Hi All,

Many beaut photos and memories appearring in this forum . As Lizzie and others thought the trophies were spesh (thankyou), and wanted some history on the timber used, here goes.

The Elm wood the trophies were made of come from the historic forests in the Mid North of SA. Bundaleer and Wirrabara Forests were the first known commercial forests in the Southern Hemisphere.

The first plantings were in 1875. Previous native timbers were cleared off arrible land and used for warfs and jetties on the coasts of SA to move primary produce and other trade off shore. The settlers were tough and felled big Eucalypts by broard axe and transported these logs by bullick teams.

By 1877 the arboritum was planted in Wirrabara forest, a bit like a botanic garden of different species trees to trial what would grow in these conditions. Amongst the species were the Elms, oaks, poplars and other exotic trees like one of few sequoias known in this part of the world. The arboretum is now called the Old Nursery and still exists in it's full glory with massive mature trees planted 100 years or more ago.

About 15 years ago as a tree feller I had the task of felling some of the elms which were begining to over crowd the site. The timber was then slabbed and sent to Mt. Crawford Forest where I now work as a Ranger. Needless to say when I discovered the planks in a shed 15 years later, there was some significance to me and a plan to develope Nats Trophies

The pics show the whole tree planks as i found them, the cut pieces ready to finish, and finally the finished one which was left over. This one will be presented back to the Tea Tree Gully Mens Shed for there magnificent detail in finishing the elm wood trophy backings.

They certainly are historic pieces created there Bruno.
By the way, what are the 4 screws doing interupting the
Beautiful front finish of the wood?
Cheers, Lewis

Perfect question, Lewis

The 12th one was the worst of the bunch, so it was sacrificed for a template to drill the holes to fit the INCREDIBLE JAP PLATES, Dave ordered to show all 11 categories. The placement of the 2 top screws are crucial as I'm fairly sure, from measurments of Ross's Deluxe, you can mount the plates on YOUR BELLETT, damn it

So i had to dress the holes with special Bunnings brass allow screws, so has a story in it's self.



Ross and i had some late nights working out how to mount the plates

B

bloody good stuff mate you are a ledgend cheers davo nice job done of those and also the Isuzu emblem what about a shot of its journey ..needless to say it found a great new home .............

Thanks Bruno for the history and for making such spesh trophies.
Legend status!

Cheers, Matt.

Thanks Bruno.
The trophy is something special to everyone who wins them. But for them to have so much history makes it even more special.
Thanx again for all your hard work

Lizzie

AMAZING STUFF BRUNO And Awesome work!!
And thanks for posting all the Info as I am going to print it out and put it with the trophy!
Josh

Hey Josh, one special Wasp !

No thanks needed. It's like being welcomed by brothers and sisters you never knew you had

Real great to hear from you Lizzie, is everything going ok for the second rebuild ?

Hey Matt, i don't know if the fires are affecting you, are you ok??
We have some smart arsehole running around these hills lighting fires too. It's only a matter of time he will slip up and then we will be in shit down here also

I want a piece of them, badly

B.B.B.

Hey guys,

Here is some more of the preliminary work on the trophies!

The plates were delivered to my work, so I spread 'em out to take a photo!



Bag packing took some time. Blame Paul for all the weird crap in there!





Bruno selected the choicest 11 of the 12 backings we were supplied...



I left the drilling of the trophies to the guys who can handle a drill with aplomb; the top screw holes are the same distance apart as the top screw holes on a Bellett's rear plate mount, meaning that if you wanted to de-mount your plate and put it on your car as a display plate for a car show, you can!






Cheers,


Dave

No worries mate, the main fires are in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Gary's son Zak had one come close last week, but the firies stopped it at the road.
The villiage where we had our first home is currently under threat, so there are familiar places on the TV. All pretty sad.

Thanks for asking,
cheers, Matt.

Yeah, surprising what people get up to

Ross drilled 92 precision holes in 2 nights while i measured and held it all down like a clamp !! Had to pull the pin the first night at about 1am. Ross was starting to stray with the drill and we had to call it stumps

Loved every minute of it.

B.

Mattie, only saw your post come up just then, hey that is some good news, but sad to see some history go too. We're sending some wild weather over from here but there is good rain with it and much milder temps. It's gotta help.

B.

Hi people,

Not trying to highjack the important thread on here about 2014 Nats (and i agree, we would like some detail confirmation so people can plan there busy, mundane lives around next October).

As i said would happen, last Tuesday i got the opportunity to present the 12th trophie back to the Tea Tree gully Mens Shed who finished these incedible pieces of elm wood. There were photo's all round, and Robyn the coordinator holding the trophy was rapped. The lovely lady in the photo is the coordinator of the community centre and i believe it was her i made initial contact with to secure the gig.

Some of these gents had fantastic stories of their interaction with Belletts in their younger days. Comments like : "I used to know this rough farmer chap who took me to footy every weekend in his Bellett sedan with no windscreen...By hell, we would be doing 90 IN THIRD GEAR."

Also, the timing for the presentation couldn't have been better. A pro photographer came to shoot a short snippet for a Xmas message. About 40 people crowded behind the GT and had to yell out "Merry Christmas" in unison. So Blue Beastie may appear on local TV soon

Hey Bruno, that's awesome!

Glad they appreciated the gesture because we sure apprecitated the work they did to get the trophys done in time and I think everyone who got one is wrapped too!

Keep us posted if you appear on TV or in the local rag

R.

Cheers Ross. I think the presentation was totally unexpected, and pleasantly caught the gents by surprise. I don't think they really expect, or recieve much recognition for their work for the community. This one will stay in their memories as it was quite an oddball request, quite different from making furniture, toys etc for the local kindy

B.

Nice work Bruno.

I know you told me all about this on the phone a while ago, but it's really strikes home the size of the smiles on those guys faces.

They did an ace job and it was lucky they made one-too-many trophy backings! Even if theirs was the 'worst' one that we didn't use for trophies!