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Number 21, March 2022

The Timber Industry by Norm Houghton

Forrest was foremost a timber town for many decades, a status derived from its positioning at the foot of the ranges and siting of timber tramway and road links into and over the folds and spurs. The timber resource was derived from Crown and private lands and much came from the latter owing to the high failure rate of closer settlement. The failed farms were abandoned and later picked over by the sawmilling companies and many were eventually resumed by the Crown for water and forestry purposes.

Barramunga was typical of this process. The area’s first settlers went into dairying and root crops but lack of roads and bushfires defeated most of them and by the late 1920s most had gone. Saplings were reported as growing at a rate at 3 ft with 3 inch girth increment per year at Barramunga so the bush soon reclaimed its own. Similar conditions of failed farms existed up the range to the crest overlooking Bass Strait to the east and south east of Forrest.

In the period from 1890 to the mid 1930s the sawmill companies drew logs from a radius of 20 km of Forrest and used tramways and steam winches on logging and tramways for sawn timber cartage. When all weather roads were provided on trunk routes over and along the ranges the sawmillers turned to motor trucks and the mills moved further into the bush. The cycle was reversed after the Second World War when mills in State Forests were compelled by policy to move out of the bush and site themselves in towns, and logs were then drawn from a very wide area over a network of main and side roads and logging tracks.

Forrest came into its own in the 1950s and 1960s as a sawmill centre when several mills operated here. Administration of the forests was also centred at Forrest where the FCV established a district office with the necessary staff to oversee the industry. Four dwellings were eventually provided for staff. The first District Forester was Mr Grainger, who was appointed around 1900, and he was succeeded by Messrs Newlon, Maguire, Ure, Irvine, Nugent, Meadows, Pollard, Middleton, O’Kane, Handmer, Tolsher, Stone and McDougall.

The FCV retained an administrative presence in Forrest until 1983 and then moved management to Colac. The depot then became a National Parks maintenance facility until 2017 when it was moved elsewhere. At the time of writing there remains a works depot for national park maintenance. The output from the ranges was initially less than 10,000 cubic metres annually but it rose through the decades and during the post war construction boom in 1951 was 30,000 cubic metres, rising to 59,000 in 1956 from public and private forests.

The forest could not long withstand such cutting practices and after 1956 it became obvious that a review was needed. The millers were realistic enough to guarantee their own livelihoods and came to recognise in the period from 1959 to 1963 that allocation cuts and quotas would be required. From 1961 allocations were reduced by 10% with a further recommendation that they be halved by 1970. The 1961 credit squeeze brought expansion to a halt and a declining timber resource gradually scaled down the industry over the next three decades.

In September 1963 the millers formally agreed to take equal percentage cuts across the board and, after further consideration in the light of actual conditions in the bush over the next few years, all agreed in 1969 to a phased reduction in total annual allocations and the numbers of sawmills. This policy led to mill closures and the few remaining mills in the East Otways became larger and more economic units with value adding capability in the form of kilns and machining capacity for floorboards, parquetry, joinery and furniture timber outputs.

The mills at Barramunga and Forrest closed one by one with the exception of the Henry plant and it was modernised and continued to operate under different ownership until 2003. It moved to a larger and drier site at Birregurra (the closed Bennett mill) after experiencing problems with amenity from its location within the town limits of Forrest.

Forrest History Timeline - March

Year	Date	Place	Event
1922	29	Barramunga	Annual gathering of the Athletic Club (Sports) last Sat. The usual events of wood chop and sawing.
1924	12	Forrest	A picture show company visits the town
1926	3	Forrest	The town needs a new sports ground and a property at Yaugher has been secured. Working bees going on there.
1926	3	Forrest	Work has started on clearing and grading the road to Colac
1928	2	Forrest	Unemployment prevalent in the timber trade here owing to foreign imports. Grant's mill not going and others on short hands. Prospects gloomy.
1928	7	Forrest	Public Hall now too small so will be lengthened 20 ft
1928	24	Forrest	William Butchers, employee at Henry's mill, axe cut foot & sent to Geelong hospital by train.
1931	4	Forrest	Hop picking started with women and children of the district.
1931	4	Forrest	Hops grow in straight lines to a height of 18 ft. Work on growing commences in August with pruning and ploughing. Then placing the twine on the wires, training the plants, cleaning, cultivating and cutting off the lower laterals. In dry seasons water is pumped into the fields. Once picked the hops are dried in kilns, pressed into wool packs and sent off by rail.
1932	23	Forrest	Bellarine Water Scheme starts again. Tunnel between east and west Barwon.
1934	2	Forrest	Hop picking started. Last up to 2 months. Women pickers mostly
1934	5	Forrest	Fishing in the Barwon is becoming popular around here.
1934	5	Forrest	Forrest is fortunate in possessing a swimming pool that costs nothing to maintain and the water is always clean. The pool is on the Barwon just below the railway station and is a very safe place for children.
1934	12	Forrest	Hop picking in full swing. The vines are 22 ft from the ground. Vines pulled and placed in bins. The remaining hop gardens are the last of what was an industry of some magnitude in this district about thirty years ago.
1934	16	Forrest	Residents looking at forming a swimming pool on the Pound Reserve, on the left hand side of the road on the east bank of the Barwon, adjoining Gale's property. The spot referred to is 80 yards long by 10 wide.
1934	30	Forrest	Meeting of Otway Ragwort Eradication League
1934	30	Forrest	Moves to establish Boy Scouts
1935	15	Barramunga	Caves overlooking the Gellibrand River near Stevensons visited by National Museum rep. 4 aborigine skeletons found here c.25 years ago. Access to caves made via Lardners by Cocko Pearce
1935	15	Forrest	ref to Progress Association
1935	22	Forrest	Bush Nursing Association wants to build cottage for the Sister. Mr. H.Ireland donated the land and sawmillers the timber.
1935	29	Forrest	Bush Nursing committee raised L25 for a block of land and L25 for materials for nurse's cottage.
1935	29	Forrest	The Mount Sabine sawmill is now loading at Forrest
1941	20	Barwon Downs	Stella Wilson Diary entry. Heaviest rain in history here
1944	20	Barramunga	Sports Club hold gymkhana at Forrest ground.
1951	19	Forrest	Football club votes to enter Polwarth League
1955	11	Forrest	Tug of war carnival, wood chop, baby show, fair and barbecue at Hall and grounds. Sat 19/3. Proceeds to Tennis Club and Football Ground. Results later = baby show winners - Under 6 months Rhonda Grant, 6 to 12 months Ian Day, 12 to 18 months Gerard Russell, 24 to 30 months Maxwell Wheelan, happiest baby Donald Callahan, best dressed baby Julie Mulgrew,. Woodchop won by Frank Stephens, Tom Smith second and Tom Maher third.
1955	28	Forrest	Apollo Bay Lyric Theatre Circuit puts on films here. Talkie Bell?
1956	9	Forrest	To have an Axemens' carnival and dance on sat 24/3.
1956	28	Forrest	Held Axemen's Carnival last Sat. Results listed
1957	6	Barwon Downs	School enrolment is 63
1957	6	Barramunga	School enrolment is 23
1957	6	Forrest	School enrolment is 65
1957	27	Forrest	Bishop O'Collins confirms 22 young Catholics at Apollo Bay and some of these are from Forrest
1958	14	Forrest	Anglican Church Jubilee celebrated. Original church at Yaugher burnt down in 1905. New St James built at Forrest 1907 under Rev W. McFarlane
1959	13	Forrest	Otway Council opens a rubbish tip, the first one at Forrest. Residents used to dumping their rubbish along the roadsides around town.
1959	18	Barwon Downs	Vic Tug of war Championship here Friday and Saturday.
1960	2	Barwon Downs	Report on Sports put on by Tug of War committee. Good attendance at log chop etc. Had judging for Miss Carnival Girl
1963	6	Barramunga	To hold Night Woodchop Carnival and Dance

Forrest Images: Timber

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