About

Whitecliffs Timber

We source and supply timber products from New Zealand and overseas for a wide variety of uses.

Visit our Auckland headquarters and timber yard, or call our knowledgeable sales representatives with all your inquiries.

Our friendly sales and yard staff will offer you the highest standard of customer service. They have just the right knowledge to help you find the ideal timber for your needs. They can also help with transport and delivery.

The Group

Over our 80 years in business, we have built an extensive network of suppliers and processors sourcing decorative timbers and plywood from Australian, Asian, Pacific and North American markets.

White Cliffs Timber also owns a Radiata sawmill in the Central North Island, Mamaku Sawmill, which specialises in appearance grades. Also, as part of the group we have two mature Northland Pinus Radiata forests. White Cliffs Forestry Ltd is also part of the group.

Overseas

Australia

Our Australian showroom and sales office is based at Prestons near Liverpool, south-west of Sydney’s CBD, and close to New South Wales and interstate road and rail transport. Our two international companies, White Cliffs International and wholesaler Tasman Trading, are based there.

White Cliffs International

White Cliffs has built up a huge store of knowledge on Pacific region forestry and timber products over the past 30 or more years. Our New Zealand and Australian import/export managers are familiar with the region’s timber industry, particularly in Fiji, and personally research the company’s imported timber product suppliers to ensure our customers receive only top quality products and service.

Tasman Trading


Operating as Tasman Trading, our Australian wholesale branch imports high-grade timber for use in the furniture, joinery and building industry. Tasman Trading specialises in high-quality New Zealand radiata pine and selected Asian timbers

History

The company began in 1926 as a house-building company, TM Taylor and Sons Ltd that expanded into sawmilling and bridge building.

The company eventually changed its name to White Cliffs Sawmilling Ltd, in reference to a small logging area in the King Country and, through the years, the sons of the original owner – Thomas Taylor – took over the operations. The eldest, Jack, took control of the sawmills; the youngest, David, took control of logging; and when the middle son, James, returned from World War II, he began work for his father at Astley Avenue, New Lynn.

James Taylor supervised the New Lynn operations until early 1950, at which point he took over all the Taylor family operations. Today, James’s son Bill operates the White Cliffs Timber group with the help of other family members. His brother, David, is Forestry Manager in the Far North District, and son, Andrew, is one of the company’s export/import managers, based at Astley Avenue.

The Taylor family welcomes you. White Cliffs Timber brings to its customers the time-honoured values of good customer service and thorough product knowledge, along with the benefits of modern communications and global markets.

1. Taylor's sawmill, Astley Avenue Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1959. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-01585

Taylor’s sawmill, Astley Avenue
Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1959. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-01585

White Cliffs saw mill, to Portage Road Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1972. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-04602-1

White Cliffs saw mill, to Portage Road
Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1972. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-04602-1

White Cliffs saw mill, from Portage Road Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1972. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-04602-2

White Cliffs saw mill, from Portage Road
Photographer: John Thomas Diamond, 1972. Auckland Libraries West Auckland Research Centre. J. T. Diamond Collection, JTD-11L-04602-2