Daly River sawmilling
As a third generation saw miller responsible for winding up the family operation, the last thing Ian Straker thought he would be doing would be assisting in starting up a sawmilling operation while being an Indigenous Community Volunteer.
However that is what the qualified engineer from Gympie in Queensland’s south east found himself doing with the Daly River community south of Darwin.
Many years ago when the community was operating as a Catholic mission, African mahogany trees had been planted. Now they were a safety concern for the community which hoped to be able to take action while possibly reaping some economic benefit as well.
“The whole place was a hive of activity as the chainsaw crew were cutting the big branches as the crane pulled the branches out and the tree lopper was up in the trees. Another two were controlling traffic ensuring no-one strayed into the area.” Ian said. “The bigger bits were then fed into the sawmill to be cut into slabs for furniture-making.”
CDEP Coordinator Richard Fitowski, described Ian’s contribution as “fantastic” which led to a “great relationship” enabling the community to contact Ian on a semi-regular basis to discuss various issues that may arise.
Over the next 12 months, Richard says the community aims to build up a stockpile of processed timber which it can then sell to furniture-making operations.
