When the Maleny Wood Expo first decided to run a themed annual woodworking competition in 2001 as part of the event, the name Wootha Prize was chosen.
‘Wootha’ is the name the local Gabi Gabi people gave the mighty Red Cedars that grew in the subtropical rainforests that once clothed Maleny’s hills (see below).
The original white settlers arrived in the area on hearing of hearing of the ‘big fellow Wootha’ that grew in the hills and were followed closely by the timber-cutters who soon prized the red cedars above all other timbers.
So while the prize is named Wootha in honour of the mighty red cedars, it also pays homage to the pioneers and timber getters on whose legacy the Blackall Range was opened up for settlement.
The theme of the 2016 Wootha Prize is Against the Grain and all entries must be in sustainably harvested native timbers, weed or recycled toimbers in keeping with the Maleny Wood Expo Sustainable Timber Policy.
With over $4,500 available in prize money, the Wootha is growing in both reputation and quality of entries.
Application forms and guidelines are available now at malenywoodexpo.com/wootha-prize
‘The Blackall Range was first introduced to the notice of interested pioneers through the prevalence of the “blacks” or aboriginals who camped along the coast at Buderim and Mooloolaba and who paid their seasonal visits to the Range when the Bunya Pine Trees, which clothed the area, were bearing their great crop of nuts, which are so delightful when roasted, and availed of them for food.
‘By this agency, the early white settlers followed the “blacks” who told them of the “big fellow Wootha” (cedar trees) which also abounded in the area and who thus became infused with the spirit of adventure.
‘The red cedar grew so abundantly and huge in their dimensions, that timber getters, who are invariably the first to interest themselves in such resources, were the first to be attracted, so became our pioneers.”
Reminiscences of Maleny by Dave Hankinson (1978)