THE JARRAH TIMBER OF WEST AUSTRALIA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 30, 21 April 1911, Page 2

THE JARRAH TIMBER OF WEST AUSTRALIA.

There are comparatively few lands of timber which have sprung into such rapid prominence as the famous Jarrah of Western Australia.

The many purposes to which it is adapted speaks well for its qualities, and thus in a.few short years it has found its way into many lands as paving blocks, railway sleepers, piles, fencing - materials, etc., its durability rendering it most useful to withstand both water and hard wear. This wood is so much in demand that the Jarrah export trade now figures as one of the principal industries Of Western Australia (to which State this tree is indigenous), and has converted the hitherto sleepy little towns, of Busselton and Bunbury into busy and important ports. The Jarrah (eucalyptus marginata) is perhaps the most stately and handsome of its many Australian cousins. The trunk is beautifully straight, rising to a height of from 100 to 120 feet, while the diameter often measures three feet six inches. The wood'when dry is very hard and heavy, but when green it yields almost as readily to tools as pine. The jarrah is used for whatever purposes timber is required in West Australia, and it can, therefore, be readily understood to wbat an extent this industry gives employment. The mills are, as a general rule, great distances apart, and otte may follow a bush track for many miles without a sign of human habitatioxi. when suddenly a mill is reached which with its numerous dwellings, forms in itself quite a i small community. Beside the official buildings, therd is generally a large structure which serves as dining room, library, and reading robm for the mill hands, most of whom live in slab huts, patched together with waste from the mill. The store keeper, baker, butcher, and blacksmith have also their respective quarters. The felling of the timber is generally let out; to contractors, and also the cutting of sleepers. The Australian Governments use jarrah timber for the railway sleepers, stipulating that they shall be adzed not sawn, thus making sure of their being of straight gi(ain. The logs when felled are conveyed to the mill on a two wheeler, or what is known locally as a jinker, being drawn by either a team of horses or bullocks. The logs are resting on the jinker at one end while the other ends are dragging along the ground. The teamsters are expert drivers, for it requires no small amount of skill and judgment to guide such a clumsy load between the timber and stumps. The logs are cut to certain lengths according to the purposes for which they are required, and as the small pieces are used for garden palings and fencing materials, there is very little waste.

There is plenty of sport to be had in various directions. Frequent wood-cutting competitions are organised among the expert axemen of the mill, the affair being conducted and prizes given by the nearest publican. The rivalry amongst the competitors is very keen, while some very fine exhibitions of clever axemanship are often to be witnessed on such occasions. Both cricket and football are indulged in, and occasional concerts are arranged—while last, but not least, the bush also affords abundant opportunities for sport. Most of the men keep dogs of such kinds as will be found useful for their particular hobbies —the greyhounds for kangaroo hunting and terriers for smaller game. Some of them devote their evenings to snaring 'possums, others to catching different kinds of parrots, while others again go in pursuit of the cunning dingo, thus comhinino*. nlftacnra with

Thus, taking all things into account, and considering the superb climate, life at a jarrah timber mill is by no means so monotonous an existence as might be supposed, although buried away in the bush.