Wood Chop Program
The story of Sam Gardner - the photo above is of Sam Gardner astride his log as a winner of the 12" underhand Salmon Gum event out the back of the Exchange Tavern, Pingelly, in 1910. The following excerpt is from the wonderful book
"The Forgotten Pioneers : Axemen - their work, times and sport", by J.P. Gabbedy. (Pgs 112-115)
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"On the Goldfields Woodlines the accomplished axemen from the south-west, itchy-footed or following a recession in the industry, found security and permanent employment supplying Kalgoorlie and its satellites with an ever-increasing volume of timber. Some returned to the southern forests, but there is no record of anyone who graduated from the salmon gum forests of the wheatbelt having chopped against the big guns of the jarrah forests, except one, a natural, who at one time proved himself as good as the best. Samuel Gardner was born at Nairn, South Australia, in 1886. In 1899 his family arrived in Kalgoorlie, lured by the East Coolgardie gold strikes. Schooling was forgotten, and until he turned eighteen, young Sam worked among grown men cutting firewood for condensers. Then eligible to acquire Crown land, he was granted a Homestead Farm block of one hundred and sixty acres east of Pingelly. He used his meagre savings and his earnings from contract clearing to purchase more land, and he soon had a regular income from wheat, sufficient anyway to acquire a bride in 1910, a local girl named Cecily Greay.
Sam recalls his first chopping contest, involving Underhand and Standing Blocks of salmon-gum logs, at the rear of the Exchange Hotel in Pingelly, in 1909. ‘There’d be a couple of chops a year, picnic matches, usually after harvest,’ he said. ‘In between heats, there’d be foot races. I did pretty well. I won a precious quid or two.’He was a natural. He had never been coached, nor had he studied champions in action. Nor had he chopped with racing axeheads. Soon, he was the district’s backmarker, cutting as far afield as Kulin but still managing to pick up occasional major prize money. With the post-war revival of competition chopping in the early 1920s, Sam cut regularly at Williams, on such occasions in jarrah and again doing well, even against experienced axemen from Collie. In 1923, he was persuaded to enter his first open competition, the star-studded handicap and championship carnival promoted by the Ugly Men’s Association, which opened at White City in Perth on the 22nd January. Now in his ninety-fourth year, lean and spare as ever, he remembers the occasion well. On the evening of the 3rd February, he contested the final of the 14” S/B Handicap and finished third behind W. Billy Shields and E. Montgomery. His handicap is not recorded, but the State’s backmarker, Shields, cut off fourteen seconds behind.One had to be good to cut in such company. The main event and the one on which Sam’s heart was set was the 16” U/H, with prize money totalling one hundred and thirty pounds, one hundred pounds, twenty pounds and ten pounds. The West Australian of 5th February records: "Thousands attended to view four heats of the 16” Underchop of £130. The eastern states were represented by Ivor Johnston, Amos Murrell and H.R. Dudley, and Western Australia by Harry Harman, Syd Frazer, E. Montgomery, W. Shields and many others."Gardner, who was not even mentioned, takes up the story: ‘I won my heat in the fastest time of the night, one minute fourteen seconds. The next best was Murrell with one minute sixteen seconds.’ Highly elated and confident, Sam lined up for the final on the following evening. As he was about to rig his log, he was approached by Charlie Miley, one of Victoria’s backmarkers, whom he had got to know.‘If I were you, Sam, I wouldn’t cut in this final,’ said Miley.‘Why?’ asked the bewildered Sam.‘They’ve found out you’ve been chopping unregistered. If you cut a place, and you look at a certainty, there’ll be a protest. They’ll win it too, and you could risk life disqualification.’Sam threw his log from the platform and stalked off, never to chop again under the Chopping League’s control. The final that night was won by A. Murrell (thirty-five seconds behind) from Syd Frazer (twenty-four behind) and Ivor Johnston (forty seconds behind); time one minute and twenty-seven seconds.‘What did they mean by unregistered, Sam?, I asked him recently. ‘Surely they weren’t counting chops in salmon gum at Pingelly or Kulin? Bill Plunkett chopped unregistered for nearly ten years at Kalgoorlie’s carnivals, where he was the unbeaten champ, and he returned to the League as a cleanskin.’‘I never really found out—I was so bloody wild’, Sam said. ‘On my nomination form, I put in my last six performances. What did I have to hide? Nothing was said to me by the handicapper or promoters. Perhaps, looking back, I may not have paid my own registration fee. At the time, I didn’t know there was one, and nobody asked for it. Till then, I had chopped for the fun of it against a mob of sportsmen who were quite satisfied with a local handicapper. The prize money then wasn’t much—the hell with them.’On the chance to embellish Sam’s story, I turned to the only other known nonagenarian chopper, Bill Plunkett.‘Bill, do you recall ever meeting Sam Gardner?’, I asked.‘My oath, said Bill. ‘A big, strong bugger. I remember him winning an eighteen-inch underhand at Williams in the early twenties. I never got a place. I often wondered what happened to him.’ I told him the story, and he shook his head and pondered. ‘Doesn’t make sense to me, he said. ‘Looks like the poor bugger was set up.’ Sam's proudest possession is a valuable gold medal won at a carnival in 1924 at Milton, a district midway between Lake Yealering and Pingelly, which, with modern roads and communications, has lost its identity. It is a fitting memento of his all-round prowess.Following the onset of the depression and a dramatic fall in wheat prices, Sam sold out in 1930 for five hundred pounds, walk-in-walk-out. He arrived in Collie looking for any kind of work and eventually moved into sleeper-hewing. Following where contracts were offered, he found himself and his family in the Manjimup/Pemberton District in 1934, and there he remained. He was later to train and coach Gilbert and Fred, two of his three sons, who will feature in this history in due course."