What is Huon pine?
Huon pine is a slow-growing conifer found only in western and southwestern Tasmania. It is one of the longest-living trees on Earth, and its golden, oily timber is prized by boatbuilders.
Huon pine, Lagarostrobos franklinii, grows along rivers and lakes in cool temperate rainforest, often only about a millimetre in girth each year. Individual trees can live for more than 2,000 years.
On Mount Read in western Tasmania, a stand of genetically identical male Huon pines is thought to have survived as a single clonal organism for over 10,000 years, spreading by layering branches.
A boatbuilder's timber
The timber contains an oil called methyl eugenol, which makes it extremely resistant to rot and insects. In the 1800s, convicts and piners cut Huon pine along the Gordon and Franklin rivers and floated logs downstream for shipbuilding.
Today, living Huon pines are protected, and only salvaged timber, such as logs recovered from dam lakes and old stockpiles, is used for furniture, boats and crafts.
Strahan has sawmills and workshops where visitors can see Huon pine being worked. Its sweet, spicy scent is well known in Tasmania.
Did You Know?
Huon pine is named after the Huon River, which was named after a French naval officer, Huon de Kermadec.