Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/70

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
56
Western Australia.

teristic of the water courses and lake margins, as the yeat is found in and about the shallow lakes to the East of King George's Sound; belts of Mulga and other shrubs intersect the plains in the East and centre of the Colony, and Marlock thickets cover the flanks of the sandstone ranges of the South-East. There are many other smaller trees, the wood of which is useful for the several purposes enumerated below, and some yield valuable resins. At the Intercolonial Exhibition held in Sydney in the year 1873, Mr. George Whitfield exhibited specimens of 14 different sorts of Eucalypti found in the Toodyay district, viz., Jarrah, Twatta, a small kind but very valuable for wheelwright's work; Coolan, growing in moist ground, a soft wood; Morral, growing to 3 feet in diameter and 90 feet in height, straight, heavy, close in grain, and useful in house building, and cabinetmaker's work; Wandow grows to a large size, splits well for fencing, is very hard, and does not warp; Worlock, growing to three feet in diameter and 80 feet in height, splits well for fencing and hurdles; Dardeback is rather smaller, tough, but does not split well; Mallet is light, splits well, and is much used for making hurdles; Melyerick grows to 6 feet in diameter and 70 in height, and when seasoned is the hardest of the timbers of the Colony; Marlock is of small growth but very tough; of Coorup, the largest of all, the young timber is much used in coach building, and the gum valuable as a powerful astringent; this is probably nearly related to the Red Gum, the gum of which is very bitter to the taste, and has the same valuable medicinal property, as it is specific in cases of dysentery and diarrhoea; Parral grows to the height of 100 feet, is sound, light, and splits well for fencing; Wanderock grows to 2 feet in diameter and 40 in height, splits well, is long in the grain, and valuable especially for dray shafts; Hardham