Timber industry loses second son of ‘LJ’

The timber industry is mourning the passing of Richard Hyne, aged 89, who played a key engineering role in the development of Hyne & Son’s Tuan sawmill.

Richard Hyne passed away on April 10. He was the second son of Richard Lambert Hyne (“LJ”), who joined the family business in 1921 and remained involved until his death in 1985.

LJ Hyne had joined his father in the business in 1921 and served until his death in 1985.

Building on his father’s legacy, Richard Hyne, along with brothers Warren and Chris, contributed to the company’s expansion and transition into softwood processing. Warren Hyne served as managing director from 1979 to 1994.

Early vision for softwood framing

At Hyne & Son’s centenary dinner in 1982 at Maryborough Town Hall, LJ Hyne predicted that within 30 years, houses would be made from softwood pine rather than its then-limited use in housing construction.

Chris Hyne recalls that the prediction was not widely accepted at the time: “Everyone in the room laughed and shook their heads. It couldn’t be done.”

The company later moved from native hardwood into plantation softwood framing.

Development of the Tuan mill

In the early 1980s, Warren and Richard Hyne, Richard Matthew Hyne’s great-grandsons, developed a plan in Sweden to acquire sawmill equipment from German manufacturer Linck for a new Tuan sawmill project.

To make the project financially viable, they adopted a staged approach, building the dry mill and kilns first, followed by the sawmill.
Development began in 1985 and included high-temperature kilns and mechanised handling systems in the dry mill. Operations commenced in 1986.

The green mill was built in 1989 and the facility was officially completed and opened in 1990.

Chris Robertson, who joined as project manager during the development of the Tuan mill, said the industry at the time was still largely using hardwood for house framing.

Innovation and production development

High-temperature kiln-drying techniques were developed by Warren and Richard Hyne in conjunction with CSIRO and were implemented at Tuan.

Hyne & Son grew into one of Australia’s largest exporters of plantation softwood and a major exporter of certified Australian-grown plantation softwood.

Later upgrades to the Tuan Mill included the installation of a continuous drying kiln to address production bottlenecks and improve timber quality and efficiency.

James Hyne, operations manager and executive director, noted the importance of ongoing investment in operations to maintain competitiveness in global markets.

The upgrades were part of efforts to increase structural timber production volumes and improve processing efficiency in response to demand for softwood framing products.

Hyne Timber states that its investment approach focuses on maximising use of each log and supporting long-term supply and employment in regional areas.

Family

Richard Hyne is survived by his wife Loretta, daughters Nin, Trish and Cate, and sons Ron and Russ.

A celebration of his life will be held in Brisbane at 11:00am on Friday, May 15 at Mount Gravatt Cemetery and Crematorium, Nathan.