Forest Yarns

Sleeper hewing offcuts

Tony Ford

Forest Yarns

Early days of sleeper cutting

Early days of sleeper cutting The last few stories have focussed on the sleeper cutters of the Rushworth Forest.  They had a tough life working out in the forest, getting minimal return for their highly skilled work, while at the same time enduring plenty of changes in government policy and

Forest Yarns

Output of railway sleepers

There was a chief forester appointed for the Rushworth district for the first time in 1890.  Mr W F McNamara was the father of Frank McNamara, who later won the Victoria Cross in World War 1.  In 1900, McNamara reported that the average production of railway sleepers out of the

Forest Yarns

Political action by sleeper hewers

Although sleeper hewers mostly worked independently in the forest, they acted co-operatively to achieve some of their aims.  Their work was under threat with the appointment of Victoria’s first Conservator of Forests, George Perrin in 1888.  Perrin was convinced that sleeper hewing was a wasteful method of getting sleepers

Forest Yarns

Sleeper hewing

The overwhelming majority, if not all of the railway sleepers that came out of the Rushworth forest were hand hewn, which begs the question, why were they not just cut to specifications in the local sawmills?  In states other than Victoria, many sleepers were cut by sawmills.   In Victoria the

Forest Yarns

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

Forest Yarns

Overview of the timber industry

The Rushworth forest has been harvested for timber since colonial days.  Initially, during the gold rush, the tree felling was uncontrolled by the fledgling Victorian government.  As time went by it was realised that unless there were some controls the forests would be completely denuded.  The government has progressively introduced

Forest Yarns

Eucalyptus oil industry – present day operations

Harvesting the leaves Originally, the blue and green mallee trees were cut down, leaving the stumps protruding from the ground.  The timber was burned, then when the mallees re-sprouted to the required height, they were cut down by hand with a sickle.  This was back-breaking work.  The cutters also had

Forest Yarns

Charcoal, eucy oil and honey

Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any records of how much charcoal was produced in the Rushworth forest in the second half of the 19th century.  Into the 20th century, as government became more actively involved in the management of forests, more records were kept. In the 1917 financial

Forest Yarns

Forest Yarns No 4

Stories from the Rushworth Forest

Forest Yarns

Forest Yarns No 3

Stories from the Rushworth Forest

Forest Yarns

Forest Yarns No 2

Aboriginal Connections