HERITAGE NOOSA
HERITAGE NOOSA
Cooroy Lower Mill Site
DETAILS
DescriptionThe Cooroy Lower Mill Site Kiln is a timber drying kiln built by a partnership of prominent local sawmillers, J Wilkinson & Sons Pty Ltd and Straker & Sons Pty Ltd who had purchased the mill in 1941. In 1908 a sawmill, the first in Cooroy, was established on this site by the Fenwick brothers, Frederick and William, in partnership with Robert Moorish. By 1911 it was trading as the Canadian Mills. The Mill changed hands in 1929 and again in 1933 before being sold to Straker and Sons in 1941. They went into partnership with J Wilkinson and Sons and enlarged the mill operations, renaming it Cooroy Sawmilling Company.
In 1956, when the kiln was built, Straker and Sons and J Wilkinson and Sons already owned several milling operations on the North Coast. Straker & Sons owned the Cooroy Sawmilling Company located next to the kiln, together with mills at Cooran and Gympie. J Wilkinson & Sons owned sawmills at Yandina and Conondale. The two organisations partially merged in 1956 to form Kiln Dried Timbers Pty Ltd, the company that operated the kiln and an adjoining planing mill (no longer extant).
In the 1950s timber was one of the most important industries in Noosa Shire and the mill was modernised with equipment to allow for more streamlined production processes. The kiln
accelerated the seasoning of timber and may have been the first built on the North Coast. In response to an increasingly challenging timber industry in the 1970s, Strakers and Wilkinson's
amalgamated with the Lutton family's sawmilling operation and together they formed North Coast Sawmills Pty Ltd. Their Cooroy mills were bought by Quintex in the 1980s and later purchased by Boral Timber. Boral utilized the kiln and planing plant to produce and dry boards for flooring and decking until the kiln’s closure in the early 2000s under the Regional Forests Agreement. Today, the former kilns are part of a public precinct developed for the use and benefit of the Cooroy community by Noosa Council and guided by a Board. The site features community facilities, a playground, and parklands located adjacent to the Cooroy Library and Butter Factory Arts Centre.
The kiln at Cooroy was the product of a post-World War Il trend in the sawmill industry towards centralisation and larger operations to enable economies of scale. The kiln enabled the partners to accelerate the process of seasoning hardwood from their mills including flooring and chamfer boards and to expand their market to include far western Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne. These markets demanded timber with a lower moisture content than could be achieved by air drying alone.
In 1956, the kiln comprised a steam heated, cross shaft internal fan design that was common in Australia at the time. The design was obtained by the company from CSIRO. It consisted of four double chambers 64ft (19.5m) by 48ft (14.6m) each with a height of 13ft (4m) and a capacity of 9000 super feet. They were fabricated from concrete. Carefully stacked timber was transferred into the kiln using trolleys on rails. Heat was generated by a 100hp (74.6kW) boiler and transferred to the kiln chambers via a series of tubes. Hot air radiating from the tubes was circulated in the chambers by internal electric fans. The temperature in the kiln was designed to reach around 120°F (49°C).
The boiler was fuelled by waste from the adjacent sawmill via a hopper and chutes (all extant). As well as providing steam for the kiln, the boiler powered a steam engine and electric generator (extant). Electricity from this generator was used to power the electrical plant including the fans. Also extant on the site is a reconditioning chamber adjacent to the kiln. This chamber was used to treat a condition called ‘collapse’, brought about by abnormal and excessive shrinkage. The collapsed timber was steamed in a closed chamber with saturated steam at atmospheric pressure for a period of about six hours. Steam was injected into the chamber via a single perforated steam pipe.
The new company opened the large hardwood mill at Nandroya. This enabled the use of more efficient modern machinery and logs were able to be sourced from a wider area.
The Cooroy Lower Mill Site Kiln, constructed by prominent local sawmillers J Wilkinson and Sons Pty Ltd and Straker and Sons Pty Ltd, stands as a testament to the significance of the timber industry in Noosa Shire during the 1950s and is significant as part of the region’s industrial heritage.
AddressLower Mill Road,Cooroy
In 1956, when the kiln was built, Straker and Sons and J Wilkinson and Sons already owned several milling operations on the North Coast. Straker & Sons owned the Cooroy Sawmilling Company located next to the kiln, together with mills at Cooran and Gympie. J Wilkinson & Sons owned sawmills at Yandina and Conondale. The two organisations partially merged in 1956 to form Kiln Dried Timbers Pty Ltd, the company that operated the kiln and an adjoining planing mill (no longer extant).
In the 1950s timber was one of the most important industries in Noosa Shire and the mill was modernised with equipment to allow for more streamlined production processes. The kiln
accelerated the seasoning of timber and may have been the first built on the North Coast. In response to an increasingly challenging timber industry in the 1970s, Strakers and Wilkinson's
amalgamated with the Lutton family's sawmilling operation and together they formed North Coast Sawmills Pty Ltd. Their Cooroy mills were bought by Quintex in the 1980s and later purchased by Boral Timber. Boral utilized the kiln and planing plant to produce and dry boards for flooring and decking until the kiln’s closure in the early 2000s under the Regional Forests Agreement. Today, the former kilns are part of a public precinct developed for the use and benefit of the Cooroy community by Noosa Council and guided by a Board. The site features community facilities, a playground, and parklands located adjacent to the Cooroy Library and Butter Factory Arts Centre.
The kiln at Cooroy was the product of a post-World War Il trend in the sawmill industry towards centralisation and larger operations to enable economies of scale. The kiln enabled the partners to accelerate the process of seasoning hardwood from their mills including flooring and chamfer boards and to expand their market to include far western Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne. These markets demanded timber with a lower moisture content than could be achieved by air drying alone.
In 1956, the kiln comprised a steam heated, cross shaft internal fan design that was common in Australia at the time. The design was obtained by the company from CSIRO. It consisted of four double chambers 64ft (19.5m) by 48ft (14.6m) each with a height of 13ft (4m) and a capacity of 9000 super feet. They were fabricated from concrete. Carefully stacked timber was transferred into the kiln using trolleys on rails. Heat was generated by a 100hp (74.6kW) boiler and transferred to the kiln chambers via a series of tubes. Hot air radiating from the tubes was circulated in the chambers by internal electric fans. The temperature in the kiln was designed to reach around 120°F (49°C).
The boiler was fuelled by waste from the adjacent sawmill via a hopper and chutes (all extant). As well as providing steam for the kiln, the boiler powered a steam engine and electric generator (extant). Electricity from this generator was used to power the electrical plant including the fans. Also extant on the site is a reconditioning chamber adjacent to the kiln. This chamber was used to treat a condition called ‘collapse’, brought about by abnormal and excessive shrinkage. The collapsed timber was steamed in a closed chamber with saturated steam at atmospheric pressure for a period of about six hours. Steam was injected into the chamber via a single perforated steam pipe.
The new company opened the large hardwood mill at Nandroya. This enabled the use of more efficient modern machinery and logs were able to be sourced from a wider area.
The Cooroy Lower Mill Site Kiln, constructed by prominent local sawmillers J Wilkinson and Sons Pty Ltd and Straker and Sons Pty Ltd, stands as a testament to the significance of the timber industry in Noosa Shire during the 1950s and is significant as part of the region’s industrial heritage.
AddressLower Mill Road,Cooroy
Cooroy Lower Mill Site. Heritage Noosa, accessed 17/03/2025, https://heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/24458
