November 30, 2024
A short documentary that provides a snapshot of the long history of the timber industry in the Blackbutt and Benarkin areas premiered at a special dinner recently.
“Sawdust in Our Veins” was made by Brisbane filmmaker – and sometime actor – Joel Thomas. who grew up in Taromeo.
Its debut screening was held at the Blackbutt Memorial Hall on November 23 before an audience that included several of the local residents interviewed for the film.
It is the third documentary that Joel has made for the Blackbutt & District Tourism and Heritage Association (BDTHA), which commissioned the project after receiving a $3000 grant from the South Burnett Regional Council’s Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF).
The other films recorded the rebuilding of the historic Taromeo cemetery after the devastating 2011 floods, and the changeover from “Rail To Trail” in the Brisbane Valley.
Joel said planning to make the latest film began about 18 months ago.
He said the information collected about the timber and sawmilling industries could have filled up a seven or eight-hour documentary, but he had managed to hone it down.
Joel said he had some family connections to the industry.
“My grandfather Len Gilliland had a bullock team and snigged timber and ended up working in the Taromeo mill,” he said.
“My great-grandfathers Fred Gilliland and Albert Ashby. Fred worked in the timber industry for a number of years and Albert was overseer at the Googa Forestry.
“It’s cool to be able to work on a project like this where there are some family connections.”
The evening also featured the official launch of the Janet Skinner Art Collection by South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff.
Janet, who died in March, was a popular part of the local arts community in the South Burnett after she retired to Blackbutt.
Her family donated many of her works – which included 104 painting of different railway stations! – to the BDTHA.
Many of these paintings now line the walls of the Blackbutt Memorial Hall.
Four paintings were also selected to be auctioned on the night, part of the ongoing efforts by the BDTHA to raise funds for its proposed Timber Museum project.
The three documentaries by Joel Thomas can now be viewed by visitors to the Roy Emerson Museum in Blackbutt, but there are also plans for them to be uploaded to YouTube.
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