The Hyne Timber story began in 1882, when Richard Matthews Hyne opened the National Sawmill, on the banks of the Mary River in Queensland. The business would grow through the adversity of nature and economics to prosper; Hyne & Son Ltd becoming Australia’s largest privately owned and operated timber manufacturing company. Through his role as a Queensland Member of Parliament, RM Hyne would also initialise the replanting of forests and see in the birth of the Department of Forestry.

 

During his time at Hyne & Son Ltd, despite World War I and the Great Depression, Henry James Hyne continued to grow the business through his financial savvy, and continue his father’s legacy of pioneering industry standards with his involvement in the Licensing of Sawmills and the introduction of a Timber Industry Advisory Committee. HJ’s procurement of the company’s first Band Mill revolutionised productivity and kept the company at the cutting edge of technology.

 

James Richard Lambert Hyne joined the business in 1921, and served until his retirement in 1979. Under the strains created by World War II, Lambert resourcefully introduced Hardwood to the Company’s expanding production, acquiring a number of small country hardwood mills. He also continued to expand the business by establishing a chain of wholesale/trade outlets along the Eastern coast, from Townsville down to Brisbane. Like his father and grandfather before him, Lambert continued the Hyne family’s civic and industry involvement, holding membership with the Queensland Timber Export Association from its inception, until its demise post 1939.

In 1979, Warren Hyne succeeded his father as managing director following a thorough grounding in all aspects of the business over a period of nearly 30 years. Hyne continued to grow strongly and Warren initiated the most significant development of his career when the company won a tender to cut 225,000 cubic metres annually of the Tuan Forest. and set about to building a pine sawmill. Warren Hyne was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the forest and timber industries in 1997. Warren Hyne passed away in March 2007 aged 77, after a long illness. At the time of his passing Warren was considered one of the real ‘captains’ of industry.