'Splitters', 1865

• This asset illustrates timber being logged, probably in Victoria or New South Wales - Gill travelled from South Australia to the Victorian gold fields in 1851 and from there to Sydney in 1856; he probably saw many examples of land-clearing during his travels.
• It depicts timber felling with a two-man saw and an axe - the splitter chose a tall, straight tree and cut out a section to determine the grain; the tree was then ringbarked and cut on the leaning side; once the saw was jammed, an axe was used to cut a wedge from the underside of the cut; the wedge was inserted back into the cut to prevent the saw jamming further, and then the other side of the trunk was cut.
• It demonstrates how timber was split with a wedge and a mallet - iron wedges were hammered into the logs with heavy mallets and bound with metal strapping to prevent the heads splitting.
• It illustrates finished timber, used for slab houses, fences and roof shingles - timber used for hut cladding was often left in the rough split state, while posts and structural timbers were usually dressed using axes or adzes.
• It includes a bullock dray piled high with slabs - the two- or four-wheeled drays could carry heavy loads and were the 19th-century equivalent of today's semitrailer.
• It reveals aspects of the splitter lifestyle - splitters remained in the forest until their dray was filled; they slept rough and were sustained only by dry biscuits, salt beef, damper and black tea.
• It shows splitters' work clothing - the blue Crimean shirt (which was a garment without buttons and with a wide V-neck and collar, long sleeves and slits at each side) was worn either loose or with a sash or belt, usually outside the pants, and was often completed with a knotted scarf and a cabbage tree hat.
• It is an example of the work of S T Gill that depicts colonial life in the mid-19th century - after becoming bankrupt in South Australia, Gill tried prospecting in Victoria but found he could make a better living working at his art; for 15 years he recorded the lives and occupations of people on the gold fields before spending eight years in Sydney; his many artworks provide an insight into the lives of the pioneers.

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