By Eleanor Wilson
The 2023 Berwick Show is the latest victim of a court order limiting timber harvesting, announcing it will not hold its popular wood chopping competition when the show returns to Akoonah Park later this month.
The future of competitive wood chopping is currently hanging in the balance across the state, after a November court ruling inhibited timber harvesting in areas managed by VicForests in order to protect endangered gliders.
The court action is causing a shortage of log supply to the Victoria Axemen’s Council, which provides Alpine Ash Wood to agricultural shows across the state.
Berwick Show past president and co-chair of the Berwick Show wood chopping competition, Andy Fyfe, said a subsidiary of the Axemen’s council informed him they did not have enough log supply to service the historic competition.
Mr Fyfe said the cancellation will put a “big hole” in this year’s Berwick Show, which is putting on its first public show since 2020.
“A lot of people decide to come down to the show on the Sunday for the wood chopping, it’s a great spectator sport and the axemen put on a great show,” he said.
“For the axemen themselves, they start in their childhood learning to wield axes and chop wood…they dedicate their lives to the sport.
“There’s a lot of different clubs and associations around Australia and there are axemen that come from around the world for the sport, so we’re missing out on all of that.
“Hopefully there’s a positive way out of the situation, whatever the solution is.”
Berwick MP Brad Battin said he was “extremely disappointed” to hear about the axing of the event, which has a 40-year history at the Berwick Show.
“It’s been a stable part of the show well and truly before I remember… to see the next generation miss out on that is quite devastating because it’s one of those elements that brings agriculture and regional life to the city,” Mr Battin said.
“I’d love to see [wood chopping] return and that includes calling on courts and government to ensure we have a sustainable timber industry into the future.”
In a statement, a VicForests spokesperson said it is not currently conducting any timber harvesting operations in any Forest Management Areas across Victoria.
“VicForests’ ability to harvest has been impacted by a court decision preventing timber harvesting operations unless new surveys are done that comply with the court’s order,” the spokesperson said.
“As a result, VicForests has paused all timber harvesting operations and has commissioned experts to develop a new survey method to comply with the court’s orders.
“The timber shortage across Victoria will continue to impact availability of logs. VicForests will seek to meet its contracted obligations according to the agreements once harvest operations resume.”
VicForests has appealed the court decision with the matter to be addressed in court in late March.
