Rushworth forest timber output

From the gold rush until late in the 20th century, the output of timber products from the Rushworth forest has been enormous.  Sawmills were established as early as the 1870s as the employment offered by the gold mines continued to subside.  The timber industry grew rapidly and provided employment for many local people.

The Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) holds two “Forest Output” books covering the period from 1917 to 1942.1  During that quarter of a century, which was possibly the heyday of the local forest industries, an incredible amount of product was sourced from the forest.

Mining timbers 

A substantial amount of timber was needed for the gold mining industry for shoring up shafts and tunnels, building infrastructure and providing the fuel to power steam driven equipment.  The forest industry provided both round and split stays, as well as wooden slabs for use in the mines.

Obviously, this type of product was not in as much demand by the 20th century, apart from a spike in 1931 which might have coincided with the reopening of a mine.

Sawn and hewn timber

In the short period between the two world wars, over a quarter of a million super feet (one super foot = one square foot, one inch thick, or in metric – 30.48 cm square x 2.54 cm thick) of sawn and hewn timber came out of the local sawmills.  No reliable figures have been found for earlier periods, but sawmills had been providing that sort of product for nigh on 50 years before that.

Railway sleepers

The development of the local forest industry coincided with the rapid growth of railways throughout Victoria, and to a lesser extent the tramways in Melbourne and large regional towns like Ballarat and Bendigo.  There was huge demand for box and ironbark sleepers from the Rushworth forest.  In the period covered by the two Forest Output books mentioned above, the number of hand-hewn sleepers that came out of the Rushworth forest exceeded 633,000.  One year of figures is missing from the record, so in all likelihood, the output exceeded 650,000.

An incredible fact about the sleepers is that they were all hand-hewn – not cut by powered saws.  The writer was privileged to see Jack Miller, one of the last of the old sleeper cutters of the Rushworth forest, demonstrating the art at the 1978 Golden Guinea Festival in Rushworth.  This was possibly the last railway sleeper hand-hewn in the district.

Fencing and firewood

Fencing materials – strainers, posts, stays, rails, droppers etc - constituted a large part of the output of the forest.  For example, in the period covered by the Forest Output books, over 1.1 million items were produced.  Supplementary products included timber for the grape and fruit growing industries.

Firewood was a major industry with a number of firewood mills being established at stations along the Murchison to Colbinabbin line.  The firewood was divided into three main categories – dry, green and long (usually 5 feet) dry – with the latter being used to power boilers of local industry such as dairy factories.  Overall, in excess of 400,000 tons of firewood exited the forest legally during the 25 years to 1942. 

Poles

Another product for which there was increasing demand in the 20th century was poles for power and telegraph lines.  Rushworth first had electric power in 1914, but a large number of poles were still required to extend the availability of power to rural areas of Victoria.  In the period between the world wars, over 80,000 poles came out of the forest.  These would be cut to the rigid specifications of the relevant government departments of the day – the SEC (State Electricity Commission, established 1918) and the PMG (Postmaster General’s Department, established 1901).

Summary

This is just a very brief summary of the timber products that came out of the Rushworth forest over some of the time that the forest was harvested for these products.  Some of the upcoming stories will provide more detail on specific products and the people that were employed in the forest in private enterprise.

Later stories will also look at the role of the Forests Commission of Victoria in this area and the people who worked for that government organisation.  Contributions from readers would be most welcome.

Reference:  1  Public Records Office of Victoria, State Forests Output Books (Rushworth 1916-29 and 1929-42)