-growth is not only prolific
but some species attain a great size very quickly.
Eric Isaac with 45 year old
Old stump with board holes |
Missing in many places, however,
are the forest giants that were hundreds of years old when
they were cut. Many of them were cut by private timber getters
on private property before the establishment of regulation
and legislation to protect timber and to set up systems
for its sustainable management. The many enormous grey stumps
with board slots that can be seen beside major roads as
well as along forest roads tell the story.
John Fulton, Forests NSW, Wauchope for information about
changes in Forest Policy, Legislation and Direction during
the last 60 years.
Photograph - Forests NSW collection; Elaine van Kempen.
More Reading: Elaine van Kempen, North Brother –
Dooragan (2005), available at Kendall Craft Cooperative.
© Elaine van Kempen