Australia has no lumberjacks, Kerry Hewitt says. They're called "timber getters." And they don't wear "braces" (suspenders), he quickly adds, as if it's a matter of saving manly hood.
Two weeks ago, Hewitt left his hometown of Wamuran, an hour northwest of Brisbane, to see his son Mitch in Chase, B.C. The soon-to-be 65-year-old then visited Squamish to do what he does best - "chop wood."
While most people associate Oz with the arid red sands and dry bush that spreads out from Ayers Rock, the nation has 150 million hectares of forested land - covering 21 per cent of the continent. During Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival's 53-year history, participants from Down Under have been fairly regular participants. This year Hewitt was the lone competitor from kangaroo country. Two New Zealanders - Ben James and Gil Lane -also made the trip from below the equator.
Australia's pioneering and forestry history are similar to that of Canada, Hewitt says. And chopping wood is a tradition that runs in his blood. His father's grandfather cleared land to make way for a sugar plantation. The plants grew, yet didn't produce any sugar. However, the one thing that was maintained in the family became chopping wood itself.
None of the Hewitts were professional loggers, but all competed in events like the open springboard chop at fairs. Last Sunday, the fourth generation of Hewitt "choppers," Mitch, went head-to-head with his father. Also on in the loggers' sports arena were two of Hewitt's Canadian sons-in-law.
Hewitt's chopping story began at a school jamboree when he was 14. He was so hooked by the activity that it quickly trumped cricket and league football. When Hewitt was 37, he became a world champion in the springboard chop at a show in Sydney. Last weekend, at his first-ever Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival, Hewitt placed third in the open springboard chop while Mitch took the top spot.
During his lifetime, the former teacher has had three shoulder operations. Hewitt doesn't blame the injuries on the sport, but possibly on cricket. Nor does Hewitt show any signs of retiring from competition.
"I just like putting an axe into wood, I suppose," he says. "It is just like hitting a golf ball the right way."
James was introduced to loggers sports in Squamish. In 2002, the Kiwi came to Canada on holiday and watched a friend compete in the festival. That moment changed his life.
"I just got a love for the sport," James says.
Upon returning to his home on Waiheke Island, 17 kilometres from Auckland, James and his friend started their own loggers sports show. Now it's his full-time job and he tours the show around New Zealand and Australia. This year alone he's put on 70 productions, James says. The show is entertaining, but also educational.
New Zealand's forestry industry earns an annual gross income of approximately $5 billion, equalling three per cent of the country's gross domestic product, according to New Zealand's ministry of agriculture and forestry. The country's lumber industry is based heavily on sustainable plantation forests, James notes.
James hopes people learn about the industry's sustainability through the performance. The show has fewer categories than Squamish's event and no Rambling Jack Elliot, the clown. But there is still good sense of humour, James says before smiling.
"We blow up a few outhouses."
