Self-guided walks in Glebe NSW 2037 Australia

Explore the many facets of our fascinating and historic suburb of Glebe with this set of self-guided walks. A great guide for visitors, and new insights for residents

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Timber Industry

Facing this stretch of the walk is The Pavilions (Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, 2004) a residential development that replaced Hardy’s Timber Mill, a large complex of industrial buildings that, after it ceased operation, enjoyed a brief popularity as artists’ studios.

Timber Industry

Timber Industry
Facing this stretch of the walk is The Pavilions (Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, 2004) a residential development that replaced Hardy’s Timber Mill, a large complex of industrial buildings that, after it ceased operation, enjoyed a brief popularity as artists’ studios.

From the 1890s until the 1980s timber storage dominated the bays, with logs in the water and timber stacks on land. Although most of the timber mills which lined the foreshore of Blackwattle Bay had ceased operation by 1975, some derelict mill buildings remained and storage continued. Prior to this time timber often came from the softwood rainforests of northern NSW and Queensland, and the logs were brought into the bays on lighters and left floating, from whence they were dragged or lifted up into the mills and sawn. The rainforest timber, both hard and soft, was often of sufficient quality to be used for carriage construction and furniture. Wooden NSW railway carriages and domestic furniture created from native timbers were manufactured in nearby factories. Often the logs seemed to completely fill the bays.

Increasingly this source of timber declined, and softwoods were imported already dressed. This sawn timber was more often deposited and removed by truck, but left to season in great stacks on the flat foreshore. This postwar timber was mainly oregon pine imported from North America and used in house construction.

Continue along the waterfront path to next stopping point, the interpretive sign,noting the walkway in this area is planted with native coastal species to attract birds.

Click on the images above to view the full size

More Information

  1. Max Solling; Grandeur and Grit; Halstead Press 2007; pp236-237; on the Timber Workers Union strike in 1929
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