New Zealand
Woodchopping called woodchop for short, is a sport that has been around for hundreds of years in several cultures.
On Antipodes, it has been said that the sport we now know as woodchopping originated as the result of a bet between 2 men in a bar in Ulverstone, Tasmania in 1870. Jack Biggs from Warragul, Victoria and Joseph Smith form Ulverstone, had a wager for £25 to see who could fell a tree the fastest.
Many of the axemen of today still work within the timber industry, which is of course no longer reliant on manpower for harvesting. As the years have passed the sport has developed into a much more sophisticated affair which includes, Underhand chopping, Standing Block Chopping, Treefelling, Single and Double handed Sawing and Axe throwing.
New Zealand Axemen's Association
https://www.nzaxemen.org.nz/
E-mail:
Tel. +64 027 277 5358
The Secretary
RD 2,
Winton
New Zealand
Articles:
http://www.nswaxemen.asn.au/Introduction/Introduction.html
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/block-busters/
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TLR20130101.2.9
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHo_6aNxpSg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GEii9zLVt0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwcFng9wfDs
Source of photos used in this article and gallery:
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/block-busters/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/117402021/veteran-axeman-cutting-the-path-for-young-woodchoppers
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22685718
https://www.localmatters.co.nz/hibiscus-news/carnival-to-pull-top-domestic-choppers-out-of-woodwork/
https://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?id=120748
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/16770/wood-chopping-competition
https://perthroyalshow.com.au/exhibits-at-the-show/wood-chopping/
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TLR20130101.2.9