Thread: Where are the BIG trees?

Originally Posted by Allan at Wallan

I have posted a pic of this a couple of years ago but wonder
if anyone can rival or better it.

.....

Allan, if you are into big trees these sites may be interesting
Australia's Largest Trees : Big Tree : Giant Trees : Australia's Biggest Trees : National Register of Big Trees
http://www.forestry.org.au/pdf/pdf-m...ud%20final.pdf

I've been to quite a few of the large trees in FNQ listed in the register of trees. Most impressive, but as a surveyor what really impressed me were the notations and descriptions of timber & soils etc by early surveyors on the original survey plans of the districts. I remember one such plan of the Tolga - Kairi Rd on the Atherton Tabeland - " numerous red cedar stumps to 12' " and that would have been to above the buttress roots. The early surveyors were very diligent in describing country because rates of payment were determined by the "going" how much they could survey in a day.

Thanks Mobyturns for responding and yes, I have looked at
the site you referred to.

My childhood days were at Powelltown Victoria and the
"Powelltown Tree", or "Ada Tree" are included on that site.

In visiting the tree at Powelltown it is fascinating to see
the size of nearby stumps of other trees that had been cut
down. They were also enormous trees.

Allan

Quite ironic ain't it, in our lust to have some of the timber from these trees we are destroying these majestic giants.

I've been fortunate enough to see a number of these trees.

A trip up the Styx in Tassie is well worth the time, as is a trip through the Tingle forest of WA.

In 1987 I also visited The Gloucester Tree - a Karri - and its mate in WA.

As a kid I lived in a timber milling area and saw many big tres carted into the local mills.
Also saw many while hiking through the bush, particlarly in the headwaters of the Nambucca Valley
and up towards the New England plateau.

In NZ we visited all the large Kauri trees on the west coast of the north island and in California saw
the General Sherman and other monster trees.

They are all truly awe inspiring products of nature.

If you want to see some really big Eucs......take a trip to Kew. Just short of Port Macquarie on the Pacific Highway. You have to turn off and head "inland" but not that far. Its on a Forestry Road that has public access. You will be told by a finger board where you will park your car and then its a, maybe, 15 minute stroll into the forest on a well marked track. It has a catchy touristy name that I can't recall. You will walk past at least a dozen that make you say "Wow, look at that" but you have to keep going to see the really big one. It is AWSOME!!! Its something like 120+ feet to the first branch. Without exaggerating it would be 8 metres, may be more, diameter.
Amate grew up in Dorrigo, in the mountains west of Coffs Harbour. His family were Timber getters. They moved into a new area once that had been logged years before by a bloke who didn't have as good a gear as my mates set up. They had a D8 with a winch and got a number of loads that the previous bloke had dropped but couldn't recover the logs. He said that on a number of times it was one log one load. They had an ols flintstone Mack that had a top highway speed of 48 MPH. It was very low geared.
I have followed recently, a local bloke who mills private land holders hardwood logs, a jinker with maybe 10 logs. They were small in diameter and not very straight either. I think the big logs of yesterday is only history now

I suspect that some of the big trees that are left were either too big to cut down or defective. If all you had was an axe you would want to make sure evey tree was a good'un .

I must get to see some of these giants.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by chambezio

If you want to see some really big Eucs......take a trip to Kew. Just short of Port Macquarie on the Pacific Highway. You have to turn off and head "inland" but not that far. Its on a Forestry Road that has public access. You will be told by a finger board where you will park your car and then its a, maybe, 15 minute stroll into the forest on a well marked track. It has a catchy touristy name that I can't recall. You will walk past at least a dozen that make you say "Wow, look at that" but you have to keep going to see the really big one. It is AWSOME!!! Its something like 120+ feet to the first branch. Without exaggerating it would be 8 metres, may be more, diameter.
Amate grew up in Dorrigo, in the mountains west of Coffs Harbour. His family were Timber getters. They moved into a new area once that had been logged years before by a bloke who didn't have as good a gear as my mates set up. They had a D8 with a winch and got a number of loads that the previous bloke had dropped but couldn't recover the logs. He said that on a number of times it was one log one load. They had an ols flintstone Mack that had a top highway speed of 48 MPH. It was very low geared.
I have followed recently, a local bloke who mills private land holders hardwood logs, a jinker with maybe 10 logs. They were small in diameter and not very straight either. I think the big logs of yesterday is only history now

My old man was a tree feller at Powelltown and he once told me of a tree
he helped to fell was very big. He said it took 13 men with hands linked to encircle the base. The log trucks (jinkers) often only had one log on board due to their size. It was a precarious drive down the mountain (7 miles) to the mill.

Allan

Those giants at Kew, were so big that if you could cut one down you would need to brake it down in the bush where it lay to do anything with it. But what would you cut it down with? It would take more than 13 men at arms length apart to encircle one of them.
The sign at the foot of the biggest says that as Capt Cook went up the coast they would have been mature trees then!

Originally Posted by chambezio

Those giants at Kew, were so big that if you could cut one down you would need to brake it down in the bush where it lay to do anything with it. But what would you cut it down with? It would take more than 13 men at arms length apart to encircle one of them.
The sign at the foot of the biggest says that as Capt Cook went up the coast they would have been mature trees then!

Very long two man cross cut saws and axes. I think on the biggest trees, to fell them, it was the primarily the axe. You may recall they cut notches in the tree around head height or slightly higher and wedged boards into the slots. They did this to get above the potentially defective part of the bole.

Then they balanced on those boards to swing the axe. Several axe-men might work on the tree at the same time. They were tough old buggers and semi acrobatic! How would they go with workcover today ?

Regards
Paul

Those tingles & the Gloucester tree in WA are magnificient. Sadly TC Larry & Yasi took out a few of our remaining FNQ rainforest giants.