Lorne Timber Industry

In 1904 the Armistead brothers (Arthur, Ray, Jack and Walter) erected a sawmill on the ridge between Henderson Creek and the St.George River called the St. George No. 1 Mill. They also constructed a 2 ft 3 in wide (675mm) wooden rail tramline from their mill. The bends on the tramline were made of iron and the line ran over the Gentle Annie ridge and down the Cherry Tree Creek to the mouth of the George River, then around the coast to the Lorne pier. Known as The Gentle Annie Line it needed two horse teams to pull the load. This was finally abandoned in favour of re-routing the tramline beside the George River, downstream from Allenvale via bridge crossings to link up with the existing coastal line to the pier.

In the ‘Forrest’ area little steam engines like whistling kettles, were also used to pull the heavy timber laden trolleys. The milling continued for decades. Several other operators also built tramlines to cart their timber and many similar tramline leases were granted by the Lands Department during those years.

Hardwood saw millers throughout the hills and gullies of the Otway Ranges and the Lorne Hinterland were major employers and more than 60 mills were established. Bluegum, Mountain Ash, Messmate, Greygum and Myrtle Beech were found in abundance in the Otway and Angahook forests. Blackwood and Satinwood were found growing in the wettest and most sheltered areas. Bluegum (eucalyptus globulus), a highly prized tough timber with long lasting qualities, was used for railway sleepers, piles and decking timber for wharves and jetties.

Some of the well-known milling family names from the district’s past are Silk, Marriage, Sharp, Babington and Mahoney. In 1936 Sid Armistead, Cecil Clissold and Jim Allen formed the A.C.A. Mill on the Little Erskine River about a kilometre in from the Deans Marsh Road. As kids, it was great seeing the flying fox snigging large logs over the deep gully and up to the winch on the ridge, where two lovely draught horses pulled the logs on a double bogey trolley down to the mill.

The last of the bush mills, Babington’s sawmill at Benwerrin, closed in 1989. Ted Babington senior operated the mill from 1936 and after his death his sons Ted and Erwin continued the business. Sawmills are no longer permitted to operate in the bush because of the high risk of bushfires and are now usually situated in townships.

The early mills were driven by waterpower but eventually they were mostly steam driven. John Sharp & Sons was the last company to use one of the old tramlines to extract timber from their SheOak River mill near the Lower Kalimna Falls and their lease expired in 1935. A roadway connected the A.C.A mill to the Deans Marsh Rd. Timber lorries transported sawn timber to either Deans Marsh Railway Station or directly to construction sites at Lorne. By the 1930’s it was illegal for road transport to operate in direct competition with the government owned railways, so millers were forced to deliver their timber to railway stations for long distance transportation.

Long before tractors and bulldozers came into use, bullock teams were also used for transporting timber logs from the more inaccessible areas. Modern transport brought many benefits, but sadly we lost the romantic charm of the old bush days when a driver’s gentle commands to his horse team could be heard as the animals sweated, snorted and clomped their hooves along the wooden sleepers, pulling the timber trolleys along the tram track. In those long lost and slower times many young couples took advantage of this romantic setting by hitching a ride on top of a trolley to the many beautiful waterfalls, often mimicking shrill bird calls in the fern gullies as they made their way back to the pier.

John Sharp’s ship the Erskine under the command of Captain Jeffrey, along with many other vessels, sailed into Louttit Bay to load up timber stacked on the pier and shoreline. Occasionally during big storms and high tides, timber on the pier was washed off into the sea. Before the pier was built in 1879, small ships had to discharge their cargo on to the Lorne beach. They came in on the rising tide, putting down kedge anchors to haul themselves back out to sea. Sometimes light boats carrying three quarters of a ton of timber each, would venture out to meet the ships in the bay because many captains were fearful of getting stranded on the beach. Apollo was one of the first transport boats and was initially loaded from a tiny jetty at the Erskine river mouth. Heavy logs were often pushed out through the surf and floated to the ships.