Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white, silent clip shows logs being transported to the sawmill via a horse-drawn rail truck. In the first shot, two men secure a log onto a rail truck using chains. The men are then shown levering a log onto a second rail truck. A long shot shows the truck being pulled by horses through the forest.

Educational value points

• The clip shows how timber was transported from the forest. In this period, timber railways conveyed timber from forests to bush sawmills and from there to the state rail system. Railways also brought supplies to sawmill townships. The first crawler tractors (tractors with tracks instead of wheels, developed for steep terrain and soft ground) were used to extract timber from forests in the 1930s, when the use of motor vehicles was becoming more common in the industry.

• Timber railways were built in rugged terrain and often featured sharp curves, steep grades and wooden viaducts. The sleepers and rails were generally made of local timber, although steel rails were used on the busier sections and then on all lines once locomotives were introduced. While steam locomotives were introduced in some mill operations from the 1870s, horses and bullocks were still used to haul timber on many timber railways in this period.

• The footage may show lumberjacks using a peavey, or peavey hook, to lever logs onto rail trucks. Known as the logger’s all-purpose tool, the peavey was used for handling logs. It consisted of a handle that was about 50 inches (1.25 m) long, with a metal spike at the end. The spike was rammed into a log and then the hook (on an arm attached to a pivot on the handle) was fastened onto the log. Once engaged, the handle gave the operator leverage to roll, lift or slide the log.

• Work in the logging industry involved hard manual labour. In the absence of mechanised equipment, lumberjacks had to move logs manually and the work was physically demanding. For many lumberjacks this was compounded by isolation, camping in the forest and only returning to the sawmill settlement on weekends.

• The clip may show a logging operation in an old-growth forest. In this period much of the timber was harvested from old-growth forests. Today, less than 8 per cent of Australia’s pre-European old-growth forests remains, and this has led to the loss, or threat to the survival, of much of the indigenous flora and fauna that is dependent on these forests. In the 1920s and 1930s, forest services throughout Australia introduced management methods, such as forest regeneration, to ensure that forestry yields would be sustainable, and the industry would remain productive. Heated debate continues between conservationists and supporters of the forestry industry.

• By the second half of the 19th century, Australia had a well-established timber industry that supplied a range of markets, both in Australia and overseas. Logs were cut into dimensioned wood at sawmills and used in construction and manufacturing, including house framing, joinery, flooring and furniture. Hewn (roughly cut) timber was used to make sleepers, beams and posts. Logs were also split for palings, shingles and fenceposts.

• From the Bush to the Bungalow is an example of an early documentary that was made to promote the timber industry. In this period, films were silent and black and white. The size and weight of the cameras meant films tended to use long, static takes, such as those in this clip, with few close-ups. Intertitles were used in conjunction with the visual images to tell the story.

This clip starts approximately 6 minutes into the documentary.

This black and white silent clip shows how logs are transported to the sawmill via a horse-drawn cart. Two men chain logs to the first cart, and once they are in place it drives off and a second horse-drawn cart takes up the same position. It is like an assembly line. The men lever a log onto a second rail cart and it is drawn by horses through the forest.