#52 Ancestors Week 49 Craft

#52 Ancestors Week 49 Craft

My father, Bill Gleeson (1913-1994) became a woodworker partly out of necessity but it became a life long interest and provided his family with all kinds of material reminders – quirky, practical and sometimes beautiful.

I think it began when he was a young teacher at Young, NSW with a growing number of small children who needed beds to sleep in.  He had become friends with an older teacher called Os Davis, who loved to make things out of wood and together they set about making a bed for my elder sister, Jenny.

Eventually there were three of these beds and I wish I had a photo of them – three narrow single beds with pink chenille spreads, lined up dormitory style in the bedroom that Jenny, Libby and I shared, until Jen reached her teens and got her own space.

The beds were practical, but Os and Dad soon began to branch out.  They discovered that the timber being removed from Young Courthouse as it was being adapted to house the new Young High School, was going to be destroyed.  It was beautiful red cedar – the “red gold” of the Australian rainforest.

One of the largest trees of the Australian rainforests, Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) is reported to reach a height of about 60 m and a trunk diameter of 3 m. Trees of this size would be exceptional. It is one of Australia's few deciduous trees.

The bark is prominently cracked giving a tesselated appearance. New leaves are pinkish so that early timber cutters were able to spot trees in the rain forest. Has long sprays of small white flowers followed by dry fruits up to 2.5cm long. Rapid growing trees heavily buttressed. 

The heartwood is a handsome dark red. Some specimens are pink or even yellowish. Darkens with age. Growth rings are very prominent on back sawn boards. Buttress and crutch timber can be very heavily figured. A very distinctive pleasant smell.

It is highly regarded for top quality cabinet and furniture work, interior panelling, veneers, turning and carving, boat building and cigar boxes. Was used in railway carriages in early days of affluence…it is extremely light in weight.

Australian Red Cedar bears many similarities with Spanish Cedar (Cedrela odorata). It is sometimes referred to as Indian Mahogany*(1).

Dad and Os set about “rescuing” the doomed timber from the rubbish heap and took it home.  Two projects gradually emerged – a small coffee table and this handsome cabinet, which lived in all my parents’ houses and is now with my sister, Libby.

Woodworking was, I think, a perfect way for Dad to unwind.  His  working life as a senior teacher, and then as the Principal of a large High School, could be quite stressful.  At home, “in the shed” with his timber and his tools, he was relaxed.  He gradually came to acquire a circular saw and a lathe (another school discard) and began to turn his hand to more complicated pieces of furniture.

But first, he built a house!

The family moved from Young to Glen Innes at the beginning of 1954.  There was a serious housing shortage in Australia immediately after the War, and the only place that could be found for this family of two adults and four small children was a two bedroom flat with a shared kitchen and bathroom.  I don’t know how they stood it for as long as they did, but they set about rectifying the situation as quickly as they could by buying a block of land and having plans for a house drawn up.

 Dad kept teaching, of course, but after school and on weekends he was a builder.  This was long before pre-fabrication.  He learnt to lay bricks so he could make the foundations.  All the timber framework had to be cut and raised.  He laid all the timber floors, made the timber window frames, and the doors.  He laid tiles in the bathroom.  Some of his mates helped him with the heavy stuff and Mum (who was pregnant again by the later stages of the work) was always there to hand him tools or hold the end of something.  It was a heroic effort and we moved in just before Margie’s birth in March 1956. 

The house that Bill built - photo taken some years later

After we moved to Dubbo (1960) there were other projects.  He built an extra bedroom and a garage on our first house there, and then, when the family moved to the last house, he realised we didn’t own a dining table big enough to accommodate everyone who might sit down to dinner, so he made one.  And some chairs too.

Michael, who was still living at home at the time,  says that the chairs actually incorporate bits of school chairs that were being discarded (coachwood *(2) and that the table top, chair seats and rungs were meranti*(3).  He used the above mentioned lathe to turn the legs.  This dining room furniture has a new home at Margie’s place.

This was practical, so for fun and creativity, he made a few other chairs including this one which now lives with John.

And some lamp bases, and another, more delicate, table.

None of Dad’s forebears would have had the time to indulge themselves in a craft like woodworking.  Nor, probably, could they have afforded the materials.  It was only because Dad had a regular job which paid relatively well that he could do this.  It gave him hours of pleasure, allowed him to be creative as well as provide useful objects for his family, and has given all of his children and grandchildren tangible reminders of him in their daily lives.

*(1)from “Bovalino – Fine Timber”

*(2)(Ceratopetalum apetalum, the coachwood, scented satinwood or tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is native to eastern Australia in the central and northern coastal rainforests of New South Wales and southern Queensland, where is often found on poorer quality soils in gullies and creeks and often occurs in almost pure stands. C. apetalum is one of 8 species of Ceratopetalum occurring in eastern Australia, New Guinea, New Britain and various islands in the same region.

*(3)Meranti is a soft to firm hardwood timber commonly used for decorative purposes such as mouldings, furniture, panelling, joinery and window frames. It is a very versatile and durable timber for indoor applications and can be painted and stained. 

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