forest resources of australia. 251 



The Commercial Timbers of Australia. 



The timbers of the Commonwealth are of many varieties, and 

 some of them of high commercial value. The chief of these, as 

 shown in the great work of the late Professor Baron von Mueller, 

 are the eucalypts, which ai-e indigenous to Australia, and are 

 found in all parts of the country. Of this valuable timber alone 

 there are over one hundred and fifty species. Besides the eucalypts, 

 there are many kinds of casuarinas (the Australian oak), some 

 conifers (the Moreton Bay pine), the cypress pine, the brown pine 

 or colonial deal, and others, many acacias (the Australian wattle), 

 banksias, and numerous other varieties. 



At present, however, the range of Australian woods available 

 for British commerce is limited. Western Austi'alia and 

 Tasmania are the only States that have seriously dealt with 

 the question of exporting timber, or of using their forest resources 

 as a valuable commercial asset. New South Wales is beginning 

 to enter the field, and Queensland should be able to utilise her 

 timbers for the supply of outside markets. But before these 

 States can hope to compete with Western Australia or 

 Tasmania, or in any way to command the attention of timber 

 users in this country, they must issue, under authority, a definite 

 and reliable statement of the timbers available for export. 

 General statements on the subject — of which the Government 

 books are full — are of no practical use, nor are the tests, proving 

 the strength and general value of the timbeis, such as those 

 issued by the Queensland and New South Wales Governments, 

 unless accompanied by reliable data as to the timber actually 

 available. For example, two of the most useful eucalypts of 

 Australia — ironbark and tallow wood — to which special attention 

 has recently been called by the New South Wales Government, 

 are said to be so restricted as to render an export trade of any 

 magnitude impossible. There are, however, other varieties of 

 timber in New South Wales and Queensland, of which there 

 should be an ample supply. In the case of Victoria and South 

 Australia, notwithstanding the proposed eflforts to conserve and 

 increase the forest resources of these States, there is little prob- 

 ability of any export trade in timber being possible for many 

 years to come. Our attention, therefore, for the purpose of this 

 paper, must be confined, pi-actically, to Western Australia and 

 Tasmania. 



