Cirrus@Austlit

This article outlines the history of cedar-cutting in eastern Australia, and describes the distribution of cedar trees in southern and northern Queensland. It narrates the destruction in a cyclone of the Merchant and the Kate Conley while transporting cedar logs from the Daintree and Cairns in 1878, as well as the wrecking of the cedar carriers, Hopeful and Naval Brigade. Meston states that Aborigines regarded the cedar tree as sacred and that they predicted disaster for those who harmed it. He describes how millions of feet of cedar from the Atherton Tablelend were lost in an attempt to float the logs to the coast along the Barron and other streams. He fears the extinction of the cedar, 'from which even a valuable medicinal oil is extracted,' and advocates replanting.