43 
Mr. Allen Ransome examined samples of this timber sent from New South 
Wales to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886, and reported : " spokes were 
turned from the sample, and boards planed, the finish of both being excellent." 
This is the species called in the Sydney Mint experiments (1860) " Narrow- 
leaved Ironbark." It is described as of excellent quality, and very durable. It 
came from Singleton, N.S.W. The trees were from 20 to 70 feet to the fork, and 
had an average diameter of 10 to 12 inches (maximum 3 feet) exclusive of the 
bark. Specific gravity, 1*119. Timber called " Ironbark " was also examined in 
the Sydney Mint experiments of 1858. This was probably the same species, as both 
samples were collected at the same place by the same gentleman (Mr. Collett). 
Captain Ward gives the specific gravity at 1*211. 
A slab of " Narrow-leaved Ironbark " from Appin, shown at the London 
Exhibition of 1862, as No. H (and previously at the Paris Exhibition of 1855, as 
12 3b), is exceedingly like the timber of E. crebra above referred to. Diameter, 24 
to 48 inches ; height, 60 to 100 feet. It is of a dark purplish colour, cross-grained, 
tough and hard, tearing much under the plane. It is very heavy. 
Mr. Byerley experimented upon some Rockharnpton (Queensland) timber of 
this species, and found a rod of 1 inch section and 12 inches long, to bear 970 Ib. 
before breaking. Diameter, 20 to 36 inches ; height, 70 to 90 feet. 
In 1894 the late Mr. J. V. de Coque wrote me as follows re this timber : 
The bridge over the Macquarie River at Wellington was built nearly twenty-five years ago of Dubbo 
Ironbark. The Ironbark on the bridge is wonderfully sound and hard. I am now redecking this structure. 
The old deck is composed of Northern timbers only laid a few years. I found Blue Gum, Blackbutt and 
Tallow-wood. All these timbers have white ants in them. I even found the white ants crawling on the 
Ironbark girders, but they had not attempted to touch the timber. I examined the sheathing in the 
abutment piers, but found no ants anywhere except in the deck. In the spike-holes in girders, made 
through spiking the deck down, the ants were walking in and out, but the timber was untouched. The 
residents tell me the ants will rarely touch the Ironbark of their district when it is dry. 
Size. A medium to a large tree. Trees 100 feet high and 6 feet through 
are by no means uncommon. One of the photographs shows a tree 15 feet in 
diameter, but it had passed its prime. 
Habitat. It is confined to New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern 
Territory. As regards the former State, it occurs principally on the eastern side of 
the Dividing Range, and nearly as far south as Nowra. Coast-wise it goes north to 
the Gulf of Carpentaria. 
Northwards it is to be found all along the eastern slopes of the Coast Range 
as far as Newton Boyd. Westerly it occurs from Dubbo to the North-west Railway 
Line and for a considerable distance northwards and eastwards, though not ascending 
to a great elevation. 
In Queensland it is very extensively distributed, but not occurring to the 
farthest west of the State. 
B 
