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Conondale Timbers sawmill is a heritage-listed sawmill at Aherns Road, Conondale, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in the 1930s by M R Hornibrook Ltd. It is also known as Conondale Timbers mill workers cottages. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 November 2008. == History == The Conondale Timbers Sawmill near the town of Conondale in the Sunshine Coast Region is a large operating hardwood mill constructed in the early 1930s. It comprises the mill shed and equipment, plus ancillary structures including workers' housing. The mill was originally powered by steam, but has now been converted to electricity.〔 Sawmilling was a major industry on the North Coast hinterland in the 1930s: the coastal area between Brisbane and Gympie contained the highest concentration of sawmills in Queenslnd. More hardwood was cut on the North Coast (now known as the Sunshine Coast) than anywhere else in Queensland. Improvements in the road network and mechanised transport in the 1920s made sawmilling in remote areas such as Conondale more viable from the later interwar period.〔 The Conondale sawmill was built by M.R. Hornibrook Pty Ltd to supply timber for the Hornibrook Highway Bridge project that linked the Redcliffe Peninsula with the Brisbane suburbs of Brighton and Sandgate across the mouth of the North Pine River and Hays Inlet. At the time, M.R. Hornibrook Pty Ltd was among the most prominent civil engineering firms in Queensland. From 1918, Manuel Hornibrook and his company (formed in 1926) constructed a number of drainage and water supply systems for Brisbane and regional councils. By the early 1930s, their civil engineering projects had included a number of prominent bridges including an eight-span reinforced concrete bridge at Howard, the Grey Street Bridge (later renamed William Jolly Bridge) in Brisbane and an eight-span reinforced concrete bridge over the Coomera River. After completion of the Hornibrook Highway project, the company joint ventured with Evans Deakin and Company to build Brisbane's Story Bridge and they built a 47-span railway bridge over the Pioneer River in Mackay. After World War II, the company was involved in the construction of Bulimba B, Tennyson and Townsville power stations and was a major contractor for construction of the Sydney Opera House.〔 The Hornibrook Highway was built during a period when many roads in Southeast Queensland were being upgraded to accommodate increased motor vehicle usage. Prior to 1920, roads were funded by Shire Councils. The demand for better quality roads to accommodate motor vehicles promised to place an intolerable financial burden on the councils. This burden was alleviated to a large extent after the establishment by the Queensland Government in 1920 of the Main Roads Board. This board entered into joint funding arrangements with Shire Councils and a number of road upgrades were undertaken from 1921. The Hornibrook Highway was one of the most important of these. It made an important contribution to the development of Redcliffe.〔 The Hornibrook Highway included a long timber bridge (the heritage-listed Hornibrook Highway Bridge) across Hay's Inlet and the mouth of the North Pine River between Brighton and Clontarf. At the time, it was Australia's longest bridge and was claimed to incorporate more hardwood than any other bridge of its kind. To provide more than 2.5 million super feet of timber needed for the bridge, Hornibrook secured large stands of hardwood, purchased a mill at Mapleton and built the Conondale mill in the midst of large tracts of standing timber. The Conondale mill was designed to produce decking.〔 The original layout of the mill has been largely preserved and follows the basic design principles for steam powered sawmills of the era. The break-down saws, comprising a frame saw and large circular saw were designed to make the initial cuts along the logs to create long slices of timber ('flitches'). These saws are located close to where the logs entered the mill near a loading platform at the side of the shed. The number one and the pendulum docking saws which converted the flitches into boards of the required cross-section and length are located further inside the shed. A small room for sharpening saws is built into a corner of the main shed.〔 Though the steam engine and transmission are now removed, the plan and construction of the mill reveal their former location. The boiler and engine sheds are extant, the latter containing the foundations of the steam engine. Power was transmitted to the saws and saw sharpening grinder from the steam engine via transmission shafts, belts and pulley wheels. The original transmission shafts and pulleys, though removed from the shed, remain on the site.〔 Most of the extant saws are original including the frame, circular break-down, number one and docking saws. The saw sharpening equipment is also original. All of this equipment was designed to be steam driven via flat belts and pulleys. The original transmission system continued to be used when the shed was first electrified: a large electric motor was simply connected to the main transmission shaft. Later, the transmission system was rendered redundant when the single large electric motor was replaced by smaller electric motors mounted directly onto each saw. As part of this upgrade, the original flat belts and pulley wheels on the saws were replaced by "V" belts and pulleys which transmitted drive directly from the saw mounted motors.〔 In addition to the main shed a number of structures originally built by M.R. Hornibrook Pty Ltd remain extant. These include a former ship's crane used in the construction of the mill and the mill workers' cottages. The five cottages along the southern boundary are in their original location while the cottage near the entrance gate has been shifted from elsewhere on the site. The group of five dwellings originally stood as detached two-room cottages, each with a veranda to the east and a fireplace projecting to the north. They have been altered since construction. Later work has been carried out on the far east cottage including the addition of enclosed space to form a larger residence and the addition of a small entrance deck allowing it to be used as an office. The mill has been in continuous use since the 1930s. Following completion of the Hornibrook project, the mill continued to be operated by the Hornibrook subsidiary, Hamilton Sawmills. In the 1960s, the sawmill was purchased by Thurecht and Sons and then the Green family trading as Conondale Timbers. During the 1970s, the mill cut native hardwoods for use in house framing. About a third of production was brush-box used for flooring. It is one of the oldest known operating mills in the Sunshine Coast region.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Conondale Timbers Sawmill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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