The Redwoods

The Timber Trail

In 1984, Bowens invited my wife and I to participate in a timber industry tour of the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, down south to San Francisco in the USA. The reason for the tour was that Douglas Fir, which we call Oregon, was heavily used in building construction in Australia at that time.

Additionally, our branch at Hastings was re-sawing large-sectioned flitches into made-up orders for floor joists and fascias, to name a few of their uses. To a lesser extent, we also recut Western Hemlock, a native of the west coast. Western Red Cedar was also imported from these areas.

The tour was hosted by Norm and Judy Tilling, owners of Tilling Timber, who were major importers of these timbers and one of our suppliers. I still speak occasionally to Norm today, and he always reminds me of how a first-class cricketer bowled me over when I produced a cricket bat for some practice for the cricket season on my return to Australia.

The format of the tour involved visiting many sawmills and some lumber re-sellers. A highlight was seeing a ship, whose name I was familiar with, loading on Vancouver Island. Also, while travelling through the forests, I got to the point where I could recognise the Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and Western Red Cedar trees by their various features.

However, the major highlight came towards the end of the tour when we travelled through the forests of the Coastal Californian Redwoods, a timber that was not being imported to Australia at that time. Ironically, it was a timber that had no commercial interest to me. This species grows the tallest trees in the world. If my memory serves me right, one has been recorded at 465 feet tall, which is about 100 metres. To put this into perspective, the length of the 100-metre dash is about 340 feet. Additionally, the tallest Redwood cannot be supported by its roots alone and requires the mist from the Pacific Ocean to support its upper growth. In Australia, and I may stand to be corrected, the tallest of our trees is the Karri, grown in the southwest corner of Western Australia.

“However, the major highlight came towards the end of the tour when we travelled through the forests of the Coastal Californian Redwoods, a timber that was not being imported to Australia at that time.”

The Redwoods of California have wonderful features. The book Wood in Australia quotes low expansion/shrinkage rates (1.5 percent radial, 2.5 percent tangential). The wood is also durable, with an in-ground rating of class 2 and an above-ground rating of class 1, and it is resistant to termites and borer attacks. Plantations have been planted in New Zealand and Australia. The book also notes that in NZ, the species is prone to distortion during seasoning, which supports an old saying I learned years ago: the closer timber is used to the stump, the better it is.

“The Redwoods of California have wonderful features, (in which) the wood is also durable, with an in-ground rating of class 2 and an above-ground rating of class 1, and it is resistant to termites and borer attacks.”

Over the last 100-plus years, the species has been overused in the US, probably understandably due to the major earthquake that San Francisco experienced in 1905 and the need for major construction post the Second World War. To my knowledge, the Redwoods today are now all locked up, preserved for generations to come and admire. That said, if you are travelling to the US and you have the opportunity to travel through the Redwood National Park, don’t pass it up; it’s an experience to remember. To commemorate my visit to the Redwood National Park, I brought back a wooden Redwood plaque that is displayed in our living room.

“To my knowledge, the Redwoods today are now all locked up, preserved for generations to come and admire. That said, if you are travelling to the US and you have the opportunity to travel through the Redwood National Park, don’t pass it up”

I know there have been plantations planted in Australia, but not of any commercial note. However, about five years ago, I did visit a Redwood plantation near Warburton and was amazed by what I saw. The plantation was planted in the 1930s, so they are over 90 years old. There are 1,400 of these beauties, all reaching for the sky. They probably won’t grow as tall as the species does in its natural state, but I’d love to be around in another 100 years to see. This plantation is also locked up and not available for logging.

Recently, Bowens had a function to acknowledge staff with over 10 years of service. At that function, I was presented with a photo of the presentation we did at the Warburton Redwood plantation. The photograph had a Tallowwood border, also symbolic of Bowens’ history of stocking and marketing Tallowwood in the 1960s when I first started my employment with the company. The photo is now also displayed in our living room, along with the plaque mentioned below.

“The photograph had a Tallowwood border, also symbolic of Bowens’ history of stocking and marketing Tallowwood in the 1960s when I first started my employment with the company.”

To finish, I quote from my Redwood plaque, a poem by Joseph B Strauss, an author of note some 40 years ago. I am quoting from the first and last of 6 total verses: 

“Here sown by the Creator’s hand,
In serried ranks the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know,

To be like these straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs a shrine;
Shrink down Oh traveller, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees”