The Australian Axeman’s Hall of Fame
“Axemen, stand by your logs!” A hush falls over the crowd of spectators as six men stride to their places for the final of the Standing Block – lengths of hardwood, about a metre long and 375mm thick, clamped vertically on metal stands. Each man is clad in cream trousers and a blue singlet, well-worn Volley sandshoes on their feet – hardly the best safety equipment for the kind of job they’re about to do. The men are all big, burly fellows, at or over 6 foot, barrel-chested with bulging shoulders, necks optional. They’re not handsome but lantern-jawed and steely-eyed in a Dirk Pitt kind of way, very hard and able-looking, with an air of self-assurance born of half a lifetime knocking around logging camps. They each grasp an axe, a shaft of best American hickory bearing a gleaming 3-kg wedge of polished steel honed to razor sharpness. You could shave with this blade, and they probably have.
Each man stands poised with the tip of his blade almost touching the log as the judge calls the count of three, at which the men launch into action. They wield their axes rhythmically, two or three blows angled down then the same upward to mark the scarf, the pattern repeated until brick-sized chunks of wood fly all around, littering the arena. The crowd too has come alive, cheering their favoured athletes, urging them hoarsely to greater, faster efforts. With the logs now cleaved with a V half through, the axemen apply themselves to the opposite sides, the second scarf mirroring the first. Their pace has not slackened for an instant and sweat now runs freely from their brows and flexing arms. At last one axe breaks through and the head of the log topples to the ground with a resounding thud. The race is won in scarcely 15 seconds, the champion stands, chest heaving, as the crowd roars its approbation.
This is the world of competition woodchopping, in which the champions stand tall, their feats legendary; records are made and just as often broken; honours and accolades accrue to each generation, sometimes won or shared by the same family. Winning is borne graciously, losing stoically – you’re only as good as your last “chop” and there’s always the next show. The thrill of it all never wanes or palls. For those in the game, this is the very stuff of life.
It is a sport that, while not uniquely Australian, has direct connections to our pioneering bushmen and the history of the Australian timber industry, which began with the cedar getters around Sydney’s Lane Cove River and eventually spread to the vast mountain ash forests of Victoria and Tasmania.
The first recorded woodchopping contest occurred behind the Sprent Hotel at Ulverstone, Tasmania, in 1870. For a 25-pound wager, Victorian Jack Briggs and Joseph Smith from Ulverstone squared off to see who could fell a three-foot standing block the faster. Smith won in contentious circumstances and the event dissolved into a free-for-all fistfight.
The world’s first woodchopping championship was held in 1891, at Bell’s Parade, Latrobe, Tasmania. Prize money of 250 pounds and numerous valuable trophies attracted competitors from far and wide, including five from Victoria, two from New Zealand and fifty from various parts of Tasmania.
Fittingly, the venue for this event on the banks of the Mersey River was selected as the home of the Australian Axeman’s Hall of Fame and Timberworks. Opened in 2002, the museum displays the harvesting, milling and building techniques of the early pioneers, and celebrates the greats of woodchopping and sawing through a display of photographs, trophies, championship axes and other fascinating memorabilia. The building’s unusual design includes a steel roof supported by 14 massive timber pillars, 10 metres high and weighing about 2 tonnes, each one a different kind of timber from all over Australia. As you might expect, the interior is cavernous and encloses not only the museum but also an arena for woodchopping events. The arena floor was specially made in the Netherlands from recycled car tyres and is thick enough to withstand the impact from tree felling logs.
Contrary to popular belief, not all champion axemen or sawyers are large individuals. While physical strength is desirable, size is not a prerequisite for success. Rather, fitness combined with precision technique will often win out over brute power. But big or small, competitors must abide by the rules and a very gentlemanly code of conduct prescribed by the sport’s peak governing body, the Australian Axemen’s Association. For example, persons representing the AAA must refrain from “excessive” consumption of alcohol during the competition period and refrain from smoking cigarettes or other narcotics (legal or illegal) when in team uniform. Swearing or using offensive language is also proscribed.
But inductees to the Australian Axeman’s Hall of Fame are not there simply for their good behaviour and abstemious ways. These giants of the sport have been selected for their remarkable personal achievements in the woodchopping arena. The main criterion for selection is that each axeman or sawyer must have won at least 8 world championships at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the ‘Wimbledon of Woodchopping’, which attracts the best axemen from around the world. The Legend Axeman’s wall (appropriately constructed of Tasmanian Oak) showcases some of the greats and recounts their achievements, which are indeed legendary. Here are some of their stories.
Tom Reeves (1860-1938) won the first World Woodchopping Championship title in 1891 with a prodigious feat, severing a 30-inch standing log in just 6 minutes and 22 seconds. He was not only a champion axeman, but was also a long distance runner, sometimes combining both sports in the one carnival. On one such occasion, within a matter of hours, he won the Silver Championship Belt for the 6-foot girth chop and the mile and half-mile foot race.
One of the youngest beginners in the sport was Septimus Boyd Wilson (“Tommy”) Kirk (1914-2001), who won his first chopping competition at the tender age of 14. His magnificent adult physique (183cm tall, 102kg weight, 135cm chest) and great agility helped him win 22 world championships until his retirement in 1965 at the age of 51. One of Kirk’s main rivals during 14 years of closely fought championships was Victorian great Jack O’Toole (1917-1983), who amassed over 120 titles, including 26 World Championships, in his career.
Another 14-year-old novice, Vic Summers, won his first competitive chop at that age and his last at 78, taking out the Veterans event at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. His specialty was the spectacular and difficult tree felling event. In 1938, he started with a handicap of 46 seconds behind the front marker and won. In 1951, he had to climb down to retrieve a dropped board, climb back up again to finish the chop, and still won.
Albert George “Nobby” Deacon (1901-1994) was Australia’s oldest competitive axeman. From his first competitive chop at 24 years of age (in which he did not finish in a place), he competed throughout his life and, at the age of 80, placed fifth in the over-70s section at the Sydney Royal Show.
The sport of woodchopping is notable for its family links from one generation to the next. This is particularly so in Tasmania, with such distinguished family names as Youd, Foster, Lovell, Sherriff, Rattray, Eaves and Stewart.
The Youd family name is synonymous with woodchopping. Albert (1885-1949) was a competitive axeman, six of whose seven sons all chopped their way to fame in the sport. (The seventh son, Trevor, became a farmer who, his brothers say, “only chops wood for his lounge room fire”.) Doug, Merv, Ray and Bill all won world championships, and Merv and Doug are inductees to the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame. In this illustrious family, Doug is a stand-out, with a record of achievement that many believe makes him the greatest all-rounder ever to pick up an axe, and earning him an MBE in 1981.
In a career spanning 50 years, Clayton Stewart (1926-2004) was a champion in his own right, winning numerous world titles, setting two world records (which have stood since 1965) and amassing enough trophies to fill a room in his family home. In what is believed to be a world first (in 1991), Clayton, son Gary and grandson Robbie competed in a 3 Man Team Relay.
No story about competitive woodchopping would be complete without mention of David Foster. In its 130-year history, no axeman has dominated the sport like this Tasmanian. He is a giant of a man with an astonishing record. He has won every major woodchopping event in Australia and New Zealand; he became the first person in sporting history to win more than 1000 championships and is the only axeman ever to have won six out of seven championships at a Sydney Royal Easter Show; he has won 179 world titles, including 54 across four events at the Sydney Show. For his sporting achievements he was awarded the Australian Axeman of the Year award nine times in a row. According to the curators of the AAHF, Foster is “arguably the most successful athlete ever to compete in any sport, in any era, anywhere in the world.”
These and many other enthralling tales of this amazing sport and the herculean feats of its greatest exponents await you at Latrobe, Tasmania. If you’re ever passing that way, it’s a must-see attraction.
Location
Bell’s Parade Latrobe, 10km southeast of Devonport, Tasmania.
Open daily, 9.00am to 5.00pm.
Contacts and Other Information
The Australian Axeman’s Hall of Fame
P: (03) 2426 2099
E: info@axemanscomplex.com.au
The Australian Axemen’s Association
Secretary, Mrs Jillian Stratton
P: 0417 372 184
E: ausaxemen@gmail.com
Tasmanian Axemen’s Association Inc.
Secretary, Mrs Sheila Rumley
P: (03) 6249 3485
E: sheila.rumley@bigpond.com
Devonport Visitor Information
92 Formby Rd, Devonport
P: 1800 649 514 (free call)
E: tourism@devonport.tas.gov.au