New Video Series Lifts the Lid on How NSW Hardwood Timber Is Produced, Used and Recycled

12 December 2025

Where does the timber in wharfs, bridges, power poles, floorboards, decking, tools, furniture, and panels come from?  How long do timber products last and what happens at the end of their service life? The North East NSW Forestry Hub has answered these questions and many more in a series of educational videos about how timber products are sustainably produced and used.

Nick Cameron, the Manager of the North East NSW Forestry Hub said, ‘many people don’t know where their wood products come from and how they are made. These films will help Australians better understand the diverse and important roles that native timber species play in modern society.’

The videos are part of a larger series being produced to raise awareness and understanding of the production and use of NSW native timbers with a focus on the talented people who make it all happen.

‘NSW native timbers are amongst the best in the world, being renowned for their strength, durability and appearance.  There are around fifty commercial species that are sustainably produced in NSW and many have unique attributes. Differences in colour, grain, feature, density, workability, durability, toughness, and chemical composition mean there is plenty of opportunity for value adding into specialised applications.

To meet the needs of society and remain economically viable the timber industry is constantly evolving and innovating. For example, at Ironwood Taree the attractive appearance and mechanical strength of timber offcuts is being combined with hemp hurd, which has excellent insulation properties, to produce a ‘sandwich board’ which can be used as a natural alternative to polystyrene-based insulation.

‘Over generations of research and development, wood processors have acquired detailed knowledge about the attributes of our native timbers and applied this knowledge to the manufacture of a remarkable array of inherently useful renewable products. The video series shows how it all works’, said Nick.

General awareness and knowledge of native timbers is diminishing. As the native timber industry has contracted, exposure to and understanding of the wood products that can be generated from native timbers has declined with it.

Further information is available from / or  by contacting Nick Cameron on manager@nenswforestryhub.com.au or 0422 577 805.

The Hub acknowledges funding support from the Australia Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.