Red Cedar Staircase

This sweeping staircase is in Glengallan homestead, in the Southern Downs region of Queensland, Australia. It is made of Australian Red Cedar Toona ciliata, a now rare native sub-tropical rainforest hardwood in the mahogany family, much prized for joinery in the 19th century in Australia. The staircase dates from 1867. The wood most likely did not come from very far away, but I doubt you would find a wild living tree nearby now. The land all around was cleared long ago for cattle and crops. Australian Red Cedar is now hard to come by, but not impossible. It is grown commercially on a limited scale in Brazil, and trees are still harvested from the wild in northern Queensland and New Guinea. Cedar interiors in colonial style properties and furniture is highly sought after in Australia.

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