A unique piece of south-west Victoria’s history will slowly draw to a close with Smith’s Sawmill at Naringal winding back its operations. Source: The Age
The small mill has been run by the Smith family since the end of World War II and has employed two generations of the family.
One of the mill founders, Ron “Digger” Smith, still works in the mill at the grand old age of 95, putting the point on wooden stakes.
He has worked at the mill for almost 70 years while his son, Ray, 65, has clocked up about 50 years. Both men still have all their fingers despite decades of working with huge gruesome spinning saw blades.
Digger Smith set up the mill with his brother, Doug, and neighbour Gordon Howard when Doug wanted to build a home for his bride after the war.
With sawn timber in short supply after the war, they decided to build a mill to cut their own timber from the forest that covered most of the family’s bush block.
Word of mouth soon spread about the local timber supply and the Smiths had a livelihood.
Digger Smith said they first used a steam-driven traction engine to clear the scrub before upgrading to bulldozers when they became available.
With bush being cleared throughout the south-west, they would log other properties for landholders.
“We went as far as Timboon and Cooriemungle to source the logs,” said Ray Smith.
For about the past decade, the mill has taken logs from private hardwood plantations in the Otways but that supply has since ended.
It now mainly mills cypress pine from private properties.
Otway messmate hardwood timber remains the family’s favourite timber because it is easy to cut and holds its shape well.
Ray said the mill had produced everything from timber for houses, cattle yards, shed purlins, garden stakes and firewood.
Many of the Housing Commission homes in Warrnambool are made with timber cut at Smith’s mill.
“We used to supply five-foot lengths of wood to Warrnambool Cheese and Butter for its boilers,” said Digger Smith.
The Smiths mill to order and their customers have come from throughout Victoria and NSW.
Their direct relationship with customers has meant they have done many unique jobs such as milling the big beams for a carriage for a historic cannon in the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens.
The mill and many of the family’s homes on the Naringal property were burnt out in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires but the family built again, creating a better facility.
Apart from Ray and Digger, the mill has also employed another of Digger’s sons, Alon, but he left to pursue other enterprises.
Ray also works on the family’s 242-hectare (600-acre) dairy farm with another brother, Neil, and his wife, Christine, but the mill has been his main occupation.
“This (the mill) was mainly winter time work … in summer time, we were busy cutting hay and logging,” said Ray Smith.
The Smiths’ ability to make their own sawmills and their livelihoods has also extended to making their own fun. Their property includes a dance hall – with a wooden floor of course – known as The Hut, that has been the venue for countless old time dances over the decades.
Digger Smith and his wife Jean, who died recently, were dance teachers at The Hut and Ray and his wife, Pauline, are both keen rock ‘n’ roll dancers. The Hut was also burnt down in Ash Wednesday, but with community support a new hut rose from the ashes.
