On this page you can access species data information sheets for the different Australian hardwood species commonly used in timber flooring.
Australian Wood
Learn about the following types of Australian hardwood including the Botanical Name, Janka Hardness Rating, Timber Density, Strength Group, Fire Indices and Termite Resistance of Aussie timber used in hardwood timber flooring.
Types of timber and Australian hardwood used in solid and engineered timber flooring.
Australian Beech
Also known as Myrtle Beech or Tasmanian Myrtle, Australian Beech grows mainly in eastern Victoria and Tasmania. While it’s got no real relation to European Myrtle, early timber workers encountering the tree in the region gave it its name for the similarity in its characteristics.
Blackbutt
One of our country’s most important hardwoods. Used not just as a food source for koalas but also for the high quality of timber it produces. Blackbutt is renowned for its ease of regeneration and relatively quick growth.
Brushbox
Often referred to as vinegar tree, box scrub, pink box, Brisbane box, or Queensland box. Brushbox can be found all over eastern Australia as a city tree but grows naturally in coastal Queensland and in the northeastern reaches of New South Wales
Forest Reds
More of a category of timber than sourced from any particular type of tree, forest reds are nevertheless most often sourced from red river gum trees, a eucalyptus varietal that’s highly prized for its durability and yes, its lush red colour.
Grey Ironbark
Common in eastern New South Wales, Grey Ironbark is sometimes called “white ironbark” or simply “ironbark”. Grey Ironbark features a dark trunk with furrowed bark. Has an average height of between 20 and 30 meters.
Jarrah
Jarrah is practically everywhere in the southwestern reaches of Western Australia. With stringy bark that sheds in long, vertical strips and an average maximum height of some 40 meters, the jarrah is famous for providing homes to wild animals and insects, particularly bees.
Messmate
A hardwood native to southeastern Australia, Messmate is also known by a number of names such as Tasmanian Oak, Stringybark, Brown Top, and Australian Oak. Capable of growing to a towering 90 meters tall and growing a trunk 3 meters in diameter
New England Oak
Growing straight and tall, the New England Oak, or Manna Gum can reach heights of around 40 meters with recorded trunks of over 3 meters in diameter. Native to southeastern Australia, this hardy tree can survive at temperatures of up to -15 degrees Celsius
Red Ironbark
Nearly as tough and resilient as its close cousin the grey ironbark, red ironbark trees are an evergreen eucalyptus that grow to approximately 30 meters tall. Often called a mugga, mugga ironbark, or pink ironbark, the tree is especially hardy and can grow in some of the most desolate types of sandy soils.
Red Mahogany
Incredibly dense, Red Mahogany is a distinctive eucalyptus varietal found in eastern Australia, ranging in the north to around Gladstone, Queensland to as far south as Jervis Bay. Red Mahogany thrives in medium-to-high-fertility soils and grows to between 20 and 30 meters tall, though it’s not unheard of for a particularly robust specimen to top out at 45 meters.
Spotted Gum
A tall, straight-trunked tree that gets its name from the distinctive mottled weathering pattern on its outer bark layers, the spotted gum typically reaches 45 meters in height. There have been some reports of this eucalyptus varietal reaching rarefied heights of up to 90 meters or more, but this is exceedingly rare.
Stringybark
A collection of different blondewood species, stringybark varietals are often found in the Northern Territory. While heights can vary considerably, many stringybark species top out at around 45 meters tall and features bark that has been described as tessellated, rough, and, well, stringy.
Sydney Blue Gum
A large flowering hardwood that stretches from Queensland to the New South Wales seaboard, the Sydney blue gum can grow as tall as 65m high and with a trunk diameter between 2 and 2.5 meters. Sydney blue gum trees bloom from December through February in bunches of seven to eleven distinctive white flowers.
Tallowwood
Native and common to both Queensland and New South Wales, tallowwood is a tall evergreen, growing to around 40 meters and dependent on moderately fertile soil and high levels of direct sunlight. Tallowwood, despite its dependence on fertile soil and direct sunlight, has been known to thrive in mountainous and hilly and locations where it’s occasionally subjected to both excessive frost and drought.
Tasmanian Oak
Timber advertised as Tasmanian Oak, or “Tassie Oak” is most often a combination of three distinct species of tree, all of which are found most often in – you guessed it – Tasmania. And while they are all certainly similar there is a wide amount of variation between the three.
Turpentine
Native to New South Wales and Greenland, the turpentine tree is, strangely enough, not used as a source for turpentine oil – it simply shares a name thanks to the smell of turpentine released when its leaves are crushed. Reaching as high as 60 meters and routinely growing on heavier soils, turpentine is a large, straight-trunked tree with a trunk diameter that can approach 1.5 meters.
Victorian Ash
One of the three sub-alpine timbers used in creating the blend known as Tasmanian oak, Victorian ash is also often known as “Vic Ash” (if you’re standing at the trade desk), alpine ash – or sometimes alpine ash mixed with mountain ash, one of the other timbers used in creating Tasmanian oak.