[Dacious]

I think you are speaking of Huon pine. It was cut down and floated down rivers and many logs sank. The early settlers and convicts cut it down and used it for fence plaings, fires, animal stalls.

It has an appealing honey finegrain color but with lovely grain lines. It grows in long straight trunks and produces good, stable timber which has been used in acoustics. It should be a wonder wood, as:

It works like softwood and is easy on tools
It's virtually impervious to waterlogging and rot
It wears and bears weight like a hardwood
It has a natural oil which lets it take a finish but makes it virtually immune to marine borers and other parasites.

But:
It is one of the oldest plants on the planet and survives only in Tasmania, the Island State half way to the Antartic off the Southeast tip of Aus. It only survives due to the separation on Tassie and the mainland.

It grows by sending out runners and one tree takes 2000 years to reach full size. One stand of trees which was checked was found to be all genetically the same - it had all started from the same tree, and that tree was 10,000 years old.

There is one timberyard in Tas which has a limited licence to log. Freefalls and refloated logs which they still find are also used.

I've stood next to examples 160 years old which came up to my shoulder.

Another very fine guitar timber - and I'm sorry, California, but if they hadn't cut them all down 100 years ago they'd be TWICE the height of Sequioas (and will be again) is the Mountain Ash, native to South-East Australia. Not an ash at all, very pale wood but terrific figure. Maton and other makers like Cole-Clark are using these local woods like Blackwood and Acacia to great effect.

Ben Harper who's over in Oz right now is an endorsee and they're about to release a line of slide instruments with his moniker.