Home of the Huon pine – a shipwright’s Eldorado

The wilderness surrounding Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour is the home of the reknowned Huon pine – a tree which grows nowhere else in the world.
Apart from its sheer size it has remarkable qualities which sets it aside from other forms trees and makes it one of the most desirable timbers for shipbuilding.
Huon pine contains natural oils that resist rotting. The chemical that gives the timber its unique smell and preservative qualities is methyl eugenol which offers the timber protection, not only from rot, but also from the Teredo Worm – the pest which can infest and destroy the wooden hull of a sailing ship.
As transport in the early 1800s was by square rigged ships, shipbuilding was a prime industry and the discovery of Huon pines on the west coast provided an occupation for the convicts of Sarah Island.

Not only did they build ships, they cut down the trees and the penal settlement had its own sawmill where the logs was sawn for transport to Hobart Town.
But Huon pine is an extremely slow growing tree increasing in diameter by only 1mm per year. Some trees in the area are over 2000 years old but sadly most of the trees which were accessible to the piners were removed over the last 200 years.
Today they only examples of Huon pines growing on the banks of the Gordon River are very young trees or those disfigured examples where were not satisfactory for milling.
It will be a long wait to see the magnificent Huon Pines of old to once again dominating the forest.
Pics: Entering the Gordon River from Macquarie Harbour, and a 'baby' Huon pine over 15 years old.

Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River, Tasmania

If you visit Strahan, on the west coast of Tasmania, a day trip on one of the cruise ships on the harbour is a must. Not only will you enjoy a day of sightseeing and educational commentary but excellent food and comfort aboard the modern vessels.
The pristine river and wilderness area is known not only from its once prolific stand of Huon Pines but for the long running dispute over the building of the Gordon on Franklin Dam.
There are few rivers in Tasmania which have not been damned for hydro electric power and now Tasmania has more power than it requires.
Fortunately the voice of the environmentalists won the battle and secured the free flow of this part of the Gordon River.
But it was the very dense, inhospitable nature of the forests and the rugged terrain that made the Harbour and ideal place to locate a penal settlement way back in the early 1800s. And it was here that the hardened convicts of Van Diemen's Land were sent. It was a place they regarded it as Hell on earth.
Pic: Gordon river World Heritage cruise ship
Pics: World Hertitage cruise ship
Mountain ranges flanked in wilderness forest surround Macquarie Harbour

It sure rains in the wilderness

We blame the weather for many things but it is the weather – a temperate climate and high rainfall which has resulted in the luxuriant growth of this virtually impenetrable area of wilderness.
The West Coast Wilderness area of Tasmania records 2 to 3 meters of rain a year. In winter there is snow on the surounding mountains but on some days in summer the temperature can soar to 100 degrees.
When you walk through the wilderness forests on the banks of the Gordon River, you only have to touch the trees or ferns to realise that they are perpetually wet. The ground is never dry and the water in the gurgling streams is golden brown from the plant tannins.
The undergrowth is a tangle of ferns and bushes and canopy above is made up of tall straight-growing trees, blackwood sassafras and myrtle, their trunks encrusted in strange plate-like fungi.
It’s is no wonder few convicts escaped from Sarah Island and those who did never made it out of this unforgiving wilderness.
Pics: Tannin stained streams. Impenetrable undergrowth