17 August 2026

GLaWAC continues to create new opportunities to grow the skills of Gunaikurnai people and build the economic strength of the Gunaikurnai community. 

Last month, TAFE instructor Kevin Nunn spent time with GLaWAC Country Operations team members Bryce Baxter and Andrew Jonkers, training the fellas in how to safely and properly use a Lucas Mill. 

(For those of us that didn’t grow up in Orbost, a Lucas Mill is a portable timber sawmill that turns big bits of wood into smaller bits you can work with.)  

The Lucas Mill is owned by TAFE Gippsland, our neighbours here at the Kalimna campus, who kindly agreed to provide training to GLaWAC staff interested in learning how to mill. 

The unmilled hardwood logs and slabs we ran through the Lucas Mill for this training originally came from Buchan. 

They were washed up in a big pile at Buchan Munji (Buchan Caves Reserve) during the devastating 2023 floods, and needed to be cleared away as part of the post-floods repair and recovery work GLaWAC has been undertaking in partnership with Parks Victoria and DEECA. 

GLaWAC’s Willow Carter saw that pile of logs might also present an opportunity. 

“There’s a Lucas Mill back at the Kalimna depot,” he thought. “We could make good use of that wood.” 

So we brought the pile of logs and slabs back to Kalimna, Bryce and Andrew did some training on the Lucas Mill with Kevin, and now the fellas have a skill they didn’t have before. 

(And you could tell they were enjoying themselves.) 

“I’ve always been keen to work with timber, so it’s great to have the opportunity to do some training on the Lucas Mill,” Bryce said. “It’s also deadly we’ll be able to use these boards for projects on Country.” 

It’s an economic win for GLaWAC and community too. 

The less money we need to spend on timber, the more money we have for other investments and projects that benefit community.