WESTERN AUSTRALIA 213 



with deciduous grown timbers where heartwood is always 

 accepted, and so contrary to the nature of evergreen trees, 

 including blue gum 1 and stringy bark." 



Spikes and nails are not easily driven into Australian 

 hardwoods. 



WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 



Jarrah (Eucalyptus margiiiata) (Fig. 30) is the principal 

 hardwood of the colony. The tree attains a height of 

 120 ft. and over and sometimes 50 ft. to the first branch. 

 Something like 8,000,000 acres adjacent to the coast from 

 Albany to Perth are covered by jarrah forests. The best 

 timber is grown on hill ranges. The wood is very like a red 

 brick when newly cut, but darkens to a reddish brown colour. 

 It is hard, dense and strong, generally very straight in the 

 grain and with but little sap. The annual rings are close 

 and, as a rule, clearly defined. It is classed in Lloyd's 

 third list of shipbuilding timbers. The timber is used in 

 the colony for most kinds of substantial work wherever 

 lightness is not a consideration. It makes excellent shingles 

 for roofs, which last many years. Not liable to suffer from 

 rot when built into masonry or let into the ground, it is 

 considered the best timber in the colony for telegraph poles, 

 having a life, under favourable circumstances, of from 

 twenty-five to thirty years. It makes excellent street 

 paving, for which it has been largely used in Great Britain, 

 and much piling and timber quay work has been done with 

 this timber at Hartlepool, Great Yarmouth, and other places, 

 and it has proved very satisfactory. Owing to its long life 

 it is an excellent timber for railway sleepers ; a plank 

 examined after being in use on a bridge for forty-three 

 years was found to be still in good condition. 



1 The term "gum" is generally applied in Australia to those 

 eucalypti with smooth bark. 



