2006 Tasmanian Forest Festival
- another perfect day!

The 2006 Tasmanian Forest Festival was our biggest and best yet!.  Held on Sunday 26th March 2006, the event blew all our wildest expectations.

With over 8,000 visitors though the gates, there was so much to see and do. 

The Tasmanian Forest Festival in 2006 saw an increase in children’s activities, with the involvement of the PCYC committee, and their MAC (Mobile Activities Centre), as well as entertainers, activities, jumping castle, fairyfloss and giveaways.

Always a crowd pleaser, the Southern Tasmanian Axemen’s Association exhibited their sport at the 2005 event which was a huge success, they conducted a mini carnival with a number of events attracting axemen from around Tasmania in 2006.

Another family favourite was the traditional draught horses.  A huge contingent from the Tasmanian Draught Horse Association saw over 14 horses at the 2006 event.  The Association provided demonstrations throughout the day, will offered cart rides as well as a “test of strength” event where man verses beast.

Back by popular demand again was the Motors Truck Pull and Tilford Bush Push.  These events were highly contested with teams entering to try their luck at walking away with some great cash and prizes.  A new activity at 2006 event was the Griggs Mower and Saw Services Chainsaw Challenge.  Other activities included the woodchip shovelling and the good old boot throwing competition which are always winners.

Eddie Freeman was on site again showcasing his talents for chainsaw carving, as well as professional treeclimbers from Victoria, Doug Walker and Scott Gentle who made the trek across Bass Strait to demonstrate their profession.  

The major drawcard for the festival is the Truck Expo.  This event is fast becoming Tassie’s biggest truck expo and is unique in its operation.  All trucks, whether just off the showroom floor, or 30 years old with millions of miles on the clock have an equal chance of walking away with the major prize. 

Keeping with the theme of the festival, a demonstration will be held showing the technological advancements in the forest industry over the decades.

In 2006, the public were able to watch trees being felled by a mechanical tree felling machine, then be processed by a Komatsu PC300-6 with a Rossin 980 processing head.

The logs were then be set up on a “landing” as they would be in the forest and classified by an accredited Log Classifying Officer (LCO).  The officer then assessed each log to ensure their highest end use is achieved.

For the first time at the 2006 event, an innovative new sawlog docket system, implemented by the Forest and Forest Industry Council and forest industry partners, called “E-dockets” was demonstrated.  

Sawlogs were then processed on-site by a portable sawmill and a large portable chipper demonstrated the processing of pulpwood.  Other logs were set-aside for the public to view prior to them being sent to veneer and sawmills. 

2006 saw the festival's significant beneficiary, the soon to be established PCYC in Huonville receive a cheque for $5,000, which is well above what was expected.

Read the articles in the local Huon Valley News in relation to coverage in the lead up to, during and after the festival.

2006 Huon Valley News Advertising feature

2006 Huon Valley News Festival coverage - Front Page, Page 8, Page 9

2006 Huon Valley News presentations to community groups coverage

PHOTOS: HUON VALLEY NEWS