HARRY
HANSON
TASMANIAN PIONEER BUSHMAN
AND WOODCHOPPER
2/4/1887-circa
1950's
Harry Hanson, the son
of Albert Hanson, was born on the 2nd of April, 1887 in the Montagu District.
He was the eldest of twelve children, and was taught farming and bush skills from an early
age. His father had farms at West Montague and Marrawah and the young Harry spent his time
between them, clearing land, helping with cropping etc. With his work on the farms and in
the bush , there was no time for schooling until he reached the age of thirteen years when
he attended school for a period of thirteen months, the only formal education he had in
his life. In fact some of those early thirteen years had been spent clearing the land for
a school and working on the building of it. Harry used to say "he built the school before he went to
school". In his later years he expressed that his lack of education put him at a
great disadvantage in public life.
His father, Albert
Hanson had a progressive forward thinking mechanical mind in that he used the most modern
technology available at the time on his farm. This included a potato digging machine and a
stationary steam engine. This aptitude and attitude was carried on by his son Harry was
well taught bush and farming skills and at an early age he learn the art of "grouging
and clever thinking". For example: cutting the face of a tree so that when it felled,
it would fall into another tree which also
had a front cut into it. In its turn it would fall onto a similarly treated tree. This
could be a dangerous practice, but it meant that after careful preparation, trees could
fall like a set of dominoes upon the cutting of one tree. Albert taught his son Harry to
grouge by placing a peg in the ground in front of a tree and teaching him to place the cut
so that the falling tree would sink the peg into the ground. For precise grouging, the
shape and the lean of the tree, wind direction and terrain would have to be accounted for.
As a youth, Harry
worked at Marrawah clearing the land for farming. He didn't enjoy this work, mainly
because he was a youngster amongst much older men, most of which he said: smoked a pipe
and drank black billy tea, which made him feel sick. At the age of seventeen, he left the
job and commenced working for J.S.Lees and Sons, in a gang, supplying logs to sawmills
around the district. In 1909, the foreman McMahon was killed and aged 18, Harry Hanson was
given the job as "bush boss". His task was to supply logs to the Leesville Mill.
Harry was later given the responsibility of managing the timber mill at the Ten Mile on
the Marrawah Tramway and later moved out to the mill at the Fourteen Mile. He later bought
into sawmills at Oonah and Parrawee. Some of the timber milled included sassafras, (at
that time was used for ladies' shoe heels and the back of brushes), leatherwood and
myrtle. At Oonah there was a stable to house a team of bullocks, which were used to pull
logs from the bush. There were also three solid tyred International trucks. These were
used to haul logs and also to transport the sawn timber to Burnie .In 1918, the trucks had
no brakes so driving down Hellyer Gorge with a full load was a nerve racking experience.
One driver, Albin Gray had his own method of braking when the downhill speed was becoming
dangerous. He simply drove into the bank. A day's work in a sawmill was long and hard.
Harry Hanson would sharpen the saws, cut the timber, load up the trucks, and at night
deliver the load to the Burnie wharves where he would unload it by hand and then drive
back to the mill for a short sleep before facing up to another day.
By 1923, Harry Hanson
had married a Miss Aitken and had built a home at Smithton for his wife and children.
Their first car was bought in 1923 and both were licensed to drive. They bought a Fiat and
a Buick, which were used as hire cars. Harry continued working at bush sawmills in the
1920's. The mill workers toiled from Monday
mornings until Saturday midday. Mrs Hanson would drive them out to the mill early Monday
morning and collect them on Saturday afternoon. During the week they lived in worker's
huts. These huts were always built to a basic plan; one room only, with a chimney at one
end and a door beside it, a bed made from two poles and a chaff bag would be at the other
end. A wooden table and a kerosene box cupboard were the only other items of furniture.
Harry's bush skills
and knowledge as well as his own independent strength and resourcefulness were put to the
test, when in 1924, he spent three months alone in uncharted
bush south of the Arthur River. His aim was to survey the area and assess the amount of
millable timber for Lee's Mills. His wife, accompanied by their four year old son, drove
him to Mawbanna where she dropped him off at the entrance to a bush track. Together they
watched him walk off alone into the bush. He took with him only what he could carry, a
surveyor's peg, a compass, an axe, probably a change of clothing (flannels and trousers)
and very little else. He did not carry a gun. A German gentleman, Mr. Stenberg had noticed
Mrs Hanson driving into the bush with her husband and departing without him. " Mein
Gott, " he said "What have you done with the man?".
Harry was to spend
three months alone in the thick, untouched bush, traversing the rugged country, measuring
each chain, pulling out the marker peg and repeating the operation as he progressed
through the wilderness, estimating and assessing the value of the trees as he went. Three
months later, on the appointed day, Mrs Hanson drove to Mawbanna to collect her husband.
He was there waiting, although at first she did not recognise him. When later asked how he
had crossed the Arthur River, Harry said that it was easy. He had merely to fall a tree
and then run quickly across before it floated away.
The 1929 Depression
had a disastrous effect upon the timber industry. Many sawmills closed down. The timber
could be sold but the buyers were unable to pay, so there was no money coming in. At one
time, Harry spent a whole day visiting his creditors. At the end of the day he had
collected ten shillings. He continued milling as long as possible but had no funds with
which to pay the workers. He made arrangements with the Yolla Store that the workmen could
book up what they needed and Harry would pay what was owing when he could. At the end of
The Depression he paid up all his debts and whatever was owing to the men. However, it
eventually became impossible to continue trying to run the mills. In the end he and his
men simply walked away, abandoning not only the sawmills, but also the three International
trucks which he had given such good service.
Timbermen always
supported each other and although there was no money they helped in whatever they could.
When Albin Gray was married, his mates could not afford a wedding present. Instead they
selected a log, cut it up and built him a house which they sited on a road reservation
area. Albin with his wife lived in this house for many years and reared a family.
During all this time,
Harry Hanson was entering in many chopping and sawing competitions. Carnivals were held at
all local venues: Menhga, Mawbanna, Christmas Hills, Trowutta, Irishtown etc. Harry
competed in all these as well as bigger carnivals throughout the nation, and the most
prestigious one was in 1926, 1927 and 1929 in
the double handed sawing at the Sydney Show. In 1929 partnered by George Eaves, they broke
the record and won the World Championship Double Handed Sawing. This time probably still
stands today in the record books , as the size of the blocks has since changed and that
particular event is no longer held.
Later, Clem Blazely, a
man who had worked with Harry at the Oonah Mill became his sawing partner. Whereas George
Eaves was a powerful man, Clem was much smaller and appeared weaker. When asked why he had
changes partners, Harry commented that what George could give him in strength, Clem could
give him in skill as he was an expert saw sharpener. There were others who flippantly
remarked that Harry Hanson was so good that he could win with a fourteen year old girl as
his sawing partner. One notable event at
which Harry and Clem competed was in 1934
before the Duke of Gloucester who was in Australia to celebrate the Melbourne Centenary.
They won a sawing contest and had the honour, along with other successful choppers and
sawyers, of being presented to His Royal Highness. The Tasmanians were not ones to stand
on ceremony and one chopper a Mr. Smith, was hears to greet the Duke with "g'day
mate".
Harry Hanson was proud
of the fact they he never "played dead", that is chopping or sawing to lose in
order to obtaining a better handicap, but he was not beyond using a bit of psychology
towards gaining a mental advantage. He was almost always off the back mark, 20 seconds or
so behind the limit marker. With the crowd cheering him on he would put a few cuts into
the front of the log and turn to the back. The cry of "Hanson's Round" would put
fear into the hearts of front runners whose inexperience would cause them to lose their
rhythm and the chop. Such tactics are probably still used today.
Because of his
constant work in the bush, Harry didn't need to train for competitions. The only time he
was known to actually prepare for a match was for a match at Myalla. A group of axemen
from interstate and overseas had been competing at Smithton. Amongst them was Watta Green,
a Maori from New Zealand whose team mates had returned home. Watta had vowed that he was
not going back to New Zealand until he had won the Myalla Cup. A determined Harry Hanson
decided that Watta would not be taking the
cup back to New Zealand, so for the first and only time in his life, he did some training
to keep the Cup in Smithton.
Watta had arrived with
a very special competition axe. However around the chopping ring the Hanson children did
not treat this axe with the respect it deserved. Young Gib Hanson, mischievously not only
hacked into a steel pulley with it but also managed to cut off his toe. His mother, with
true bushman like ingenuity, stuck it back and bandaged the foot firmly. The toe
re-attached itself and was soon as good as ever. However, Watta's axe may heave never been
the same again. Harry Hanson had only one racing axe, a Plum axe which he used for twenty
nine years. It was always kept in a leather sheath and he always sharpened it himself. It
is now a treasures possession of the Hanson family. When asked why he only had one axe
when others arrived carrying a box full, Harry would reply," Dear me, gracious, I've
got a lot of faith in that axe". His faith was justified as he was rarely beaten in a
contest.
One of the few times
that he was defeated, was when he competed for $100 purse at Irishtown soon after having
an operation on his goitre. He lost by half a second. Choppers in those days were a tough
and determined breed who did not let minor things such as illness interfere with their
woodchopping competitions. For instance, Jim Foster, (great uncle of World Champion axeman
many times over, David Foster) left a hospital bed to defend his 1927 Ulverstone
championship. He won the event and re-admitted himself to hospital.
Harry continued chopping and sawing
throughout the 1930's and 1940's, winning a swag of trophies and medals.
He lived in Smithton until his death in the 1950"
He was very active in public life and served several terms as Warden of Circular Head.
KNOWN ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHOPPING AND
SAWING
1922 1ft standing
Tasmanian
championship
1925
Championship chop, Smithton
1926
World Championship, Smithton
1927
Tasmanian championship
1926
World Championship Double-Handed sawing
1926
Double Handed Sawing championship
1928
Double Handed Sawing championship
THIS STORY WAS RELATED TO
and compiled by
BETTY ROCKLIFF, PORT SORELL Tasmania
during conversations with
Nita Shepherd (deceased)- daughter of Harry Hanson
Gilbert Hanson
Robert Hanson
©2001
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