Art. V. — Experiments upon the Hardwoods of 



Australia. 



A compilation by F. A. Campbell, C.E. 



[Contributed 11th May, 1882.] 



The strength, durability, and other properties of the colonial 

 hardwoods is a subject involved in considerable obscurity. 

 This arises from the small number, and the fragmentary 

 nature of the experiments yet made, the incompleteness of 

 the records, the great diversity of results where uniformity 

 was to be expected, and the want of exactness in the desig- 

 nation of the various timbers tested. 



Notwithstanding that the experiments are few in number, 

 and many of these incomplete, it might, I think, be a work of 

 some interest and service, a work, moreover, which as far as 

 I know, has not yet been attempted, to collect and compare 

 the records of those experiments which have been made up 

 to the present time, to note the conditions under which they 

 were carried out, and to place in a convenient form for refer- 

 ence mean results derived from the whole of the observa- 

 tions. 



Such a work would establish an index and starting-point 

 for those who might wish to follow up the subject, and would 

 furnish engineers, architects, and others with at least ap- 

 proximate values for many of the properties of the various 

 timbers tested. To accomplish this in a concise form, and as 

 far as the data which I have been able to collect will permit, 

 has been my aim and desire in writing this paper. 



The useful hardwoods of Australia belong almost entirely 

 to the Eucalypt family, and to this fact is due much of the 

 difficulty in affixing the true names to the timbers procured 

 for the purpose of experiment ; for not only do many of the 

 varieties greatly resemble one another, and bear in conse- 

 quence the same popular name, but the same variety is fre- 

 quently so altered by the influence of locality, that it goes 

 by many different names. 



