Huon pine wild river adventures and the search for a golden timber | Explore Aus | ABC Australia

Huon pine is a unique and valuable timber that grows only in the rain forests of south west Tasmania. Four generations of the Morrison family have worked with the timber. Three Morrison brothers even rowed a wooden boat up the Franklin River in the 1940s, looking for pine. In that era the timber was revered as one of the world’s best for boat and ship-building.

The cutting of live Huon pine ceased in the 1970s, an acknowledgement that the species was too unique and slow-growing for ongoing harvest. Many specimens live for over 1000 years. But the Morrison family’s search for the valuable timber continues today via the salvaging of craft-quality timber that regularly washes out of the wild rivers and becomes stranded on the banks of the massive Macquarie Harbour.

Brendon Morrison has one of two licenses to scour the shores of the Harbour, loading drift logs and burls into his custom-made punt with on-board crane. His 75 year-old father, Snowy, is retired but still loves showing tourists the family mill on the Strahan water-front.

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Video produced by Rick Eaves ABC Northern Tasmania.

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