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I look upon it as a really valuable timber for wood-paving. It is not our 
best timber for the purpose, but is is of proved value under very trying 
circumstances as regards exposure. Like red mahogany and others of our 
timbers, it belongs to the jarrah class. Although it has been passed off as 
ironbark sleepers and even girders, it is an inferior timber to ironbark on account of 
its comparative brittleness, a defect which would not in any way affect its 
usefulness for wood-blocking. 
It is used principally for fencing posts, for which purpose it is well adapted. 
I have known posts that were thirty years in wet marshy land which, when taken out, 
were quite fresh looking, showing no sign of decay. It is a splendidly durable timber 
for wet ground. 
In 1892 a friend wrote to me : — 
There is a fence on my brother’s land at Jamberoo that was erected in 1851, and is consequently 
over fifty years in existence—post and rails of woollybutt, and a portion of it still in a good state of 
preservation, likely to last for many years. Much, of course, depends on the state of the timber, where it 
is cut down, and the time of the year when this is done. The timber of the fence referred to was taken 
from a sound, healthy tree that had not begun to decay, and it was cut down in the winter. As a rule 
fences last longer on moist or swampy ground. 
In many parts it is used for house blocks, as white ants do not like it, 
nor is it liable to dry rot. 
It was formerly largely palmed off as red ironbark, but while inferior to 
that timber on account of its comparatively brittle nature, its durability in and 
on the ground will always commend it to those willing to employ our native 
timbers on their merits. 
Exudation. —Like most other Eucalypts, it produces an astringent gum, or, 
to speak more accurately, a kino. This kino has the property of forming a muddy 
solution in water, and hence falls into my turbid group of kinos. As soon as it is 
dry it becomes exceedingly brittle, and readily reducible to a fine powder by mere 
pressure of the fingers. 
Size. —It is a large forest tree. Mr. Andrew Murphy says that at Wyong 
it “grows very large—8 or 9 feet in diameter—and a great height.” The late 
Mr. Eorestcr Benson, of Bega, says: “ I have seen trees fully 180 feet in height 
and 5 feet in circumference.” Mr. Eorestcr Allen, of Moruya, gives the height 
of the trees at from 80 to 150 feet with a diameter of 2-5 feet. 
Habitat. —It is very plentiful on the coast, especially in the County of 
Dampier. 
The most northerly locality known to me is Raymond Terrace, north of the 
Hunter River. Mr. A. Murphy, of Woy Wov, knows of only three places where 
it occurs in his district, viz., 3 miles from Gosford, also 2 miles from Wyong, 
