GENRE: History
LENGTH: 54 minutes
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Paul Scott & Gary Kerr
PRODUCER: Paul Scott
DIRECTOR: Paul Scott
BROADCASTER: ABC Australia
COINVESTORS: Screen Tasmania
DISTRIBUTOR: ABC Enterprises
Tasmania’s Huon Pine tree lives for 3,000 years and is the oldest living thing in the Southern Hemisphere. But its timber never rots and is so valuable that men have died attempting to obtain it.
For the last two centuries Huon Pine was deemed the world’s most valuable boat-building timber. But nature doesn’t give up her riches easily! Stands of Huon Pine are elusive and only found in inaccessible parts of Tasmania. The Piners that ventured into this wild terrain to retrieve the timber were some of the most resourceful Bushmen in Australia’s history.
There has never before been a film made on this important era in Australian history. There never will be again. For this film has exclusively interviewed the last surviving Piners who are well over 80 years old. This film was the last project these men were involved in so it’s the only documentary record of their untold stories.
This documentary combines history and culture into a narrative that symbolizes the struggle between man and his environment. It tells the previously untold story of Australia’s most prized tree and the pioneering and dangerous journeys of the men who sought it.
To purchase the DVD
Visit the Blackgum Distribution Services website, or contact them by email.
Trailer
Scene Clip