Australia So Much to See

The Boorara Tree, a former fire lookout near Northcliffe, was pegged in 1952.  It is 71 metres tall, and one of very few old growth forest trees remaining in the location.  This was never open to the public for climbing.  When no longer used for fire watch, and due to the tree being considered unsound, the upper section of the trees with the hut was removed, and the lower pegs were removed to prevent access. 

The Diamond Tree, at 51 metres is not so tall, but an extended timber hut at the top still towered over the neighbouring trees. This tall timber hut at the top has not been replaced and is still intact.  With the fire surveillance network being abandoned in the 1970s, the Diamond Tree was used again for this purpose in 1994.  After 75 years of being climbed by fire watch personnel and the adventurous public, this tree was considered unsound, so for public safety was closed to climbing in 2019 and the lower pegs removed. 

Once the ladder was created by hammering in wooden pegs, but these were later replaced with metal pegs. Scars up the Diamond Tree show an earlier peg line.

The area was logged in the 1950s and the present Karri trees seen here are relatively young trees.  A remaining stump shows the size of the trees that were logged. 

There is a 2.5 kilometres downhill walk from the parking area at the Boorara Tree to Lane Poole Falls, a small seasonal waterfall on the Canterbury River.  

The was once a network of nine trees once used as fire lookouts but one was burnt down early, leaving eight which were used until 1973, but none of these are the tallest Karri tree. These were supplemented by ten lookout towers built on hills, giving a total of eighteen fire lookouts. 

From the mid 1890s Karri paving blocks for use in the streets of England's major cities were the main timber product exported. At the turn of the century 50% of Western Australia's timber exports went to Great Britain as pavers. Trees thought to be up to 90 metres tall were logged. 

Karri and Jarrah were also exported to places like South Africa where, as in Australia, they were used in mines, for railway sleepers, and for the construction of jetties and bridges. In the early part of the twentieth century 95% of local timber was sold to England, eastern Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand.

Karri timber has been used extensively in the building industry, particularly in roofs for the length and knot-free quality of the boards. The wood is also ideal for flooring, furniture, cabinetry and plywood.

Woodchips were first exported from the region in the 1970s to supply paper pulp manufacturers, mainly in Japan.  Both Karri and Jarrah trees in old growth forests were felled for export woodchips. Since 1976, when wood chipping began in Western Australia, approximately fifteen million tonnes of native hardwood woodchips have been exported to Japan.

True old growth Karri forest became a small percentage of the existing Karri forests. 

Now much of the woodchip exported comes from softwood plantation timber.