A Commemoration That Inspires In More Ways Than One...

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It appears from my research on the Internet : http://thecommunityarchive.org.nz/node/66144/description that the:

“Kauri Timber company was formed in 1888 and quickly gained a monopoly of the kauri industry.

With the depletion of the kauri resource it diversified into other timbers and took over other milling companies including  1888 and White Pine Co. (1902), Ellis and Burnand (1904), Butler Brothers (2907) and West Australian Jarrah Saw Mills (1912). In 1961 the Kauri Timber Co. was itself taken over by Fletcher Timber Ltd.

This plaque in the museum is beautiful,  such detail in the carving … sadly it photographed less clearly than I would have wished due to my limitations as a photographer but you get a little bit of an idea if you look at the details.

Below this large commemorative piece is another plaque with the following information:

The Kauri Timber Company was formed in Australia to log and process New Zealand resources of this remarkable timber Kauri.

It  was by far the largest operator in the industry and most of it’s production was exported to Australia.When World War One broke out in 1914 many of the staff volunteered for overseas service and some did not return.

The plaque was specially commissioned to commemorate their service and sacrifice and was located in the Kauri Timber company’s New Zealand Head Office in Auckland.  When the Kauri Timber Company’s New Zealand assets were purchased by Fletcher Holdings Limited on 01 July 1961 special efforts were made to  preserve it until a suitable permanent home could be found.

It was offered to this museum in 1985 and formally handed over by Sir James Fletcher, Chairman and then president of Fletcher Challenge Limited at an informal ceremony at Matakohe on 13 January 1984 in the presence of M.D. Sterling of Matakohe and K. Fraser of Auckland.

I’m trying to  work on my drawing  skills when I can, and since I’ve always struggled with drawing trees and flora I’ve set myself a task to find an “element” of something in the natural world as inspiration and to use it as a starter ‘theme” in my sketches.

When I saw these carved fern leaves I knew at once that I had found the inspirational  element I had been searching for. The sketches so far are way too rough for publication here, but hopefully with practice I will increase my skill and produce something worth showing to you in a future post.

Therefore I leave you to look at the workmanship of someone who has serious woodworking skills instead…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This is a different  woodwork piece, also for the Kauri Timber Company and I just wanted to note that the large flat club-like bits are in fact depictions of Kauri seeds… in reality Kauri seeds are very large (for seeds) …rather fitting considering the eventual size of the trees.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)