A Background to Cypress NSW

History

The Cypress sawmilling industry has been established in Western NSW since the latter half of the nineteenth century. The early European settlers used timber from the widespread Cypress forests for building homesteads, shearing sheds fences and the construction of the growing towns and villages. The potential of these forests to produce timber for future generations was also recognised and over the years successive Governments reserved extensive areas which otherwise would have been cleared for agriculture. Many of these forest reserves were subsequently dedicated as State forests following the gazettal of the Forestry Act in 1916 and professional forest management was soon introduced.

Cypress was one of the first forest types in NSW to benefit from active management.

Cypress Use

Cypress is a unique, honey coloured aromatic Australian native timber. It has the environmentally desirable property of being naturally termite resistant and has high durability. Traditionally used in construction for structural timber, external cladding, internal linings and flooring, Cypress is now seen in award winning contemporary architecture, as a feature timber, because of its distinctive charecteristics and colour. Its versatility makes it suitable for application as weatherboards, interior lining, flooring, decking, mouldings, posts, bearers and joists as well as general framing purposes.

Export

Because of its natural termite resistance, durability and features, Cypress is now being exported to countries such as Japan, the USA and SE Asia (for more details see Exports).

Regional Resource

In the early days the Cypress industry was characterised by a myriad of small sawmills scattered on and around the forests which serviced the local rural communities. Over the years, as power and transport infrastructure improved and demand from more distant markets increased, the economies of scale has resulted in a great deal of rationalisation within the industry and today over 90% of the Cypress milled in NSW is produced by ten companies. The majority of these have been in business for more than fifty years and now involve second and third generation management. Most of these businesses are located in small rural towns where they make a significant contribution to the local economy, offer stable employment opportunities and provide diversification in areas dependant on agricultural production which is subject to commodity price fluctuations and the vagaries of the weather.

Strategic Planning 

From the immediate post war years through to the 1970s the industry was quite profitable. However, changing market emphasis led the industry to a strategic planning process to ensure its future profitability and market share. With the support of the Forest Products Association and State Forests of NSW (now Forests NSW), the industry completed its first strategic plan in 1996. For more details on this process and the ongoing Strategic Plan click this link and go to the dedicated page.