Particleboard manufacture was developed in Germany in the late 1940s and introduced to Australia in 1957 when Coreboard Ltd. (later purchased by Softwood Holdings Ltd.) established a plant at Mt. Gambier, S.A.. It used radiata pine thinnings and saw-log tops, for which there was little alternative use. After bark removal the logs were converted into thin flakes which were dried, mixed with urea-formaldehyde resin and then continuously extruded through a heated die. A second plant, built at Oberon, NSW by Pyneboard Pty. Ltd. (a subsidiary of CSR) in 1960, used an improved process which formed the board on an endless steel wire mesh, cut it into lengths and then pressed it between heated platens. In this product the flakes were aligned in the plane of the board, giving better tensile and bending strength in that plane compared with the extruded board, in which the flakes were oriented at right angles to it. Later plants used substantially the same process, although the endless wire mesh was replaced by a flexible steel belt.

Held at a lovely house in Birchgrove overlooking Sydney Harbour.