In with the new has meant out with the old at Mooloolah, where timber is no longer being milled after 40 years.
Express Timber and Dunnage has closed its premises after unsuccessful attempts to meet noise restrictions.
Manager Darren Rounds said the company had spent more than $1 million on soundproofing but had been unable to satisfy the Department of Environment.
He said that given the money that had already been put into the mill, the company was reluctant to risk spending more.
Mr Rounds said the firm could not meet the authority’s requirements.
“To do that, we would have had to build a complete shed around the mill and that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
Mr Rounds said the last log was put through the mill on April 15.
“It was very sad. It isn’t just about the money. We put a lot of money into the sawmill to keep it viable.
“I don’t put sawmills in to pull them out again.”
A sawmill was first established in Mooloolah in 1908.
Mr Rounds said a mill had been on the Diamond Valley Road site for more than 40 years but noise complaints began about two years ago.
“There’s a street across the road with houses. A number of new people have moved in, a number of new houses have been built, knowing there’s a sawmill in the area,” he said.
“We door-knocked. We said, ‘What can we do to help?’ We were prepared to do anything but it didn’t work out.”
Mr Rounds said the 11 workers at the mill had been re-employed elsewhere, including one who had worked there for 40 years under Express and previous ownership.
“I’ve made sure that every one of them is gainfully employed – that was one thing that I’ve had out of this – because they’re all very loyal employees,” he said.
Since the last log was sawn at the mill, the machinery has been gradually dismantled, a process which Mr Rounds estimated would go on for another fortnight.
He said it would be installed at the company’s two other mills at Blackbutt and Linville,
The Mooloolah mill had specialist machinery to scallop timber which was then used for transporting pipes and customers would continue to be supplied by the other two mills, he said.
Mr Rounds, who lives at Coes Creek and worked six days a week in the mill, was unsure of his next step.
“I haven’t had a chance to think about it.”
Help keep independent and fair Sunshine Coast news coming by subscribing to our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email at the bottom of this article.
