Timber-getting has been an important industry in the Hunter Region for many years, ever since the first convict gangs were sent to the area to cut the great stands of cedar that once covered huge areas.
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These photographs, showing a glimpse of some aspects of the industry, are among many in the new book, The Way We Worked, by husband and wife team Greg and Sylvia Ray.
The intriguing photo of a timber mill in a bush setting was labelled by its amateur creator (the late Doug Brown) “Pender and Foster’s Mill”. It isn’t clear where the picture was taken, although the Upper Allyn is a possibility.
The other photos were taken by the late Douglass Baglin, a prominent photographer who was visiting the Hunter in 1960 to make a documentary for the Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Company. Baglin’s forestry photos were taken in the Barrington Tops area, and show men at work felling and hauling big logs from the native forest.
The Way We Worked covers a range of jobs and workplaces of the Hunter’s past, and the Rays hope to add more volumes in the future. The book – the seventh published by the duo since 2010 – is available for $40 from the Maitland Mercury office at 6/555 High Street, Maitland, theherald.com.au online book store and from participating newsagents and booksellers.
