Tūātapere District - Business & Industry, Alan Johnston's Sawmill

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Tūātapere District - Business & Industry, Alan Johnston and his Sawmill: This entry consists of a preservation copy of newspaper article, with some history of Johnston's Mill, and a photograph of Alan Johnston in later years. IMAGES: Photo 1 - Alan Johnston's new mill at Groverburn Road, Tūātapere, built 1972. The Copyright of this is unknown, as we do not know the author, the photographer, or even the publication. If you can help us, please let us know. The men are named after the article text, which is typed below: Photo 2 - Alan Johnston in 2009, taken by Shirley Whyte, copyright. Digital copy gifted to our Archive, used here with permission from photographer. News article typed out below - the only piece of information we have on this is that it was from 6th July 1972, as written above the article itself. ARTICLE "A new sawmill, built by Mr Alan Johnston, of Tuatapere, has begun operation on the Groverburn Road, half a mile past the new bridge over the Waiau. It is a spot plant, designed to turn out 6000 to 7000 feet (1,828 to 2,133m) of timber a day, employing six men working contract cut timber from Rowallan. The mill is on high ground overlooking a gully, into which the waste and sawdust are discharged from a chute and burned. The work of clearing the area and improving the access road is still in progress, but the mill itself is already working to capacity. Pictured in the foreground are Mr Johnston (left) and Mr Peter Baldwin. At the sawbench are Messrs Les Johnston (left) and Jack Duff." END [Above article preserved from the Margaret Thomas Collection, under Library and Archive exceptions, provisioned in the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994] HISTORY When Raymond Alan Johnston, known as Alan, was killed in a Winton traffic accident in 2016, aged 81, he had been a lifelong Tuatapere resident and was called a 'legend' in the community for all he had done for them. Alan Johnston is thought to have been the second youngest out of a family of five children of Andrew John (Andy) and Mary Caroline Clifford Johnston née Beer, of whom only one is still thought to be left alive in 2025 when this entry was made. The children who have passed away are listed below: Vivian Andrew, b. 1928 Doreen Lena, b. 1931 Leslie Clifford, b. 1932 - Les was also hugely involved in local community Raymond Alan, b. 1935 - more on Alan's life and work will be added soon The siblings father, known as Andy had designed and helped build the Birch & Co sawmill at what was called The Razorback, access was from the old Bluecliffs Beach Road (now long washed away). As one did in those days, Alan would work at the mill with his father during school holidays, and once he left school at the age of 14, he also went to work there full-time. When the Birch Company mill was burned out by fire on 28 July 1965, as the mill was not rebuilt, but its new owners, Marshall & Co, sold to Ray Bates. Alan Johnston then purchased the Tūātapere Sawmilling Company on 7 1966, from Ray Bates, and took over the his contract cutting for Marshall & Co. The Government had announced in 1990, that it planned to stop all the indigenous logging and that only one mill at Tūātaperewould have cutting rights - Lindsay and Dixon. Alan was to take the Government to court to win the right to continue indigenous logging. We have got more news articles on this matter, which will be added to this entry in due course. It was in 2005 when Alan Johnston's Tūātapere mill temporarily closed, as it sought consent to log native bush. This consent was eventually granted. When in January 2009, spiraling freight and shipping costs were blamed for southern wide forestry job losses, Alan Johnston Sawmilling at Tūātapere, also had to deal with the partial closure of this company. Reporting on that at the time, The Southland Times said they believed the company ran out of bush to log and had to close its mill with some workers losing their jobs. Alan owned Tūātapere Sawmilling Company from 1966 until it closed. He eventually had two mills down the Groveburn Road, the one referred to in this article, that was well under construction by February 1972, which can be seen from the article above, where he worked there with his brother Les and others. Another mill, said to have been not even a chain away from the first, was ready to go in January 1984. Much more about this and his other mills and various milling sites over a life-time is still to come, as we work progressively to list all sawmills in the local & district areas, with photos. Alan Johnston was also a founding member and huge supporter of the WTCC or Waiau Town & Country Club, supplying timber as a donation, for the club to be erected during 1985. His sponsorship sign still hangs up on their wall, as a reminder of his company and the great man he was for his support of the local and district community. And that was not the only lot of timber he donated, there is also record of his having donated timber to the new Presbyterian Church rebuild, their Manse, two schools and the local Lions Club for their projects. This entry is in honour of Alan Johnston and all that he did for his local community, he has been sorely missed. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Alan Johnston Sawmiller, his company, his employees or his family and even his community generosity, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per details on the archive front page. Note: these entries are compiled with information provided by donors with the records, from locally reported news, from national and occasionally international reports in publications, from personal records made by the people themselves - such as their electoral enrollments, wills, war records etc., also from government and council held records such as births, deaths and marriages or cemetery information, and lastly, from community memories, such as those passed on by friends, family and contemporaries. It is not always possible to verify memories from others, so please let us know if you believe we have any incorrect information. If you believe that any public or personal record information quoted is wrong, if you can provide proof of any alternative fact to us in a document showing evidence of the correct details, that would be very helpful to us. Thank you.