Messmate, Gympie

Gympie messmate is a large native hardwood harvested commercially in Queensland. Magnificent examples of the species can be found around the Gympie area (hence the name), where it is noted for its excellent stem form and vigour, reaching up to approx 60 metres in height and two metres wide. It is also widely scattered from Tambo to Mundaberra in the east to near Cooktown in Queensland's north, with isolated pockets occurring in between.

Gympie messmate features yellow-brown heartwood that is strong, hard and extremely durable. Its sapwood is noticeably paler in colour, ranging from white to grey-white. The grain is generally uniform, unfigured, with a fine to medium texture that can sometimes be shallowly interlocked. Bark is soft, flaky, and fibrous with distinctively tessellated fine or coarse longitudinal fissures and is often mistaken for the yellow bloodwoods, although there is no relation between these two species.

Plantation-grown Gympie messmate is readily available. This strong, versatile timber machines, turns, and dresses well and readily accepts paint, stains and polish.

This highly valuable tree species is used for heavy engineering construction, railway sleepers, mining timber, posts, poles and scantling. It is highly resistant to decay from ground contact or in damp, poorly ventilated conditions. These properties make messmate extremely useful for outdoor furniture, turning and joinery, as well as crafting keeling and framing components in vehicles and carriage building.

Gympie messmate is often used as sawn and round timbers for wharf and bridge construction, while unseasoned sawn timber is regularly employed for general house framing. Seasoned dressed timber is used for cladding, internal and external flooring, lining, joinery, fencing, landscaping and retaining walls. Most power poles in south east Queensland are created from Gympie messmate.