On arriving at Sydney Cove in 1788 one of the first requirements was to find material suitable for erection of dwellings. The history of red cedar is as old as European settlement in Australia. It was used extensively for furniture, wood panelling and construction, including shipbuilding. It is one of Australia’s few native, deciduous trees. It thrives on deep well drained basalt soils usually found along rivers and creeks in areas of high summer rainfall.
In its natural, sub-tropical environment, Red Cedar is actually deciduous, losing it leaves in winter to avoid the ‘dry season’. The heartwood is naturally durable and easy to work. It is a light, fine-grained timber bestowing a beautiful, even, deep-red colour. It is found throughout southern Asia, from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and in Australia. Red Cedar is a sub-tropical rainforest tree classified in the Mahogany family. Under the protection of ‘National Parks Australia’, it is rumoured that perhaps a few of these gentle giants may still exist – one of which being reported to be located in New South Wales – measuring in, at a girth of a whopping 11.3 m (c 2007) !!! Sadly, one of the few remaining giants, a 500 year old Red Cedar, heritage listed, and located in the Atherton Tableland fell victim to ‘Cyclone Larry’ on the 20th March 2006. It came from the Nulla Nulla Creek in the Upper Macleay, New South Wales producing a whopping 240 cu m of timber !!! The largest recorded Red Cedar tree felled in Australia was in 1883. The base of the giant’s trunk is often buttressed, younger trees are often round. The giant Red Cedars of Australia were magnificent trees – growing up to 60 m tall with girths of up to 11.5 m recorded – literally towering over surrounding trees – usually entangled in vines, which had to be cut away before the trees could be felled. Source: Excerpts – “The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson” – by Ida Lee – Chapter 6 – published 1915 The remarks in the log may prove of value to those who study the early history of the Colony, for Murray gives the names of the different reaches in the river, and it would be interesting to know whether these old place-names are still used. In the meantime the Lady Nelson had been to the Hawkesbury and back again, arriving on April 21st and bringing a cargo of wheat and some cedar logs.
Red Cedar was undoubtedly the most valuable of the timbers found in the coastal brush lands of New South Wales. australis) was often referred to as ‘Red Gold’ during the early pioneering years of Australia. The highly prized Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata var. Historical POI – Western Australia (WA).Historical POI – Northern Territory (NT).Historical POI – Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
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