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Paul talks about his family property ‘Glen Ayr’ on which they operated a sawmill and a successful cattle stud.
Transcript Excerpt
(I): Do you want to talk to me a little bit about the farm, about ‘Glen Ayr’ and its connection to the Kenebri sawmill.
(S): The only connection is that it was all in the one complex, yeah. I used to work on the sawmill until, and then I converted over to the farm after a few years.
(I): Do you know how many people might have been employed either, on well we are talking about the Kenebri sawmill.
(S): On the actual sawmill there would have been about fifteen people regularly and another seven or eight in the bush carting the logs.
(I): And that was when they were starting obviously, when they were logging by hand with the broad-axe?
(S): Oh yeah they used to - they started off by cutting by axe, yeah. Then they went to chainsaws and power saws, which are all banned these days.
(I): So it gradually became a bit more mechanised?
(S): It gradually became more modernised, yeah.
(I): Do you want to talk about your father for me and how he fitted into the Kenebri sawmill. Umm, was he the manager, what position did he hold?
(S): He was part owner with his father. Dad was the manager; we had a foreman on the sawmill. Dad was there all the time too when he wasn’t mucking around with his cattle.
(I): And his cattle, as you were saying before were a good quality breed…
(S): Dad’s father started the stud in 1945. He didn’t know a great deal about stud cattle at the time. He often told me he went down to the Anthony Horden, Horden’s clothes stores; they had a stud at Bowral called Milton Park and at the time he was the top stud in Australia. So dad said if it was good enough for Anthony Horden to have Poll Herefords it was good enough for Wilbur Wangmann. So Anthony Horden had the team going to the Brisbane Show in 1945 and they had five heifers and a bull going to Brisbane and Dad went down and had a look at them. He wanted to buy three but he wasn’t allowed, they said he had to buy the lot or none, so he bought the lot and started up our stud.
(I): Can you recall what year that might have been, round about?
(S): ’45, 1945.
(I): And what happened after that? He built the stud up?
(S): He built the stud up. We bought more cows from other places and more different bulls and we ended up showing in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Glen Innes and it was very enjoyable and rewarding too.
(I): And what part did you play in all this; were you old enough to participate?
(S): Oh yes, when I got old enough I was participating all the time, yeah.
(I): You have got brothers and sisters?
(S): One sister, yup.
(I): And did you find you went to the extra shows with the cattle at all when you were young?
(S): Yes, I used to go round the local - when I was young - I am saying young, 7, or 8 or 9, we used go round all the local shows – Binnaway and Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo the local shows. It wasn’t until later on that we branched out and went to Glen Innes for a start and then to Sydney and Brisbane when we got a bit bigger and braver.
(I): Do you just want to talk about ‘Glen Ayr’ and its location so where it is and where it is in relation to the Pilliga Forest?
(S): ‘Glen Ayr’ is probably in the middle of the Pilliga Forest; it is probably about 2 or 3 kilometres east of the big village of Kenebri, which is always surrounded by forest.
(I): And how did the cattle fit in, how did they graze in that area?
(S): Oh, we had improved farming after we grew oats and Lucerne; the country was always alright, it provided very well for cattle.
(I): Did you have to do a lot of clearing when you were younger?
(S): When dad first bought the property it had a lot of pine on it; that is what he mainly bought the property for to mill the timber. When all the milled timber was gone that is when he started the stud up.
(I): Going back again to the sawmilling side, what was the timber used for, the White Cypress pine when it was shipped away, what were its uses?
(S): 90% flooring, yeah.
(I): Do you want to talk to me a little bit about White Cypress pine?
(S): Well Cypress pine timber is white ant resistant. They will go through it to get to something else but they won’t – it’s a white ant resistant timber it is just a shame to see it where it is these days. But it is one of the best semi-hardwood timbers in the world.
(I): Why did the Kenebri sawmill close down?
(S): Oh, it closed down we just – probably mainly because of me, I was sick of it. I wanted to put more time and energy into the stud and Dad was getting on so he didn’t argue much when I suggested we sell the sawmill.
(I): Can you remember about what year that might have been when it shut down?
(S): Ahh - 1965 or something like that, I suppose.
(I): Can you remember if there was a lot happening then in the Pilliga Forest with the closure of sawmills?
(S): Oh no, they were still expanding a bit, but we, in those days you had to have a licence, I think you still do - you can only cut so much Cypress pine out of the forest, you weren’t allowed to come and take just whatever you wanted to. We sold our licence to Tommy Underwood, he had a sawmill at Wooleybah and at Gwabegar at the time and so he wanted our licence so he could get more timber out of the forest and keep his operation going. It was pretty easy to sell, we couldn’t actually sell the sawmill as a going concern as it was on our property.
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