Tom Kirk
Very determined competitor, great technique
A powerful axeman with a long and graceful swing, Tom Kirk from the Blue Mountains in NSW was one of Australia’s most successful all-round competitors. An essentially modest man, Tom was one of nature’s gentlemen. He learned his mechanical and timber skills in the family sawmill. After serving in the RAAF in World War II, he set up his own sawmill.
Tom regarded himself as a curator of his mountain. He felt responsible for the welfare of the surrounding forests and, other than the occasional stump and old dirt track, it is not possible to see where he and his brothers logged this area for over 60 years. He said it had to be looked after because it gave them their living.
A large man with magnificent physique and agility, Tom was usually calm and slow moving. In his competitive years he won 22 world championships in woodchopping and sawing, making the standing block his own. His main post-war competitor was Jack O’Toole. The two men were considered opposites in character: one mild mannered, except when attacking a log, and the other aggressive.
Internationally Tom won the Best All Round Logger of America in 1963, and also served as a judge, starter, handicapper and announcer for the NSW Royal Agricultural Show Society. His involvement in the sport spanned 50 years. The epitaph on his grave says simply… “champion axeman”.