Forestry - Old Growth

Western Australia's timber industry was built on logging of old growth karri and jarrah forests in the south-west. In the first part of the twentieth century the giant hard woods of the southern forests were felled by teams of timber workers.  The industry relied principally on man and beast. The use of machines and industrial processes to harvest timber was limited. Apart from the mills and the railways used to transport both logs and processed timber to and from the mills, trees were felled by hand in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions.