Tasmanian timber turning into tourism after $10m buy

Two of Australia's wealthiest entrepreneurs have bought Gunns woodchip mill on Tasmania's east coast, throwing into doubt the state's forest industry given the buyers’ long-term intentions are to run the site as an eco-tourism venture.

Wotif creator and Australian Greens donor, Graeme Wood, and Kathmandu clothing founder, Jan Cameron, have paid $10 million for the operation. The conservationists stunned the timber industry by outbidding logging company Aprin for the woodchip mill.

Premier Lara Giddings has said the forest industry in the south would have to shut down if the mill was closed.

But Jan Cameron has pledged to keep the mill running in the short term, while the industry moves out of native forest logging.

"Most likely we'll tender the mill out to an operator for this period because obviously we have no experience in running woodchip mills," she told Radio 936 ABC Hobart.

The woodchip mill is among the assets of Gunns which is exiting native forest logging.

In June last year Cameron, who also owns Chickenfeed, bought about 28,000 hectares of native forest from Gunns Limited for conservation.