Timber giant Gunns has stepped in to manage the bluegum plantations on Kangaroo Island.
Gunns announced recently it would become the responsible entity for the former Great Southern (administrators appointed, receivers appointed) plantings around Australia and on Kangaroo Island with the takeover date set for the end of this month.
However, it will not buy the Great Southern properties on the island and receivers McGrathNicol said the properties would be offered for sale soon.
Also, it would not take up management of any plantings from 2007 onwards and it was likely these schemes would be wound up.
These include planting at properties Southern’s, Aroona, Minumurra and Waterloo Too, which comprise 1,219 hectares of the approximate 14,000 hectares of bluegums planted on Kangaroo Island since 2004.
Gunns chief executive officer Greg L’Estrange said the schemes from 2007 and after were considered “not viable”.
Great Southern was placed in voluntary administration in May, 2009, and later in the hands of receivers who have sought buyers and wound up other Great Southern businesses in horticulture and agriculture.
A group of Kangaroo Island farmers failed in their bid last year to buy the Great Southern properties.
Mr L’Estrange said the current three Great Southern employees on the island would be retained.
“Great Southern had some very good people and all operations will continue with the same people,” he said.
Gunns would also assess current contractors, includingspraying and fencing, to see “how they best fit into management”.
Mr L’Estrange said the company’s first priority was to ensure the crops were viable and sustainable. Any transport of future harvests would not be by road.
“What is required is an assessment of our ability to harvest and transport the product.”
He said a port facility would be investigated, including investigating the Ballast Head option proposed by Great Southern.
“We’d like to think the Kangaroo Island business is sustainable and long-term.
“Until we can establish infrastructure things will be a little uncertain,” Mr L’Estrange said.
He said Gunns proposed to begin harvesting the Kangaroo Island bluegums in 2014 or 2015 as scheduled.
Company Snapshot
Established in 1875, Gunns Limited is Australia’s largest integrated hardwood and softwood forest products company.
It planted its first plantation of trees in the early 1900s.
Until its Great Southern purchase, most of its infrastructure and plantations were in Tasmania, including the controversial proposed Bell Bay Mill.
It operates a nursery in Mt Gambier and a saw mill in Tarpeena in SA’s South-East. Its other growing interests include walnuts and grapes. It owns Tamar Ridge Estate wines and has a construction division called Hinman Wright & Manser.
As well as plantation timber it is one of Australia’s leading producers of hardwood, softwood and veneer products and owns a chain of Mitre 10 hardware stores in Tasmania.
It acquired the Auspine forestry business in 2007.
Gunns said recently the purchase of Great Southern interests would allow it to operate the Bell Bay Mill entirely on plantation timber. The most recent date, as provided by the company, for the mill to be operational is mid-2010.
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