Pit-Saw Pioneers

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 64, 2 April 1937, Page 15

Pit-Saw Pioneers

Making a Living in Early Sydney

jPHERE are ancient wooden structures still and around Sydney that were oullt of hardwood timbers, pitsawn in fche splendid forests that once flourished between Cook's and George's rivers (writes Will Carter in the Sydney Morning Herald). What now composes the munlcipallty of Hurstville was originally known as Gannon's Forest, adjacent to whlch was Lord's Bush, and in these were splendid Ironbark, gum, mahogany, bloodwood, turpentine, and other hardwoods in abundanoe. Excellent hardwood belts flourished also at French's Forest and Epping. These forests, and the feverish demand for good building timber in the papital, created an industry which, in conjunctlon with market-gardening, laid the foundations of niawarra suburbs like Rockdale, Kogarah, Bexley, Hurstville, Penshurst, and Peakhurst. The speedy, steam- driven circular-saw had not made Its appearance then, and the whole output was eflected by means ■ of the slow and laborious plt-paw, whlch produced a type of hardy settler, as tough and enduring as the forest timber itself. The saw-pit took a day to erect. It consisted of the pit, heavy cross-pieces, dt "side-strikes," sklds, and transoms. The pit was usually three feet wide, two feet deep, and it extended from tree to tree. The crqss-pleces for the log platform were from one tree to another, mostly about 18 feet apart. When a log was to be sawn it was levered up the skids into positlon, and secured with irpn dogs to the transoms. The flrst slde-strike was supported by stout forks, ieaning slightly backwards, while the second rested on the flrst long pair of skids which came back a good way. rPHE top-sawyer had most of the 11ft, but the man in the pit below suffered inconvenience by reason of the constant downward drift of sawdust. A six-foot, gulleted saw was mostly used, which was kept in keen cutting condition. The rasp of the flle in saw-sharpening which made a "music" as mellifluous as modern Jazz, like the clatter of the farrier's hammer, is rarely heard now. A breaking-down cut was flrst run, which severed the log in twain, and then these were quartered. Plumb-bob and string "flick-lines" were used in staining the saw-track, and at it they toiled. those industrious sawyers, from dawn almost until dark each day. I rip and tear, andit's little I care, So long as they keep my teeth in repalr, What logs they bring, how long they be, Or whether a gum or bloodwood tree; How hard their timber, how close the graln, These trouble me not— I saw them in twain. Floors need boards, and walls need studs, And bridges are building to span the fioods, So, up and down, with beat and swing," Like a homing-bee I follow the string, Creeping, creeping, I gnaw the track, And follow the line of white or black. l*hose were the -iays of limited car'lal and' nnlimiiej energy, when cir

mechanical facilities were few, before the flashing circular saw had revolved at the bidding of steam, or the urge of the water-wheel; when the tougened sawyer plied his saw vertically, with the help of a mate. It would make some of our modern lndustrial leaders and strike promoters dizzy in the head to contemplate a fair day's work in that period, when daylight led the toilers forth and darkn^ss brought them home. In the virgin forests there was plenty of timber at hand, and the sawn stuff was transported by drays to Sydney, about 10 miles distant, Cook's River being crossed at Tempe, vexatious delays sometimes occurring, due to sudden freshes in the stream. The price offering then ranged from 15/- to 20/- per 100 super feet, while to-day it fetches about £2. It was a good day's work for two sawyers to cut 200ft. the result varying according to the dimensions of the timber. When it came to felloes (fellies) fdr wheels, a narrow, tuming-saw was used, flrst marking out the "flitch," or sawn piece, and then cutting to measure. JT kept them going to produce 300 per day. After the end of the flitch was sawn to give the proper curve, the folIowing "belly-cut" also performed the "back-cut" for the next felloe. There were a good many timber merchants in the half-built city and suburbs, and they easily disposed of all, and more, than the pit-sawyers could supply. Amongst those operating were firms like Long and Wright and Phil Williams, the latter being a wheelwright, whose barkroofed premises in Goulburn Street, in the neighbourhood of Anthony Horderns' present building. Turpentine piles were always In steady demand owing to the fact that the timber was especially adapted for wharf construction, due to its ability to resist the water-beetle. In those early days of wood-fuelling for cooking with colonial ovens and stoves, the Hlawarra forests furnished most of the flrewood, sold in two-foot bundles at 1/- per bundle. ^HE lure of gold ln the 'fif ties took many of the pit sawmen away to the country, but many of them, finding little success there, returned later and settled down to steady and more remunerative work with their saws. In course of time the near-Sydney forests became exhausted, and then a drift occurred to the fine coastal belts. Among the scores of pioneers of Gannon's Forest, Lord's Bush, and Connelly's Bush, mention might be made of the Peakes, Pickerings, and Pearces, whose descendants are still living within the confines of the municipality of .Hurstville. The settlers of those striving days were mostly physical giants, who lived to a great age, and were conspicuous for their honesty and industry. The sawyer might leave hls tools at an incompletec: saw-pit for weeks lying beside a log, exposed to the eye of pkssers-by, but he always found them uhdisturbed when he returned tc flnish his job.