..belated welcome denyr1..! (i rarely get time to look at intro essays these days)

you already seem to be settling in well and giving sound advice..

as a parent let me say that raising your daughter on your own, that's truly great (& hard work) ..!
you do seem like someone on the path, and a caring person...
good to have you here...
w. a. is well situated for the interests of many here..
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Thanks nen888 for the acknowledgement and thank you for sharing your knowledge, I have read many of your posts.

Well I made it. I went for a drive out East and was absolutely crestfallen with what I saw. Upon identifying a stretch of road that had acuminata (dead easy to ID once you have seen them!) I saw several that were no more than 3-4yrs old that had been ripped out and raped.

The roots had been cut off, the bark stripped from the lower portion only and the rest of the plant just left on the ground. Many phylodes and twigs were still on the tree and just left to waste. Over the road was an older specimen (approx 10yrs old) that had been ring barked and subsequently infested by termites. The bark was just falling off and the entire tree was dried up and decaying. It had such a beautiful red colour to the inside of the bark too.
All along this stretch of road was the same devastation, not one sapling left alive!
It's disgusting to me that people have taken down entire trees just for root bark when the twigs and phylodes are just as active!
And why not take the rest of the tree?
If I were to collect any, it would be from one already knocked down and dried, I see no point taking down an entire 5km odd stretch of roads worth of trees then leaving the valuables behind only to come back and take down another! It's obvious it's been going on for years now...

I would love to get my hands on some of the wood though, as I did snap one branch off a dead tree and the smell was incredible, just like raspberry jam, sweet and resinous.
I was tempted to bring some back but after seeing all the damage done I can't justify being part of such wanton destruction, plus leaving the plants to decompose and return to the earth for the next generation is hopefully a good move... or hopefully the rapists will read these threads and take from the fallen rather than rip down any more!

It must be noted, I was followed for a good half an hour by our friendly local law men on my way home and was glad I had nothing to hide!
How would I go about obtaining wood for turning or crafting without breaking the law though? I see some good potential there, particularly for wind instruments where the scent would remain alive!

Some one correct me if i am wrong, it's not illegal to collect wood except from a reserve or state Forrest. If it is found to be used for purposes other than crafting ornaments, instruments etc, then your in trouble. There are many other sites to collect from so personally I would stay far away from populated areas and places where malicious activities have been performed.

I would suspect if you got pulled over with any plant material you would be considered to be in possession of spice unless you could prove otherwise. Basically, "they" would assume you are guilty unless you could prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that you had nothing but intent to craft or use the material for something other than chemistry. No doubt if you had some in your car, your house would be searched and if any chemicals relating to scientific method or implements were found, you would be in trouble.
Basically, guilty until proven innocent, as with most things in this country these days, sadly.

Unless you are in a problem area and you only have a few hundred grams of plant material then you would be fine. Common sence prevails. In your case of carting a large amount of wood off for carving then you should have no problem also providing you can honestly back up your story, every home has solvents and acids but if you have quantities suspect of the amounts used for llicit substance manufacture in the shed you would definitely have some explaining to do.

I would hope common sense would prevail, but in these times, who knows for sure. If you got pulled over on your bike with a backpack full, what do you think the bloke that stopped you would think and how would he act accordingly? I reckon you'd get escorted home and a search once you got there.
I am a painter by trade and run a property maintenance business, so certain chemicals come with the territory. I really would love to use some of the wood for turning and making relevant sculptures and charms that would no doubt go down well with the folks that choose to consume, as there would be a connection with them between the material and the experience through smell and sight alone.
Would it be worthwhile giving the authorities a call and enquiring as to what would be considered acceptable? Or would this action just get me monitored and shed more light on something already getting a lot of bad press and scrutiny in our rather concentrated little section of the country? I am more than happy to make the call and let you guys know what I come up with, at least that way we'd have some solid advice and maybe a way to safely obtain materials...

Like I said in my above post. Common sence. I wouldn't preach it if I didn't practice it.

With the abundance of acuminata here there is no need or use getting surplus to our needs for our intended uses. If it for woodwork I suggest going to a woodworking site and reading up on collecting australian native wood for crafting.