Written and compiled by James Anthony Cumming:

son of James Brian and Kaye

grandson of James Stuart and Vera
great-grandson of James Cruickshank and Lydia
and
great-great-grandson of Alexander and Jane
of Aberdeen, Scotland

March 2019

1
 CHAPTER ONE – to begin

In September 1865 at St Cuthbert’s Church in Edinburgh,

Scotland, Fruit Merchant Alexander Cumming, son of Watson and Jean
Cumming, married Jane Cruickshank.

The couple settled at Aberdeen, facing the barren North Sea on the
windswept northeast coast of Scotland. Their son John was born 29 May
1867 and on 9 October 1868 the couple welcomed their second-born,
Alexander. On 7 August 1871, in the middle of the Scottish summer, the
couple’s third son, James Cruickshank, was born. Although his destiny at
that time was unknown, along with his family James was to travel to the
remote colony of Tasmania and there begin a family of his own; and
amongst other endeavours initiate the Cumming Bros Pty Ltd timber
enterprise.

The couple’s fourth son, Louis Schurtz, was born 30 July 1873, and along
with James Cruickshank also had a founding role in Cumming Bros Pty
Ltd.

On 5 October 1879, the couple’s daughter, Hannah, was born.

Passing away as infants were James’ brother and sisters: Lucy Anne
born 17 February 1870, Grace Anne, born 2 December 1875, and Robert
Wyness, born 12 February 1878.

On 13 October 1879, shortly after Hannah was born and when James
was only eight years old, his mother Jane passed away in Aberdeen,
leaving Alexander a widower at thirty-nine and James’ older brothers
John and Alexander, his younger brother Louis and his infant sister
Hannah, motherless.

In 1882 in Aberdeen, Alexander remarried to twenty-seven-year old

Penuel Grant. Before they began the long and arduous sea voyage to

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their new colonial home in Tasmania in 1883, their son George Watson
was born on 7 April 1882.

Archival records note Alexander and Penuel arriving in the colony with
Alexander, James, Louis, Hannah, and infant George. John, first-born to
Alexander and Jane Cruickshank, was approximately 16 at that time and
appears to have remained in Scotland.

On 22 August 1884 the Emigrant Colonists Aid Corporation of London

issued Alexander with Land Order Warrant No. 518 for 108 acres of
ground at Sisters Creek on the North West Coast of Tasmania.

The family initially established in Launceston, the colony’s second most

populated town, before a move northwest to the small hamlet of Burnie
and eventually to their land-grant holding at Sisters Creek further west
along the coast. The CYLCOPEDIA of TASMANIA volume one circa
1899, authored as a ‘…record and a pictorial reflection of the colony…’
has the following description of Alexander’s holding:
“Away beyond the Sisters Hills, and a very
dangerous incline as crooked as a man’s
ingenuity could make it, the road descends
into a small creek, and rising again on the
other side passes a few small farms; and then
the main road enters grass tree and kangaroo
tail country, proceeding on to Rocky Cape.
Just on the brow of the descent mentioned is
the fine holding and residence, with well
arranged outbuildings, owned and occupied
by Mr. A. Cumming father of Alick, JC, and
LS Cumming, all so [sic] well-known Mr.
Cumming is a cauny Scott, and emigrated to
Tasmania with his family a long time ago,
and secured a grant of a large portion of his
present estate under the then existing land
laws; but so rough was the road and country
that he did not reside on it for many years,
occupying a position as a storeman in Burnie
and afterwards a farm near Burnie. His farm
now ranks as one of the largest and certainly
as one of the best in the Sisters Creek district.
The land is all good chocolate soil, some of it
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 heavily timbered, but it is being well cleared
and systematically cropped.”

Alexander and Penuel increased the size of their already-large family after
settling into life in the colony. Charles Matheson was born 28 October
1883 and died as an infant on 7 February 1884. David Shiach was born
on 11 March 1885, Elizabeth Anne on 8 May 1887, Margery Rosetta on
9 May 1889, Reuel Douglas on 27 October 1890, Harold William on 17
May 1892 and Jessie Edith on 30 April 1897. Amy Matilda was born 29
July 1895 and died as an infant on 4 August 1895.

Approximately 27 years after being granted his Sisters Creek holding,

Alexander died on 11 August 1911. He is buried in the small rural
cemetery at Flowerdale on the North West Coast of Tasmania, not far
from his Sisters Creek holding:

Penuel died on 23 February 1950 at “Craigellachie”, Sisters Creek, in her

mid-90s.

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 CHAPTER TWO – James Cruickshank

James Cruickshank Cumming, fourth-born to

Alexander and his first wife Jane, was a clever and resilient man. The
same CYCLOPEDIA that so eloquently describes his father’s Sisters
Creek holding also notes that James initially embarked in the bakery
business in Launceston and Melbourne, joined the firm of Cumming and
Downie in 1895 and subsequently started on his own account in a bakery
at Gormanston near Queenstown on Tasmania’s rugged and mining-
focused west coast. There is an indication that he employed seven hands
and opened a branch of his bakery enterprise at North Lyell. James is
also recorded as having been a member of the Progress Committee and it is
noted that he sat on the formation of the Town Board. It is also noted
that James was elected to a seat and remained a member at the time the
article was written. James is also recorded as belonging to the friendly
society I.O.O.F. and the M.U.I.O.O.F. Lodge and having a great interest
in mining. He is listed as having been the Chairman of Directors of the
Crotty Gold Silver and Copper Mining Company, Mt Darwin and
promoter of the Flannigan’s
Flat Gold Mining and
Dredging Syndicate. The
article concludes with an
indication that James
maintained a considerable
interest in local mining
ventures. As this account
continues there is reference to
James’ 1953 involvement in
the Interview River Wolfram
Syndicate and related mining
exploration in the Interview
River area. The
CYCLOPEDIA offers the
reader a flattering and
distinguished photographic
portrait:

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Alexander and Jane’s fifth-born and James Cruickshank’s younger
brother, Louis Schurtz, is also profiled in a CYCLOPEDIA of
TASMANIA. Volume II, the 1900 edition, qualified as ‘an epitome of
progress’, describes Louis as a Fruit Grain Produce and General
Commission Agent based in Cattley Street in Burnie :

Louis’ business is described in the CYCLOPEDIA as one of the most

progressive on the North West Coast, occupying a central position in
what is referred to as new buildings adjoining the Bay View Hotel. Like
James, he is described as one of the pioneers of Gormanston. It is noted
that his extensive knowledge of the wants of the mining centres and of
the markets outside Tasmania enabled him to carry on a very large export
in grain, fruit and general produce. He became a member of the Burnie
Chamber of Commerce and is considered to have taken a great interest in
all public matters. He was an official of the Wesleyan church and
Sunday school.

Louis married Ruth Hilder in Burnie on 30 August 1895; Ruth’s father

was an early settler on Emu Bay and carried on successful farming
pursuits in the area until the time of his death just prior to Ruth’s
marriage in 1894. Hilder Parade on the Burnie foreshore is named after
Ruth’s family.

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James Cruickshank married Lydia Margaret Dale in Hobart on 14
August 1899 and the couple had nine children. Jane Constance was born
on 18 February 1902 and died two months later on 16 April. Alexander
James was born 23 February 1903. There is no record of his death;
although it cannot be confirmed it is presumed he was still-born. Jane
Constance and Alexander James were born at what was then the thriving
settlement of Pillinger, near Queenstown and Strahan, on Tasmania’s
west coast. It is presumed they were initially buried at Pillinger or in
Queenstown; eventually they were interred with their parents in the same
grave at the Burnie cemetery and are remembered on the headstone: it is
presumed, although not confirmed, that after their mother Lydia’s death
in Burnie in 1947 the children were re-buried with her. The following
1956 photograph shows James Cruickshank with all but one of his
surviving children. Standing at the rear, from the left, are Douglas,
James Stuart and Donald; James Cruickshank is seated regally at the far
left next to Winsome (Frith), Merle (Pegus), and Chris (Folder). Missing
is Janet (Garret). Lydia passed away on eighteen January 1947, some
approximate nine years before the photograph was taken:

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Lydia and James Cruickshank built and lived together in a federation
home at 9 High Street near the centre of Burnie. Unfortunately, the
house and others of similar ilk were destroyed to make way for the Burnie
Civic Centre. Here is a photograph of their beautiful home:

The following photograph was taken in the High Street garden, James
Cruickshank is far left and Lydia centre:

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Here are hand-tinted photographs of James Cruickshank and Lydia from
a framed triptych provided to the author by Ross Cumming (introduced in
more detail to follow) who, like the author, has an interest in the history
of the Cumming family:

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 CHAPTER THREE – James and Louis

It would seem that James Cruickshank was a very resourceful

individual indeed. A circa 1970s article in The Advocate Weekend
Magazine written by Burnie Journalist and amateur historian, Wilfred
Winter, paints an intriguing portrait. Wilfred’s research revealed that
after moving from Gormanston to Burnie in 1904, where amongst other
enterprises he owned bakeries, James bought an established bakery
business from William Docking. James called it The Excelsior and after a
couple of owners the same bakery was taken over by Charles Williams in
the early 1920s; it operated as Williams Bakery for many years in the
same Mount Street location. Wilfred notes that James’s next business
venture associated with produce buying and selling, and he remarks that
it was not long before James joined his brother Louis in a produce
business in Burnie. A supplement to an interesting booklet1 on the
history of Burnie penned by Basil Billett in 1986 has the following
photograph of the brothers’ produce store in the Van Diemen’s Land Co
building. The decision-makers of the day demolished the building to make
way for another roadway extension and development:

1 The Commercial Heart of Burnie (Supplement), Basil H Billett.

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Wilfred Winter’s newspaper article also suggests James Cruickshank put
his bicycle on the train and travelled as far as Deloraine, where he took to
the road cycling cross- country to buy chaff for which there was at that
time a huge market on Tasmania’s North West Coast. While on one of
those journeys he took an interest in some timber leases under the Western
Tiers at Meander. Prior to taking up those leases, and while Louis was
away during World War One, James Cruickshank acquired a small
sawmill near Marrawah on the far North West Coast in lieu of a debt for
chaff for the horses dragging logs to the mill: there is reference to the
Marrawah Timber Co Pty Ltd to follow. To support the Meander
Leases, in 1918 James Cruickshank established the Huntsman Mill and
related references also follow. According to Wilfred Winter, the
Cumming Bros Pty Ltd Memorandum of Association indicates it took
over…“the business now carried on by Cumming and Co Ltd of
sawmilling proprietors, timber and produce merchants, seeds men, manure
and machinery agents, and dealers in wool and skins, live and dead
stock”. The following document suggests Cumming Bros Pty Ltd and its
Directors (James Cruickshank and Louis) registered an office in Marine
Terrace in December 1920, presumably using the already existing
Cumming and Co Ltd premises:

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The following photograph displays related Cumming Bros signage on the
VDL building in Marine Terrace. Although the photograph is undated
the black and white depiction of the Bay View Hotel, complete with the
Railway Refreshment Room, is very suggestive of the 1920s. The VDL
building and the horizontal Cumming Bros signage can just be seen in the
distant background:

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Notwithstanding the formation of Cumming Bros, if the original print of
the following very old colour photograph is carefully scrutinized at least
the signage for Louis and James Cruickshank’s Cumming and Co Produce
Merchants operation remained in place above the centre doorway if not
the operation itself:

At some stage after his return from World War One Louis moved to
Sydney and opened his own firm, timber merchants V B Trapp and Co.
At some point Louis changed his name from Louis Schurtz to Louis
Stevenson Cumming and under that name authored a novel ‘Scotland
First’; printed in Sydney in 1935 by Jackson and O’Sullivan and relating
the story of the sons of the McRae family who, in the final chapter, leave
Edinburgh to take a land grant in Tasmania. It is mooted that the novel
reflects aspects of the life of James Cruickshank and Louis. The author
has a copy and the editor’s note compliments Louis’ writing style: “The
descriptive merit of this work is excellent; one almost feels the fragrance
of heather in a Scottish glen, or the magic splendor of Edinburgh Castle
standing in silhouette against the star-crusted sky… there is a whimsical
philosophy running through the whole that is like a breath of sweet
mountain air”.

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 CHAPTER FOUR – the family

Before we come to the Cumming Bros story, there are

domestic matters to profile. James Stuart Cumming, one of Lydia and
James Cruickshank’s three grown sons and the author’s grandfather, has
particular significance given that he became the firm’s Managing Director
and was very actively involved with his brothers Doug and Don in the
future prosperity of the Cumming Bros business. James Stuart was
photographed at an early age in a kilt that is thought to have come to
Tasmania with Alexander’s family many years previously. Although it is
not confirmed, family legend has it that James Cruickshank was wearing
the kilt when he arrived in the colony:

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James Stuart met Erica Vera Ellen (Vera) Mitchell at a dance event in
Burnie. The date of that meeting and the details of their courtship are a
mystery; however, they married in the Presbyterian Church in Alexander
Street in 1930. To the best of the author’s understanding there are no
photographs of that event or of any associated celebrations. Vera was
born on 3 November 1911 to Herbert and Isabella-Margaret Mitchell and
spent her formative years in the small community of Waratah, inland on
the remote West Coast. Herbert was a foundry worker in the local Mt
Bischoff tin mine. Vera had seven siblings and the family is shown
together in the following photograph. Missing is eldest son Roy; it is
understood he may have been away at war. Vera is sitting front left next
to Bert and Lorna. Isabella is holding baby Allan and to her left is
Muriel. Standing in the middle is Ray and next to the seated Herbert is
Rita:

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Vera was an avid, and by all accounts proficient, A-grade tennis player.
She is depicted in this undated photograph in frock and shoes; perhaps she
was on her way to a dance? Vera’s early life is very much unknown and
she was, the author is advised and recalls, never happy to discuss details
or specific events:

Vera was very close to Rita, and is shown here

(left) with Lorna and Isabella-Margaret outside
their residence in South Burnie where the family
settled after leaving Waratah:

15
In due course James Stuart and Vera built a home at 13 Princes Street,
close to the centre of Burnie with views across Bass Strait and the town.
Parked at the front of the house in this undated photograph is a Cumming
Bros Albion; in the garage is James Stuart’s navy blue Ford Mercury.
The Albion was driven by James Stuart and Vera’s eldest son, the
author’s father, James Brian Cumming; who was born in Burnie on 10
September 1932 and joined Cumming Bros as an office boy at sixteen. He
began driving the Albion as soon as he was licensed to do so at eighteen:

James Brian has two siblings, David (deceased)

and Ross; David joined Cumming Bros for a period
and eventually started his own timber business.
Ross chose not to make his career in timber; he
successfully graduated from the University of
Tasmania as a civil engineer. James Stuart is
shown here nursing his very young eldest son:

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James Brian’s childhood exploits are somewhat legendary. At a very,
very, young age he is said to have unhitched and ‘stolen’ the local
milkman’s horse - at that time milk was
delivered across Burnie by horse and
cart - and was found riding up Mount
Street quite some way from home! Also
at a very, very, young age James Brian
was discovered boarding a ship on the
Burnie wharf with a large suitcase.
When questioned by concerned seamen
he told them he was off to India! He
doesn’t look like such a rascal in this
photograph with his mother, but he
definitely has his mother and father’s
hair:

James Brian also enjoyed keeping ferrets as a young man and along with
his friend Tommy Hanson spent a lot of time using them to catch rabbits
in the country around the town; that is until his ferret escaped and killed
several of the family chickens, including
his brother Ross’ pet rooster, Bobby!
James Brian and Tommy also enjoyed
fishing on, and under, the Burnie
wharf; another example of James
Brian’s rebellious spirit as at that time
World War Two was raging overseas
and public access to shipping areas,
particularly underneath wharves, was
strictly controlled. James Brian also fell
from a balcony at an early age and was
unconscious for several days. Here he is
in his pedal car with David, ready,
perhaps, to race off into mischief:

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James Brian often asserts that he was only given his first pair of shoes
when he was six. When shown photographs in which he is wearing shoes
he quips” they were for Sundays!” Here he is in a Christmas photograph
with his cousins and David who is seated; James Brian is on the left… in
shoes!

James Stuart and Vera purchased a small shack at Reynolds Bay on the
banks of the Great Lake in the Tasmanian central highlands and Vera
developed a love for fishing. The lake was virtually on the doorstep. It
was surrendered to the (then) Hydro Electric Commission when the water
level of the lake was raised. Lots of trout were caught. The author has
memories of toasting bread over the internal open-fire using homemade
wire toasting forks. Oh! and bats in the bunkroom. Here is the shack
and James Stuart, Vera, and Ross at the front steps ready for an
excursion to the water’s edge:

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After serving his “apprenticeship” in the Cumming Bros office, James
Brian opted for a more hands-on role outdoors and took to driving timber
between the Cumming Bros bush mills and the company’s timber-yards.
Here he is standing next to one of the company trucks:

James Brian married Kaye Lyon, the only child of Norman and Winifred,
in 1956. They met while Kaye was still a student at the Burnie High
School; it seems Kaye was on James Brian’s mind quite often as she was
asked to stop James Brian from “honking” the Cumming Bros truck horn
every time he passed the school, apparently it was very loud!:

19
Norman and Winifred enjoyed travelling with a caravan and Norman in
particular liked nothing more than ‘yarning’ with all and sundry. This
undated photograph captures Norman and Winifred’s gypsy spirit:

20
The author was born on 15 March 1957 and as is proud to have been
given the name James Anthony; carrying on the family tradition. Nigel
Andrew was born the following year. The author has the worried
expression on the left:

Although, as profiled in more detail to follow by that time Cumming Bros

had been acquired by APPM Limited, the author and Nigel both spent
some of their late teenage years working in the timber industry at the
Massey Green sawmill in Burnie. After a period preparing packs of
timber to client specifications with the old-hands in the packing shed, the
author was given a truck-driving role, transporting racks of green or
partially air-dried timber to a drying kiln at the bottom of a very steep
and very winding road: during his extremely minimal driving instruction
he asked what contingencies were in place should the truck’s brakes fail
on the steep descent and in response he was told to ‘Just jump out’! He
didn’t have to do so. He was also given keys to the forklift and told to
‘Have a go’! The author remembers the “perfume” of diesel fuel that
flavoured the early-morning starts and lingered on clothing.

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 CHAPTER FIVE – the enterprise

Now to tell the Cumming Bros story. Following is a photograph

of James Cruickshank in conversation surrounded by racks of air-drying
timber in the company’s Upper Burnie yard. He is on the right:

Although the date of this photograph is unknown it is presumed that at

the date it was taken James Cruickshank’s three sons had all joined the
firm:

 James Stuart as manager/sales manager, contract negotiator, and

main decision maker; and

 Douglas as quality controller, initially with a role in classing

Blackwood staves in Circular Head for the barrel manufacturing
trade, and then with responsibility for liaising with contractors
over cutting operations, inspecting bush areas for Exclusive Forest
Permits (EFPs) and for the selection of bush areas for road
building to assist harvesting operations; and

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  Donald, after working with the Emu Bay Railway Co in Burnie
and some time in Sydney, as maintenance engineer and millwright
with responsibility for equipment upkeep across the operation.

James Cruickshank’s son-in-law Montague John (Jack) Pegus, Merle’s

husband, became office manager and accountant with responsibility for
payroll and cashflow. The office continued to operate from the VDL Co
building in Marine Terrace, a very central position close to the Burnie
port as the following photograph illustrates. The VDL building is centre
far left. The upper section of Princes Street can be seen to the right of the
building and James Stuart and Vera’s residence is indicated:

When he began working as the company office junior in 1949, James

Brian was living with his parents and brothers David and Ross at 13
Princes St. He took up timber delivery in the previously pictured Albion
truck in 1950 and began carting sawn product from the company’s
various bush mills in 1952 when contract cartage was replaced by waged
employees. James Brian, somewhat reluctantly, graduated to mill-
management when Cumming Bros became part of APPM LTD in 1964;
then to Sales Manager a position he held until his retirement.
David Alexander also began working with the company as a junior with
responsibility for accounts and general office work. After a period

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working in New South Wales in Sydney and Dorrigo with Louis
Cumming in his firm V B Trapp and Co he returned as Sales Manager.
David left the company after the APPM Ltd takeover and started his
own firm, Corinna Sawmills, retailing Tasmanian special-species timber:
David bought the Ellis Bros mill at Corinna in 1970. After the flooding
of Lake Pieman in 1985, with a team that included Terry Groves, the
company salvaged approximately 2,000 cubic metres of huon pine logs;
some of which had been felled before World War One and others by
Hydro Tasmania prior to the lake being flooded1. With David’s
stewardship, Corinna Sawmills continued to operate very successfully for
a very long time under its original name. After David’s death, the
company continued to trade successfully with input from David’s wife
Pat and his daughter Sally until it was eventually sold as a going concern
in 2017.

As noted earlier in this account James Cruickhank took up timber Leases

under the Western Tiers and a bush mill at Meander, the Huntsman Mill,
in 1918. As also noted there is mention of a mill at Marrawah obtained
in lieu of a debt for chaff. Little is known about the Marrawah mill, but
it would seem to have been the Cumming brothers’ initial introduction to
the timber industry; an industry that obviously captured their serious
interest and came to involve many family members and others over time.

Following are details of the Cumming Bros mills known to the author at
the date of this account. James Brian’s recollections and his hands-on
insights have been particularly helpful.

THE HUNTSMAN AT MEANDER

It is fitting to initially profile The Huntsman as, aside from the mill at
Marrawah about which the author has no detail, the Huntsman seems to
have been at the heart of the Cumming Bros story. The small bush mill
was, as previously noted, destroyed by fire and rebuilt. It seems fire
destroyed the mill in 1942 and again in 1964. After the second fire event
the mill was relocated to Meander to maximise the existing Exclusive
Forest Permit (EFP). James Brian knew the mill well, and in 1953 spent

1 Ref: The Huon Pine Story – Garry Kerr & Harry McDermott

24
a fortnight carting timber from the mill to the Devonport wharf for
shipment to England.

Here is a photograph of what was a classic bush sawmill:

The mill was situated in an area vegetated by Tasmanian Oak, a product

prized by the furniture and housing industry of the time. It was powered
by a steam boiler. The mill’s number one bench was fed by a vertical
break-down saw that sized large flitches and passed them to a
conventional breast-bench. An unusual feature at the mill was the
method of sawdust removal. As sawdust fell from the elevated benches it
was taken from the mill by a rivulet running underneath and deposited on
a downstream river flat. Timber was cut into one-inch boards and air-
dried on the mill site in racks. Unusually, the boards were racked in
teepee fashion as illustrated in the following onsite photograph.
Coincidentally, Mother Cumming’s Peak is in the area where the mill was
located and can be seen in the background:

25
James Brian recalls logs arriving at the mill on a wooden-rail system
pulled by a steam locomotive2:

Logs were pulled to the wooden rails by bullock team.

The Huntsman was managed for Cumming Bros by the Stagg family of
Meander. That family’s link with the industry continues and the family
is well-regarded. Fred Stagg and his sons Alan, Jack and Hedley, ran the
Huntsman operation with the assistance of local contractors. Alan was
responsible for cartage, Jack for logging operations, and Hedley for the
mill itself. The driver in the locomotive pictured earlier is believed to be
Jack.
Unfortunately, Hedley Stagg was killed in a road accident outside the
mill gates in the mid-1960s while leaving the site to deliver a load of
timber off-cuts. James Brian spent two weeks at the mill at that time to
assist and supervise, including two days working on the bench in the mill
when the bench-man fell ill.

2 Photograph from The Advocate Weekend Magazine, Wilfred Winter

26
Following is a photograph specific to the Huntsman, it serves as another
reminder of the enormously physical nature of that era’s harvesting
operations:

THE MAWBANNA MILL

The Cumming Bros Mawbanna mill was located on the banks of the
Black River near its confluence with the Duck River on Tasmania’s
North West Coast; not that far distant from Alexander Cumming’s
nineteenth century land-grant at Sisters Creek. The mill cut brown-top
27
Tasmanian oak, popular in the building trade for its density and minimal
shrinkage. The mill was steam-powered with a water-tube boiler fuelled
by off-cuts from the sawing process. Logs were broken down by twin
circular-saws and fed to them by a flat-top carriage. Before reaching that
part of the process logs, sometimes measuring up to forty or fifty feet (the
measurement system of the time) were cut to mill-length using cross-cut
saws on the mill skids; and later by drag-saws powered by two-stroke
motors. Bern Smith was a local maker of those popular saws. The mills
circular saw-bench accepted flitches from the breaking-down rig and
completed the sawing process to the required sizes. Quarter-sawing was
mandatory for boards that were to be kiln dried for the furniture industry
because of issues with face-checking on back-sawn boards. Quarter and
back-sawing, essentially, refers to the angle the flitch was turned to the
saw. Product for the building trade was normally back-sawn to alleviate
spring. Here is an undated photograph of a tractor pulling a log to the
mill:

28
The following photograph, also undated, shows the mill’s log yard:

The mill was staffed by an engine-driver who was also an accomplished

saw-sharpener; a breaker-down, who as the title implies, broke logs into
flitches; a benchman who passed the flitches through the saw; two tailer-
outs who accepted the timber through the saw from the benchman; a
dockerman who used a swinging docking saw for fault-docking the sawn
boards; and a yardman. The mill manager was, usually, either the
benchman or the engine-driver. The dockerman was responsible for
stacking the finished product outside the mill ready to be loaded on trucks
for carriage. The process of loading and unloading the Cumming Bros
delivery trucks was a very physical one as James Brian vividly recalls.
Forklifts and other related lifting conveniences so much taken for granted
in the modern-world
were not in use at
the time this
photograph, of
timber in the process
of being stacked for
loading, was taken:

29
THE HAMPSHIRE NUMBER ONE MILL
Cumming Bros had two mills at Hampshire south of Burnie. The
relatively small Hampshire Number One mill was run by tractor power
and operated with a vertical-saw breaking-down unit feeding a
conventional circular-saw bench. The author has been unable to locate a
photograph of the mill, but here is the logging yard:

Access to the bush area around the Hampshire Number One mill was
along a board-road system with cross-ties similar to a railroad and three-
inch planks laid as wheel tracks. The mill cut Tasmanian Oak for the
furniture market. Because the mill was located in a very wet section of
bush it could not always be operated in the Tasmanian winter. Arthur
Close and Jim Williams were contractors at the mill for a number of
years; James Brian recalls Nugget Close being involved with logging in
the area.

THE HAMPSHIRE NUMBER TWO MILL

Also located at Hampshire south of Burnie was the Cumming Bros
Hampshire Number Two mill. It was steam powered and cut Tasmanian
Oak for the furniture and construction markets. The mill was built on
the very edge of the Exclusive Forestry Permit (EFP) area. A vertical-
saw breaking-down unit fed a conventionally designed circular-saw and
breast-bench. There was a traditional swinging docking-saw and the
resulting timber offcuts were used for boiler fuel. A crawler tractor was

30
used to bring logs to bush skids where they were loaded on trucks and
taken to the mill skids. Prior to the development of chainsaws, trees were
felled using cross-cut saw and axe. The mill was mainly staffed by
waged-employees and a normal crew consisted of approximately six or
seven .The general expectation was approximately 1,000 super feet per
man per day of log throughput at around 50% recovery. A top class
benchman was able to increase output volume and a related bonus was
sometimes paid to encourage increased production:

Families involved long term in the area included the Emmertons, the
Hayes, the Walters, the Closes, the Applebys and the Cranes. Timber
from the mill was used during the construction of accommodation
quarters at the Savage River mine site. Timber from the mill was also
shipped to King Island from the Ulverstone wharf when Arch Kimberley
was building houses during mine development. The mill utilized ex-army
four-wheel drives to cart logs as they were best suited to travel and
operation on the sub-standard roads in the area.

31
Here are some photographs of the mill’s log yard. The mill skids are
visible in the bottom photograph:

32
The Hampshire Number Two mill was shifted to Upper Natone in the
late 1950s and replaced by an electric mill; with a twin circular-saw
breaking-down rig and carriage feeding two circular-saw benches
operating independently. At that time larger trucks were available
capable of transporting logs to the mill from much longer distances. Here
is a photograph, taken by a young Ross Cumming, of James Brian loading
timber at the Upper Natone Mill for transport to the mine site at Savage
River on Tasmania’s west coast to assist with the building of the single-
men’s quarters. The photograph demonstrates a new loading technique
adapted by James Brian to suit his, and other of the company’s single-
tray trucks, after the company reverted from semi-trailers. The technique
eliminated the requirement to double-handle timber and involved a pack
of timber cut to order specification set on chocks and those chocks being
jacked up to a height to allow the delivery truck to reverse underneath.
The jacks were then lowered allowing the packed-timber to sit in the
delivery position on the truck tray:

THE PARRAWE MILL

At Parrawe southwest of Burnie, Cumming Bros operated a small steam
powered mill with a circular-saw breaking-down unit, cutting mainly
myrtle for the shoe-heel and furniture trade. It was located in a dense
rainforest area containing some of the largest myrtle trees in Tasmania.

33
Bullock and horse teams were in popular use due to the boggy and
swampy terrain. Lal Radford and Ted Burgess were among a succession
of contractors logging the area. Andy Coates was engine driver and
milling contractor for several years. His sons Toby and Lindsay
contracted log cartage from bush skids to the mill and also contract-carted
timber from the mill to Burnie.

THE WIVENHOE MILL

At Wivenhoe just east of Burnie, Cumming Bros operated an electric
powered mill with a conventional twin- saw rig cutting mainly hardwood
for the building industry; which boomed in the Burnie area in the decade
after World War Two. The mill also cut sassafras and myrtle for export.
James Brian recalls that the mill also cut some blackwood for the
furniture industry. The mill manager was Andy Bonney:

THE GUILFORD MILL

At Guilford near Parrawe, Cumming Bros ran an electric-powered mill

with a circular-saw breaking-down unit. The mill was in an area of bush
heavy in sassafras; a timber well-known and favoured for its turning and
shaping properties. Logs were pulled from the bush to the mill skids by
horse teams allowing roadwork activity and maintenance to be kept to a
minimum.

34
THE SOMERSET MILL
Cumming Bros built an electric-powered mill on the banks of the Cam
River at Somerset. The mill had a conventional twin breaking-down
Finlayson rig built by Finlayson Bros Engineering and Foundry in
Devonport. The breaking-down unit fed two breast benches. The number
one bench mainly sized flitches for finishing on the number two bench.
The mill mainly cut Tasmanian Oak for the construction and furniture
markets. Logs were carted to the mill from a number of areas after
Cumming Bros closed some older and more ‘primitive’ mills making logs
available under the closed-mill’s EFP. The mill also cut some blackwood
and celery-top pine. Timber was carted to the timber yard in Burnie by
straddletruck; an innovation on the North West Coast of Tasmania and a
strange ‘beast’ that, as the name implies, straddled a rack of timber and
drove it away. The mill manager was George Gorringe and the mill was
staffed by mainly waged-employees. Off-cuts from the mill were trucked
to the APPM mill in Burnie for chipping and use in paper manufacture.
The sawdust from the mill was burnt in a ‘beehive’ burner and the mill
was designed to enable the cutting of long timber of thirty-feet plus for
the manufacture of large construction beams.

THE KARA SAWMILL

A short distance from the Upper Natone mill was a steam-boiler driven
mill that was separately registered as Kara Sawmills Pty Ltd; a wholly-
owned Cumming Bros subsidiary from 1941 when it was purchased from
the estate of sawmiller and grazier, Thomas Hilder. The mill was located
in the middle of hardwood bush and run by contract work gangs. As the
mill’s vertical breaking-down unit was not considered suitable for some
special minor-species, some myrtle, celery-top pine and sassafras was
carted to other mills. The area around the mill was cut heavily for split-
wood for chip production at the APPM in Burnie; only trees not
considered suitable for milling were chipped, as in the author’s view
should always be the case if trees are to be chipped at all. The Marshall
and Barrett families contracted to the mill for many years. A crawler
tractor supplied by Cumming Bros was used in the logging process. Road
access was primitive and very difficult for trucks in particular. The
Tasmanian Oak cut in the mill was mainly one-inch boards for the
furniture industry. Flitches from the vertical breaking- down units were
35
often the width of the saw-bench; meaning the first cut did not
completely sever the flitch and was called a blind-cut. To allow for the
blind-cut the saw guard was hinged from above so it could be swung out
of the way, or cut off level with the saw. The blind-cut was finished
with axe and wedge.

THE BURNIE RACKING YARD

Adjacent to the Cumming Bros offices in the VDL building and on an
escarpment across from the Burnie wharf area, was the Burnie racking
yard. Product for the building trade was stacked for sale by size and
length and serviced the local market. Also racked on the site were
‘furniture-timbers’ such as Tasmanian Oak, where it was air-dried before
being packed and shipped to other Australian states. The yard was served
by most of the bush mills that cut Tasmanian Oak, except for the
Huntsman at Meander. The yard foreman was Bob Butcher. He was a
local volunteer fireman, and during the 1940s and 1950s when the fire
siren sounded he would stop work and run to the fire station to man the
truck with other volunteers. When Cumming Bros was taken over by the
APPM in 1964 the area was levelled and became a car park. Here is an
undated photograph1 of the yard. The author wonders if the lone figure is
Bob:

THE UPPER BURNIE RACKING YARD

Cumming Bros operated a timber yard off Mount Street at Upper Burnie.
The yard was mainly used for racking and air-drying minor-species cut in
any one of the previously profiled mills. Some customers accepted
‘unseasoned’ timber fresh from the mill, bypassing the yard and packed for
direct shipment. Fred Johnstone was the yard foreman.

1 From The Advocate Annual 1935 – Cumming Bros advertisement.

36
KILN DRYING
In the 1930s Cumming Bros operated a drying kiln at Smithton on the far
North West Coast. It had capacity to dry twenty-eight thousand super-
feet of timber, and at that time was the largest such unit in Tasmania.
The following photograph is taken from a Cumming Bros advertisement
in The Advocate Annual of 1932:

STEAM POWERED MILLS

The Cumming Bros steam-powered mills had water-tube boilers fed by
mill waste. The power from the steam-engine drove a large fly-wheel that
moved at a slow revolution and was connected to a small pulley by
belting. The gearing effect increased the shaft speed dramatically and a
system of different sized pulleys provided the required speed for the
various mill saws. The sawdust disposal system utilized either a blower
connected to galvanized pipes, or a boxed chute and chain with scraper-
blades attached. The usual practice was to dump the sawdust in heaps
adjacent to the mill in bush areas; however, closer to Burnie the sawdust
was fed into specially designed brick or steel burners. The fly-ash from
the burners was sometimes known to cause fires. Bark removed from logs
was also burnt in heaps on mill sites and was also occasionally responsible
for fires in the surrounding bush.

37
BUSH MILL AT BRICKMAKERS BAY
Here is a photograph2 of a bush mill at Brickmakers Bay on Tasmania’s
North West Coast. The photograph is copied from a 1937 advertisement
placed by Cumming Bros in The Advocate newspaper. Although the
author has no detail about this mill it is presumed to have been an early
Cumming Bros operation or at least related to early company operations:

Although the author is not certain that it

depicts a Cumming Bros operation, this
photograph from The Advocate Annual of
1937 is notated as “Tree felling at
Brickmakers, North-West Coast”:

2 From The Advocate Annual 1937 – Cumming Bros advertisement.

38
THE MARRAWAH TIMBER COMPANY PTY LTD

On 23 December 1920 a Memorandum of Association of the Marrawah

Timber Company Pty Ltd was stamped in accordance with the Companies
Act of1869. The
memorandum gave that
company leave to acquire and
take over from Cumming
Bros the benefit of all
applications for timber leases
and associated rights at or in
the vicinity of Marrawah.
James Brian recalls mention
of a tramway at Marrawah.
After conversation with
Douglas Cumming in the
early 1970s Wilfred Winter
noted that the Marrawah
operation was also referred to
as Leesville, and that in the
early 1920s the first kiln-
drying plant in Tasmania
was established at Leesville.
The State Library of
Tasmania has some archival
records on file related to the
Marrawah Timber Co,
including the company
Memorandum of Association.
Note that at this time Louis
Schurtz Cumming had
become Louis Stevenson
Cumming:

39
Also archived with the State Library of Tasmania, amongst other related
documents, is the company’s financial statement of 1922, listing
shareholders and other matters:

The Marrawah Timber Co ceased operation on 30 September 1930.

40
THE INTERVIEW RIVER WOLFRAM SYNDICATE

Although not strictly related to Cumming Bros, his involvement in this

west coast venture is another example of the entrepreneurial spirit
displayed by James Cruickshank Cumming.

Wolfram is tungsten ore. In 1953 a group of Burnie businessmen headed

by James Cruickshank formed The Interview River Wolfram Syndicate to
undertake an explanatory program near the Interview River on the
Tasmanian west coast. A caterpillar tractor was used to clear a rough
track from the Pieman Heads to the Interview River. Bridges were
constructed across the Ford, Interview and Rocky rivers. A team headed
by Jim Munday spent two years sinking a shaft into the main lode and
digging other exploration trenches. In mid 1954 the syndicate engaged
two Sydney-based mining engineers to report on the feasibility of a formal
mining operation. However, before the engineers completed their report
the world demand and price for wolfram crashed and the project was
abandoned. It is rumoured that the skeleton of the caterpillar tractor is
still in the area. A Tasmanian Dept. of Mines report (1992/01) has some
detail; including reference to James Cruickshank, initially , “grub-staking’
a J Cooney and a Mr Stanley to explore the area in 1938. It is also
suggested that a draught horse named Cyclops had been used at the
workings and was left to roam the coastline, eventually finding a home
on a Temma property and used to cart materials for the Sandy Cape
lighthouse.

41
 CHAPTER SIX – time passes

On 4 September 1958, suddenly and sadly, James Stuart

Cumming passed away; leaving Vera a youngish widow and Cumming
Bros without an experienced Managing Director. He rests with Vera in
the Burnie cemetery at Wivenhoe not that far from the land where
Cumming Bros operated the Wivenhoe mill. Here is James Stuart with
his brother Don on a business trip in Sydney, pipe in mouth striding
purposefully, the author imagines, to or from a significant meeting:

42
Here is the Cumming Bros company return of eleven May 1959, the year
after James Stuart’s death, listing managers, shareholders, and financials:

43
On 26 May 1959 James Cruickshank passed away at the age of eighty
seven. He is buried with Lydia, young Jane Constance, and little
Alexander James, in the Burnie cemetery at Wivenhoe. If the wind
should be from the right direction, the author wonders whether the resting
James Alexander and James Stuart can smell the sweet aroma of sawdust
from the footings of the Wivenhoe mill site. Here is a photograph of
James Cruickshank taken shortly before his death:

When Cumming Bros was sold to APPM in the early 1960s, five mills
remained in operation. James Brian maintained the family link after the
sale, becoming the Tasmanian Sales Manager for APPM subsidiary,
Burnie Timber Pty Ltd, for many years until his eventual retirement.

44
 CHAPTER SEVEN - recollections

The author recalls that on occasion, as a relatively young

child, along with his brother Nigel Andrew, he went with James Brian to
cart loads of timber from some of the Cumming Bros’ mills to the company
timber yards. The author has a recollection of travelling with James
Brian to the Mawbanna mill, the Hampshire mill; and to the best of his
recall the Meander mill although not to cart timber.

In the truck, stored in a scratched and well-used lunch tin, James Brian
kept a beer bottle filled with thirst-quenching cold tea and a sandwich
lunch wrapped in grease-proof paper. On Fridays James Brian arrived
home with the lunch tin emptied of lunch but filled with a special treat
for the author and Nigel, usually musk or rainbow coloured lifesavers.
The author distinctly recalls playing in heaps of damp and sickly-sweet
smelling sawdust at various mill locations; and the sight and sound of,
what were to a child, huge bench-saws slicing through timber flitches.

The shining giant bench-saws seemed to sing their way easily through the
solid flitches as they were passed expertly backwards and forwards by the
leather-apron clad benchmen.

Flitch miraculously became timber and was fed off the giant saw-bench
onto rollers that clattered and spun and seemed to work in harmony with
the singing bench-saw and the short, crisp sound of the swinging docking-
saw.

Whenever there was an unused bench-trolley Nigel and the author would
push it along; amazed at how freely the trolleys moved on their rails
through the heaped sawdust.

There were always dangling chains; often spare bench-saw blades were
affixed to the mill walls like giant, serrated, silver wall-decorations.
45
There was the odour of hard work mixed with the not-unpleasant smell of
diesel, oil and sweet sawdust.

There was the clean and satisfying perfume of perfectly proportioned cut-
timber.

Scattered across the sawdust-strewn surrounds of the various mill sites

were, always identically configured, wire off-cuts that had been used to
secure packed timber.

There was always a giant drum of gooey, thick, greenish, sludge-like hand
cleaning liquid set up at a convenient location for use by the mill workers
before ‘smoko’ and lunch; however, it seemed to make little difference to
the black and timber-stained hands of the hardworking men.
There were men with roll-your-own tobacco cigarettes that seemed to be
permanently affixed to their bottom lips, the not-always-alight cigarettes
moved up and down as the men breathed and smoked their way through
the working day.

There were hooters that sounded out the various well-deserved breaks to
which the mill-men were entitled. When the hooter sounded an unusual
quiet and calm descended over the rested mill and its resting workforce.
As soon as the hooter sounded again the chains, cogs, saws, rollers and
bobbing-cigarettes slowly sounded and bounded back into life and the
cycle began all over again.

James Brian recalls many things and following is just a

selection of memorable and significant events he put to the author:

“One of my proudest memories is taking over a brand-new

Austin diesel truck straight from the sign writer and
heading off for my first trip to the Mawbanna mill. I
remember loading 8 by 3 hardwood planks and delivering
them for use as decking on the newly built Ocean pier in
Burnie.

46
During the 1950s a number of truck drivers were
splitting pulp wood in the bush area around the Kara
mill for use as boiler fuel. The access road to that
location was also used to cart timber from the mill. Late
one afternoon I was travelling away from the mill with a
load of timber and had the misfortune to break a rear axle
on a steep one-way cutting. Soon there was a procession
of pulp wood trucks banked up behind me and unable to
pass. As it happened one of the blocked-in trucks was a
K5 Austin owned by Vic and Clarrie Hudson. After
some deliberation and hard work, the broken axle was
removed from my truck and replaced with the axle from
the Hudson’s Austin, allowing me to move my truck to
open ground; the axle was then refitted to the Hudson’s
truck and all were able to resume their journeys. The
broken axle was replaced in my vehicle the following day.

Despite my healthy respect for saw-benches I managed to

put my hand in the sprocket driving the power feed on a
bench at Upper Natone; and as a result I lost half the
little finger on my left hand.

Occasionally jobs arrived that varied the normal cartage

routines. During the 1950s Cumming Bros was given the
contract to supply framing timber for new schools across
the northwest of the State. This involved semi-trailer
work to accommodate the volumes of timber involved. I
recall making such trips to Bell Bay, East Launceston,
Sheffield and Rosebery.

Another one-off job involved filling an order for shipment

to England using Tas Oak from the Huntsman Mill.
Along with Alan Stagg, who was the regular carrier from
the Huntsman, I delivered two loads to the Devonport
wharf every day. During this time I boarded with Fred
Stagg in his house at the bottom of the Western Tiers.
The winter mornings were so cold it was necessary to
start the diesel truck using ether.

Cumming Bros also had the contract to supply framing

timber for the single-men’s quarters at Savage River
where the workforce for the new iron-ore mine was to be
housed. The timber came from Upper Natone and the
process involved the use of some semi-trailers due to the

47
 length of the timber. Delivery was via the Corinna Road
and then through road works in their formative stage. I
found the road workers very helpful and always willing
to give me a push through a boggy patch or up a slippery
incline.

There were occasions when a load was not ready due to a

mill breakdown or some such occurrence. On those
occasions I took the opportunity to learn different
sawmilling skills. From tailer-out I progressed to short
spells on the benches and on the breaking-down rigs.
Being the boss’s son, I felt a need to put in and set a high
work rate! As I carted from various mills I had the
opportunity to work on different types of machinery and
species of timber. On one occasion when the benchman at
Mawbanna was away for two weeks I took over his job
each day until 4pm; and then carted a load home to
Burnie at the end of the working day: I always managed
to front for work at 8am the next day despite the fact
that the Mawbanna mill was quite some distance from
Burnie!

When I moved into sales and mill management I found

my production experience beneficial and I took personal
satisfaction from my ability to cope with a range of
responsibilities; from roustabout to Mill Manager to
Sales Manager. I also felt comfortable with my
knowledge of the various timber species available in the
northwest; such as Tas Oak, and the minor species of
Blackwood, Myrtle, Sassafras and Celery Top Pine. My
last two years in the industry as the manager of the
Massey-Green Mill also gave me and insight into what
was at that time a blossoming pine industry”.

James Brian earnt the respect of all the hard-working mill men at the
various Cumming Bros enterprises. Although he was the company
founder’s grandson, James Brian was well-regarded as an honest hard-
working timber man in his own right.

48
In 2007 the author, his partner Marina, along with James Brian and
Kaye travelled to Italy. Although a little out of his comfort zone at
times, James Brian settled in to carefree Italian life for a period.
Following is a photograph taken by the author of James Brian in a
restaurant in Rome:

The author wonders what James Cruickshank Cumming would think

about the state of the Tasmanian forestry industry today, and in fact the
world, and wishes he could ask.

Except where acknowledged, the photographs in this publication are from family archives, including some provided by
Vera Cumming.

Any errors or omissions are unintended and the author welcomes feedback: james@jamescumming.com.

49
Relevant locations in North West Tasmania

50