West Coast Piners

West Coast Piners

The collective name of groups of men who worked on the West Coast Tasmania, collecting and using Huon Pine. In most cases they used Strahan as their base, as it was where their huon pine loads were shipped out from.

Most of their activities were focused on the rivers (and their tributaries) that flowed into Macquarie Harbour - the King River and the Gordon River. The smaller rivers on flowing into Macquarie Harbour on the eastern side are Pine Cove Creek, Braddon River, Clark River, and Bird River.

The main eras of Piners were -

* Sarah Island convict era 1821-1833, 1846-47
* 1890's to 1940's

Celebrated by the event at Strahan known as the Strahan Piner's Festival

References

* Flanagan, Richard, "A terrible beauty : history of the Gordon River country" Richmond, Vic. : Greenhouse, 1985. ISBN 0-86436-001-0
* Garry Kerr and Hary McDermott "The Huon Pine Story (The History of Harvest and Use of a unique Timber)", Portland, Victoria, Mainsail Books, 2004, second edition ISBN 0957791704