The western Queensland town of Tambo has turned to timber in an effort to diversify its economy. Source: ABC News
The council is fixing up the town’s abandoned sawmill to attract a new lessee and a new industry to town.
With the help of the federal and state governments a total of $1,025,000 will be spent on the renovation, but Blackall- Tambo Regional Council Mayor Andrew Martin said the return would 100-fold.
“At the end of the life of the timber licence, which goes for 25 years, it will return $100 million or more to this region,” he said. “It’ll probably bring in a million dollars a year to the Tambo region alone.”
Cr Martin said the major benefit came from the new mill employees who would call Tambo home.
“Not only do we bring the labour force here but they’ll bring their wives their children and motorcars with them.
“They’ll need food, they’ll need fuel, they’ll need renovations to their homes, they’ll need carpets – they need to live here,” he said. “Well an extra 20 employees, plus 20 wives plus 2.3 children for each family, you’re looking at another teacher, and another teacher’s aide.”
A plan to weatherproof the economy Local business women Richelle Curnow said the graziers had not been able to spend as much in town, meaning the small businesses were suffering as well,
“In every industry you speak to in town, whether it’s people on properties, or just your local shopkeepers, people have really been finding it hard,” she said. “It is as hard as I have ever seen it.
“A lot of the older people say they’ve never had it this hard either.”
But, the sawmill will provide another group of employees that will still be spending during agricultural downturns.
“It takes the troughs out of the bad time and adds to the peaks in the good times,” Cr Martin said. “It would be the same as opening a mine here, while its primary production, it’s another string to the bow, and it’s another set of jobs that can take up the slack when there is a beef slump or a wool slump.”
The council’s $250,000 timber permit allows the lessee to take 5700 tonnes of timber from state forestry reserves, surrounding the town, per year, for the next 25 years.
The logs are native cypress pine, which is in demand as it is naturally termite proof.
This means it is often used for building housing frames, but the pine also has a light honey colour when polished as floorboards.
The permit includes restrictions, such as each tree logged must have a girth of at least 25 centimetres to ensure the sustainability of the reserve. The first logs are expected through the mill by as early as next year.
