Victoria’s timber towns carry a long and proud history of growing trees and manufacturing high-value forest products, with generations of skilled workers turning forests into timber and pulp products, not just for Victorians but Australians far and wide. Today, representatives from eleven timber regions and councils, representing Timber Towns Victoria, toured Australia’s largest hardwood manufacturer — Australian Sustainable Hardwoods — as part of a three‑day tour of the Wellington Shire in Victoria’s south‑east.
Guided by Vince Hurley, Managing Director, the delegation inspected the Heyfield mill before travelling to HVP Plantations — one of the country’s largest private plantation managers, responsible for producing about 3 million tonnes of pine and 300,000 tonnes of eucalypt — then visited Radial Timbers, Alberton Timbers, and finished the day at AKD Softwoods, Australia’s largest softwood sawmiller.
Organised by Mike Coleman, economic development officer, Wellington Shire’s roots run deep: with Heyfield and Yarram home to several mills which sit alongside large plantation estates and specialist timber services.
The region supplies millions of tonnes of fibre each year — including plantation outputs from HVP and feedstock for major processors — and its network of transport links, engineering contractors and secondary manufacturers is a key to growing the state’s forest and manufacturing capacity. “Timber Towns Victoria continues to be a strong advocate for the community and industry to the State Government on the impact that changes to legalisation have regarding the timber industry and our communities,” according to Karen Stephens, President of Timber Towns Victoria and local mayor of the Glenelg Shire Council.
- Wood Central will have further information about the three-day forum, which also includes Timber Towns Victoria’s annual general meeting, in the coming days.
