280 
No. 54. Part XIII. See also vols. ii, p. 206; iii, p. 167 ; iv, p. 165. ' 
Casuarina lepidophloia F.v.M. 
THE BEL AH, 
(Family CASUAIUNE.E.) 
False spellings of " She-Oak " (Casuarina). See vol. ii, p. 75. 
Thus we have : Shiack, e.g., vol. i, p. 11; and Shioc, e.g., vol. i, p. 27, 
indiscriminately used for She-0a,k (Cas'.iarina) in Howitt's '" Land of Labour and 
Gold " (1855). 
We have also the spelling " Sheoke," by people who cannot think that anything 
so simple as " She Oak " can be correct. And yet She Oak, and nothing else, is the 
correct thing, as already explained in Part xiii, p. 75, of the present work. 
The following notes on " Belah " are by Mr. Gordon Burrow, acting District 
Forester, Narrabri : 
Foremost among the timbers of the north-west I would place Belah (Casuarina lepidophloia). Its 
range in the drier north-west and west is very extensive, though the quantity, unfortunately, diminishes 
from year to year from various causes as I shall show. 
Belah chooses generally a low-lying swampy ground, frequently land subject to periodical inundation 
and covered with depressions known as " gilgais " or " melon-holes," and on the edges of plains. This is 
not invariably the case, however, as it is also to be found growing in sandy and even hilly or mountainous 
country, in close conjunction with pine, irbnbark and other timbers. Where pine and ironbark are plentiful, 
it is considered, and perhaps reasonably so, an inferior species, and meets with no consideration at the 
hands of the ring-barker, but as one gets further out, it assumes a value proportionate to the scarcity of 
timber for fencing, building and other purposes. Its uses are varied; mature, it is extensively utilised 
for fencing posts, well slabs, for building, and even sawn into flooring and weather-boards. The saplings 
are used for rough building and for drop fences, usually with buddha (Eremophila Mitchelli) or coolibah 
(Eucalyptus microtheca, see Part Hi), posts, for immature belah will not stand in the ground. 
In time of drought the foliage is invaluable as fodder for starving stock, and the dry wood burns 
freely, leaving nothing but an ash. Belah is practically the only timber out west that can be split into posts. 
The bark is left on for preference, and the posts have a fairly long life when split from mature trees. I 
have seen fences still in use that have been erected for over twenty-five years. Alternately round posts of 
buddha, roolibah, box (various species) and, in some localities, yarran (Acacia Jwmalophylla) are used 
for fencing posts. 
Under cover, for slabs, belah is practically everlasting; with the bark left on, the effest is not 
'inpleasing, but after a few years, it falls off and creates a nuisance. An additional disadvantage is its 
liability to shrink. It is largely used for well slabs, for which purpose it is admirably adapted. When a 
well is unused for some time, an unpleasant odour and taste is imparted to the water, which disappears 
as the well is used. 
Belah is not generally milled, but I have had the opportunity of observing its use also in this 
capacity. Some twenty or twenty-five years ago, my uncles, then owners of Bunna Bunna Station, some 
60 miles north-west of Narrabri, put in a sawing plant and sawod all the timber necessary for a large 
wool-shed and men's huts. Belah was the timber used. It was sawn green and the timber went straight 
into the buildings; it was at once painted. It warped and cracked a little when first put up, but to have 
allowed it to have seasoned would have been fatal. 
