Karridale is the headquarters of Mr. Davies’ Karri and Jarrah Mill Company, and 18 years ago was an impenetrable forest. Mr. Davies has 42,000 acres leased from the Government for 42 years from 1882, and the mill was started in that year amid many difficulties that have been overcome only by much perseverance. To-day the settlement is a credit to Mr. Davies and to the colony, and there is a population of 800 persons dependent on the estate for their living. There is a good post-office, through which last year the sum of £2340 was remitted; 3700 telegrams were sent, and 15,000 letters were posted; all the result of the energy and enterprise of the gentleman above mentioned, who is assisted by his handsome sons. The Government now derives a revenue of £5000 per year from this district. Many of the employées have pretty gardens by their cottages, which are dotted about the bush in most picturesque fashion. The single men have rows of cottages to themselves, and there is a large dining-room built for their use, presided over by a good housekeeper, and as house-rent is free, and there are no rates or taxes to pay, this seems to me to be a paradise for the working community. Any article that a civilised being requires is obtainable here; you might almost say, from a needle to an anchor. A large store adjoins the office, and although it is a private agency, settlers in the district also can get their supplies there. There is a nice hall for entertainments, which are often got up by the people, and a ball is one of the frequent recreations in the winter-time. A handsome little church has just been built, which we observed when coming into the settlement. Moreover, there is the unusual institution of a hospital for horses, of which there are 200 in the place. A hospital for the people is being built, but everybody looks so very healthy that I think it will be almost a superfluity. Two market-gardens and orchards give one an idea of the splendid productivity of the soil. Ten tons of potatoes per acre, and apple-trees that yield seven cases each, are quite usual. There is plenty of good grass, and the bullocks of the estate, 300 in number, live entirely on it, without artificial food, which means a large saving, and they look splendidly fat and strong. Mr. Davies was the first man to introduce karri timber into the markets of the world, and now the company send supplies of it through England, China, Egypt, India, South Africa, Mauritius, and all the eastern colonies. Melbourne has patronised karri timber largely. For wood-blocks it has great strength, and has been proved by British Admiralty tests to be equal to English oak. The floors of the art gallery and museum in Melbourne are laid with karri-wood, and in London, Pall Mall, Piccadilly, and Regent Street have lately been paved with karri blocks. A log cut over 40 years ago was presented by Mr. Davies to the Kew Museum. It had been in the ocean 30 years, and is now as good as when first cut. Karri-wood has the further advantage of not being slippery, a very essential point in wood-blocks. The karri is an exceptionally quick-growing tree, and when the matured trees are cut down the young trees shoot up at once. All the latest improvements are to be found at Karridale, electric lighting and a telephone service running to the port and to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin. Mr. Davies has a very handsome house, built in bungalow style.
Felling the Giant Karri
Taking a seat one morning, by invitation, in the inspection-car, with its comfortable seats, I started for a tour through the forest to the adjoining mills at Baranup, where a great many men are employed, and where there is another little place, more evidences of happiness and prosperity, and more little cottages nestling among the trees. In the butcher’s shop I saw an enormous block, the complete section of a tremendous tree. Seeing a strange lady on the car, the men looked somewhat surprised, but quite pleased. I wished to see the felling of one of the kings of the forest, upon which four men were then engaged, two at each end of the cross-saw. It takes six to fell one of these giants, and when it is coming down one needs to stand “off the grass,” as the saying is. When felled, the tree is marked off into certain lengths and severed into so many logs, then numbers of horses and bullocks appear on the scene and drag the logs to the nearest landing, then they are put into the truck and borne off to the mill. At Baranup I was to see the King Karri that I had heard about before coming, and now, when I saw it, I was satisfied that, although not yet 400 feet high, it is a king of the forest; indeed, this giant tree is the largest on indisputable record in Western Australia. It stands in its great majesty in one of the most picturesque spots of the colony. Its gnarled and weather-beaten roots of immense size show that it must be of great age. Its dimensions were given to me by Mr. Davies, and are as follows:
| Girth | 4 | ft. | above ground | 30 | ft. | 8 | in. | ||
| ” | 6 | ft. | 2 | in. | ” | 28 | ft. | 1 | in. |
| ” | 132 | ft. | 6 | in. | ” | 20 | ft. | 7 | in. |
| Height to | top of branches | 342 | ft. | 0 | in. | ||||
| ” | first fork | 146 | ft. | 0 | in. | ||||
This tree would make 146 loads of timber and cut up into 3000 sleepers, enough to lay a mile and a half of railway. Around here are many more tremendous giant trees awaiting the woodman’s axe. The demand for Western Australia hardwood is now far greater than the mills can at present supply.
THE SAND PATCH