Used in the 19th century.A solid steel rectangular wedge fluted three quarters of the way down on both faces, used with a maul to split logs and timber, particularly hardwoods. It was used in the 19th Century.splitting wedges, steel, wood splitting wedges, woodworking tools

Used in the 19th CenturyA large handmade wooden barrel shaped headed maul with two steel bands at each end and a wooden handle. It was used to split logs or timber particularly hardwoods using a wedge as shown in the media photo. The rectangular steel wedge has a pointed end which is damaged. It was used in the late 19th Century. mauls, striking tools, steel, wood, tools, splitting wedges, wooden mallet, woodworking tools

Used in the 19th CenturyA large handmade wooden barrel shaped headed maul with two steel bands at each end. The handle is a metal pipe. It has a worn piece of a leather flap near the flanged join of the handle where it meets the head. A solid steel rectangular wedge which was used to split logs is displayed with the maul. It was used in the 19th Century.mauls, striking tools, long handled heavy wooden mallet, steel, wood, tools, wedge, splitting tools, splitting wedges, woodworking tools

Black powder splitting guns were commonly used to split large logs into more manageable pieces before the advent of excavators and front-end loaders in bush logging operations. A typical splitting gun used in Victorian forests was a piece of high-grade steel about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 16 inches long, and slightly tapered at one end. They had a ¾ inch hole drilled about 9 inches deep into the centre of the shaft with a small pilot hole drilled from the outside to load the fuse. The tube was carefully loaded with an amount of black gunpowder using a funnel and spoon. Experience being the guide on how much powder to use, which depended on log size, species and difficulty of splitting the wood. The hole was stopped with a piece of wadded paper and the gun positioned at the end of a length of the log to be split. The splitting gun was then belted into the log with a large wooden maul or even the back of an axe to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches. There were often markings as a guide. This also had the effect of tamping the black powder inside the gun. Preferably the gun was backed up by another large log to absorb the shock and avoid it flying off in the bush somewhere. I have seen guns where a length of string and coloured flag could be attached to help find them. A length of fuse was then inserted in the small hole and lit. Kaboom !!!! Needless to say, the splitting gun was a dangerous implement.Commonly used to split pulpwood but now rareBlack Powder Splitting GunFive marking rings used to guide how far the gun was in the logforest harvesting

Black powder splitting guns were commonly used to split large logs into more manageable pieces before the advent of excavators and front-end loaders in bush logging operations. A typical splitting gun used in Victorian forests was a piece of high-grade steel about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 16 inches long, and slightly tapered at one end. They had a ¾ inch hole drilled about 9 inches deep into the centre of the shaft with a small pilot hole drilled from the outside to load the fuse. The tube was carefully loaded with an amount of black gunpowder using a funnel and spoon. Experience being the guide on how much powder to use, which depended on log size, species and difficulty of splitting the wood. The hole was stopped with a piece of wadded paper and the gun positioned at the end of a length of the log to be split. The splitting gun was then belted into the log with a large wooden maul or even the back of an axe to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches. There were often markings as a guide. This also had the effect of tamping the black powder inside the gun. Preferably the gun was backed up by another large log to absorb the recoil shock and avoid it flying off in the bush somewhere. I have seen guns where a length of string and coloured flag could be attached to help find them. A length of fuse was then inserted in the small hole and lit. Kaboom !!!! Needless to say, the splitting gun was a dangerous implement.Log Splitting gun (large 50cm)forests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Black powder splitting guns were commonly used to split large logs into more manageable pieces before the advent of excavators and front-end loaders in bush logging operations. A typical splitting gun used in Victorian forests was a piece of high-grade steel about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 16 inches long, and slightly tapered at one end. They had a ¾ inch hole drilled about 9 inches deep into the centre of the shaft with a small pilot hole drilled from the outside to load the fuse. The tube was carefully loaded with an amount of black gunpowder using a funnel and spoon. Experience being the guide on how much powder to use, which depended on log size, species and difficulty of splitting the wood. The hole was stopped with a piece of wadded paper and the gun positioned at the end of a length of the log to be split. The splitting gun was then belted into the log with a large wooden maul or even the back of an axe to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches. There were often markings as a guide. This also had the effect of tamping the black powder inside the gun. Preferably the gun was backed up by another large log to absorb the recoil shock and avoid it flying off in the bush somewhere. I have seen guns where a length of string and coloured flag could be attached to help find them. A length of fuse was then inserted in the small hole and lit. Kaboom !!!! Needless to say, the splitting gun was a dangerous implement.Log Splitting gun (large 45cm)forests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

15 min black and white 16 mm film, no sound. Begins with shots of trees in the bush and piles of cut logs beside a track before moving to a group of men standing by a car with 'Operation Firewood' on the boot. A road sign indicates 'Nathalia 6 1/2', 'Numurkah 22', 'Picola 3'. 'Katunga' and 'Barmah'. Shots of an empty Austin flat bed truck with 'Legacy Operation Firewood', poster on the drivers door covering the truck company name,and other empty flat bed trucks parked along a country town street which looks unsealed. A shot of a wooden sign saying 'Euroa Please slow down' follows with the Legacy car travelling very slowly past it before we see a large group of men throwing up logs onto a nearly fully loaded truck, and then a partially loaded truck with men on the flat bed stacking the logs. Five trucks are shown fully loaded and a crowd of men are gathered around a table. A circular saw (with no safety guards!) is being used to cut the bigger logs into a manageable size for splitting before being loaded by a lot of men of varying ages. The film then moves to the city where we see three men riding on the back of a moving fully loaded truck, before it stops to deliver the cut but unsplit logs to a delighted widow and her children. The logs are hurled into her front garden as a well dressed man photographs the proceedings. Other deliveries follow to further widows, but it is not clear who is going to split the logs, some of which are extremely large. The film ends showing a line of empty trucks, and a fenced city area with a sign saying 'Melbourne Legacy Firewood' holding further a supply of logs. 15 mins 07 sec. Legatees delivered firewood annually until 1995 to widows to help them through the winters in a project called 'Operation Firewood' . See also Cat. No. 000848.A record of Legacy helping widows with supplying and stacking firewood. When open fires were the main source of heating a load of firewood, and help moving it, would have been very important to the widows.Metal Kodak film cannister, silver coloured, with 'Firewood' label on outer casing.No inscriptions on internal film. operation firewood, widows

The original small, pioneer cottage was built in the late 1840s to early1850s, by an unknown pioneer. It was located on part of a 30 Acre allotment that was originally part of Henry Dendy’s 'Special Survey Brighton' granted in 1841 (5120acres). There is a small display of external cladding shingles from the original pioneer cottage. Wooden shingles were usually thin (3⁄8 to 3⁄4 in or 10 to 19 mm), relatively narrow (3 to 8 in or 76 to 203 mm), of varying length (14 to 36 in or 360 to 910 mm), and almost always planed smooth. The traditional method for making wooden shingles was to rive - hand split - them from straight-grained knot-free sections of logs pre-cut to the desired length known as bolts. These bolts were quartered or split into wedges. A mallet and axe were used to split out thin pieces of wood. The wood species varied according to available local woods, but only the more durable inner section of the log was usually used. The softer sapwood generally was not used because it deteriorated quickly. Because hand-split shingles were somewhat irregular along the split surface, it was necessary to dress or plane the shingles to make them fit evenly on the roof. This reworking was necessary to provide a tight-fitting roof over typically open shingle lath or sheathing boards. These are the original shingles found on Box Cottage by L Lewis 1970 and used in the reconstruction in 19843 x wood Shingles used on roof of Box Cottage c 1850box cottage museum ormond, henry dendy special survey brighton 1841, brighton, moorabbin shire, parish of moorabbin, county of bourke,cottages, pioneers, ormond, colonial, mckinnon, dendy henry, box william, box elizabeth, reitman william, convicts, lewis timber co. ltd., deam h, museums, box alonzo, smith a,

Pulpwood was often split by hand or with black powder splitting guns into more manageable sizes and cut into 8 foot lengths (or billets). Billets were first stacked endwise to drain the sap and lighten the load before they were loaded by hand onto flat bed trucks for transport to the mills. This long length metal hook was used to pull and manoeuvre the pulpwood billets onto the truck. The advent of excavators in logging operations in the 1970s led to the loading and carting pulpwood in long tree lengths.Long steel tool with handle on one end and hook on the other.

Wedge for splitting large logs in Barmah Forest. Wedge was put in log. Gunpowder from cylinder was placed in log and jammed down. Gunpowder was then lit and used to split open the log~ solid metal pointy wedge-shaped cylinder ~ metal cylindrical case, lid comes off, attached to lid is a long metal stick with a flattened end.log splitting, barmah forest, wedge, gunpowder

View taken 1908 looking south over 'Kalorama', home of Ellis and Eliza Jeeves, across the valley towards the falls.This photograph has a detailed inscription on the back handwritten by John Lundy-Clarke in 1974.View taken 1908 of valley looking south over “Kalorama” towards the falls. House right of “Kalorama” was Paynter’s “Iona” on Lot 29. Faintly below line of Barber’s Road above “Kalorama” is Logan’s house on Lot 28. House against orchard was Pimm’s later Prince’s Lot 19. Big trees on right were on Price’s Lot 18 and were between Tosari Rd and Rosemont Cres. It was FROM one of these being cut up in 1931 that the round length log weighing ½ a ton got away from the splitters and raced down the hill in bounces, one of which cleared Barber’s Rd and Logan’s house in leaping from the fence line above the road.kalorama, paynter, iona, barbers road, ellis jeeves

While one of the lesser prime loading points sawn and split timber were loaded at Beech Forest, and a large share of this was brought to the station over two timber tramways that operated between 1904 and 1933. At the eastern end of the railway yard, near the six-ton derrick crane, a wooden tramline curved out the gate and along the road for about 8 km (5 miles) to the co-operative Box Company, known locally as the Box mill, owned by the Victorian Diary Farmers' Co-operative whose purpose was the milling of butter boxes. Other millers also provided timber. Logs were hauled to the mill by horses, and the sawn timber despatched over a tramline that joined the Box mill line about 1.2 km (0.75 miles) along. B/W. Two men loading puncheons (a short post approximately 4 feet [1.2 metres] especially used for supporting a roof in a coal mine) on a NQR wagon at Beech Forest. Note the lack of trees in the background.beech forest; railways; puncheons;

Methodist services began in late 1893 in the bush, near the end of the present Silvan Reservoir. The seats were split rails and the pulpit a fallen log with a sapling rail. Then a miner's bark hut became available in on the Recreation Ground. The Methodist Church was built and opened in 1903 on the corner of Moxham's Rd and David Hill Rd., with the financial assistance of Mr. James Griffiths of Griffiths Tea. This booklet gives a comprehensive history of the development of the church, its congregations and ministers.Soft cover booklet of 40 pages. Cream coloured cover with a photo of Monbulk Methodist Church 1972.monbulk methodist church, betty hotchin

non-fictionPrior to 1901 the men working in the forests of the Upper Yarra Valley were mainly paling splitters and shingle cutters. When the Warburton-Lilydale Railway was completed in 1901, sawmilling became a major industry and one of the main employers in the Upper Yarra Valley. The railway enabled the sawmillers to get their timber to the Melbourne markets easily and economically. The mills were built, usually in the allotted logging area. Tramlines were used to bring timber from the mills to the railway. In the Upper Yarra Valley the tramlines were mostly horse drawn, or if it was too steep a combination of winches for lowering and then horse to complete the journey. Steam locomotives were used on the Powelltown to Yarra Junction tramline and Ezard-Richards' tramline at Starvation Creek. Donald Ambrose Reid has been a son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, Shire Councillor, firefighter and friend but through it all a Sawmiller. This is Don Reid's story. A story of a sawmilling family. Don's memories also give an insight into the early history of Upper Yarra Valley and the changes that occurred in the sawmilling and logging industry. VAL SMITH 1996/97.upper yarra valley (vic.), don reid, donald ambrose reid