About AST
Family owned since 1919 Australian Solar Timbers (AST) as it is now known has operated continuously in the NSW hardwood industry, which over the decades has seen it pioneer, innovate and adapt to today emerge as the nations most modern, innovative and environmentally sound hardwood flooring manufacturer.
Our Heritage
Australian Solar Timbers roots started as an idea in the trenches of Gallipoli where two ANZAC soldiers, Stan Ball and Douglas Oakley dreamt about opening a sawmill on their return to Australia. The dream did in fact come true. In 1919, after their eventual safe return the two men established a sawmill on the NSW north coast where over the next twenty years they established a succession of small sawmills, which concentrated on cutting brushwood timbers.
A significant shift in production came in 1940 when in response to a government request for large amounts of plywood veneer for the war effort production relocated from Comboyne to Wauchope. Despite burning down during its construction the mill was still operational in 1940. Rapidly and successfully the focus of the mill had changed from sawing timber to veneer production, a skill, which endured over two generations until 1991.
Our Commitment
Our commitment to the environment started many years ago, with the efficiency veneer production gave in maximizing use of the timber resource. This commitment gained a renewed focus with the relocation to Kempsey in 1991 – returning to sawing and processing eucalypt hardwoods through environmentally sound production techniques, pioneering natural greenhouse friendly solar kiln drying and developing products that achieve maximum utilization of the harvested renewable resource. These techniques would quickly establish AST as pioneers of environmentally sound production not only in Australia, but also around the world.
Our Innovation
Today, we remain as innovative as ever. Perhaps the most significant innovation has been the introduction of greenhouse friendly solar drying kilns in 1994. We pioneered the use of these kilns - purpose built to gently dry timber in a natural stable way. Although slower than industrial methods the results are far superior, not only for the timber itself but also for the environment. We are now recognised as the leading solar kiln dried hardwood timber producer in the world.
Our free thinking approach and desire for doing things better has led to other major industry innovations. In recent years AST has pioneered ultra-efficient processing equipment, diamond tooling and computerised log scanning – modern techniques and processes in the process of being adopted throughout the industry.
Our Products
AST carefully produces 19 mm Tongue & Groove end matched strip flooring from a wide range of northern NSW hardwood species, sourced mainly from the renewable regrowth forests managed by Forests NSW to internationally recognized standards of best practice. Other examples are our 14mm and AST TimberLay®, a solid 12 mm thick overlay flooring. They are both ideal for apartments, commercial and domestic situations and for replacing carpet in renovations or laying on flat dry structural bases such as concrete, plywood and existing floors. Rustique, on the other hand, is a new product which utilises the same eco-friendly processes, maximising recovery of as much of the original log as possible, reflecting and showcasing the natural features and beauty of the log’s history. We also produce a full range of block parquetry to complete our range of solid wood flooring products.
Our People
Australian Solar Timbers currently employs approx 70 people in regional Australia and remains proudly Australian owned. Many of our employees have been with the company for years and have been instrumental in shaping AST into the industry pioneers we are today. In turn, AST is committed to our people offering continual training and assessment programmes, guidance and advice. And we always like to listen to what our people have to say and enact their best suggestions. This is how we seek to continually advance our quality.
Our products undergo strict, independent auditing. AST has twice in the past years been awarded ATIC recognition as being the best quality producer in NSW, a fact of which we are very proud as it confirms our efforts to be the best at what we do.
Our Future
While we have a rich history AST is confident of an even more exciting and sustainable future. We will always keep focused, real and dedicated to the vision of our company. Our vision for the future is to innovate and adapt even further through a process of ‘ natural excellence’, not only in our attitude to our products but also through our commitment to our environment, our people and our customers.
We look forward to having you on the journey.
