For a single long weekend in early May, Montville became the woodcraft capital of Australia. From the sawdust-scented sheds at the Montville Sportsground to the polished gallery floors of the Montvale Glasshouse, the Blackall Range hummed with the quiet pride of makers, the admiration of visitors, and the unmistakable scent of freshly worked timber.
Three distinct but deeply connected events converged across May 2–4, 2026: the Blackall Range Woodcrafters Guild’s annual open day, known as ‘the Woodies’, the 2026 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize exhibition and awards, and the brand-new Montville Timber Trail: a free, walk-around festival spread across multiple Main Street venues. Together, they drew approximately 1,400 visitors from across South East Queensland and interstate, showcasing the remarkable depth of timber talent that calls this region home.
For many locals, it felt like something long overdue, and for at least one Montville shopkeeper, it felt like a homecoming. “Just like the old days,” they told organisers, recalling a time when Montville was a thriving hub for arts and crafts every weekend.
The Woodies Turn 30
Few community organisations on the Blackall Range have quietly done as much good as the Blackall Range Woodcrafters Guild. Formally incorporated on April 30, 1996, though the group had been meeting informally before that, the Guild marked its 30th anniversary this year with its traditional open day at the Montville Sportsground, 230 Balmoral Road.
Running over two days, Friday May 2 and Saturday May 3, the open day offered the public a look inside the shed where Guild members gather each week to turn, carve, and craft. Displays of finished work, live demonstrations, competitions, shed tours, raffles, and timber sales filled the sportsground, drawing families, woodworking enthusiasts, and the first-time in equal measure.
The Guild’s roots run deep in this community. Growing from informal meetings in Montville in the mid-1990s, members moved to their current base at the sportsground in 2002. Over three decades, the Woodies have contributed far beyond their own craft: they have built the timber doors at Maleny, created works for Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, crafted bench seats throughout the hinterland, and, perhaps most warmly regarded, produced over 1,000 handmade wooden toys every single year for the Salvation Army to distribute to children at Christmas.
Three decades on, the Woodies open day remains free and welcoming, a community gift from craftspeople who believe their skills are worth sharing.
The Wootha Prize: Sustainable by Nature, Beautiful by Design
The Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize has grown, over more than two decades, into one of Australia’s most distinctive woodworking competitions. Named after the Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi word for red cedar, it celebrates craftsmanship rooted in sustainability. Run by Barung Landcare since 2004 as part of the former Maleny Wood Expo, the Prize has evolved into a national competition across three categories: Furniture, Sculpture, and Tiny Treasures.
This year the Prize entered a new phase, presented by Barung Landcare as a standalone exhibition at Montvale at Montville alongside the Timber Trail. Wootha Prize Coordinator Corrie Wright described the shift as significant. The Montvale venue offered a refined, boutique setting: recycled beams beneath a canopy of rainforest gardens, with a program that included live music, local food, and a strong sense of place “It created an atmosphere that felt both elevated and deeply connected to the environment the Prize seeks to celebrate,” she said.
The opening night on May 1 sold out entirel. The finalist exhibition ran through to May 4, drawing visitors from across the country. Entries came from makers across Australia, reflecting what Corrie described as “an exceptionally high standard” of work and the Prize’s growing national reach and reputation.
“While the setting has evolved, the heart of the Wootha Prize remains unchanged, a commitment to showcasing exceptional work that reflects sustainability, artistry and a meaningful relationship with timber.”
Corrie Wright, Wootha Prize Coordinator
Honouring William Bayliss
The 2026 Prize carried an added and deeply felt dimension: the debut of the William Bayliss Commemorative Prize, a new $10,000 award funded by community contributions and named in memory of a young woodworker who had come to be regarded as one of the most gifted of his generation.
William Bayliss’s exceptional history with the Wootha Prize made this tribute particularly poignant. In 2019, at age 20, he became the youngest ever overall winner, claiming the Open Champion award for his Torrent Audio Cabinet in figured blackwood. In 2021, he was named overall winner of Australian Wood Review Magazine’s Maker of the Year Awards. He returned in 2024 to claim the Furniture Prize with his Mundi Mundi Entrance Table.
William died in 2024, and the award was created to honour his life and work. He was widely mourned within the Australian woodworking community. Evan Dunstone, who had mentored him from the beginning of his career, described him as someone whose “dedication to woodwork was the stuff of legends.”
That the prize bearing his name is community-funded speaks to the impact William had on those around him. It stands, as Corrie Wright put it, as “a lasting tribute to his life, work and values”, and as a way of ensuring his influence continues to inspire future generations of makers.
The inaugural William Bayliss Commemorative Prize was awarded to Broc Cattley for ‘Beginnings’, a title that, in the circumstances, carried a quiet and particular weight.
2026 Prize Results
The full list of winners across the 2026 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize, as announced at the opening night ceremony on May 1:
| Award | Winner | Work |
| William Bayliss Commemorative Prize (Overall) – $10,000 | Broc Cattley | Beginnings |
| Furniture Prize (sponsored by MCU Communities) – $2,500 | Ben Adams | Wootha Rocker |
| Sculpture Prize (sponsored by Hinterland Business Centre Inc) – $2,500 | Hannah Cheetham | I Love You (Everyday) |
| Tiny Treasures Prize (sponsored by Queensland Water and Land Carers) – $2,500 | Xavier Fitzgerald | Gumleaf Quadrant |
| People’s Choice Award (sponsored by Arbortech) – $500 | Henry McErlean | Re-Leaf Seat |
Honorary Mentions were also awarded across each category, in recognition of the exceptional overall standard of entries.
A local footnote worth celebrating: Furniture Prize winner Ben Adams is himself one of the driving forces behind the Montville Timber Trail.
The Montville Timber Trail: A New Tradition is Born
New to the 2026 calendar was the Montville Timber Trail, a free, family-friendly walking festival that bound the weekend’s events together and gave visitors a reason to linger, explore, and discover. Held over May 2–3 (10am to 4pm daily) as part of the Horizon Festival program, the Trail spread across multiple venues within easy walking distance of Montville’s Main Street.
The event was conceived and organised by Ben and Arabella Lubbers of Montville Woods Gallery, with the Makers’ Design Fair as a key partner. Its origins lie in a shared sense of loss: the cancellation of the Maleny Wood Expo left a void that many in the local woodworking community felt keenly.
“Our circle of woodworking friends were genuinely gutted when the Maleny Wood Expo was cancelled,” Ben told Range Community News. “All of us had come together through the Wood Expo in one way or another, and we knew the local community was filled with people who felt the same sense of loss.”
For Ben, the connection is personal, he volunteered at the Expo for several years, and describes it as having played a significant role in shaping his decision to pursue woodworking as a career. “We wanted to create something that could offer others what the Expo had given us: a source of inspiration, access to specialised materials and tools, and meaningful connection with like-minded craftspeople.”
Memorial Close served as the central outdoor hub, while Montville Village Hall hosted hands-on workshops, tool stalls, and live demonstrations. St Mary’s Church Hall offered timber sales from local suppliers, with constant activity from setup through to pack-down. The Edge hosted a Makers’ Design Fair, and the Montvale Glasshouse anchored the cultural heart of the trail with the Wootha Prize exhibition, a bar, wood-fired pizza, and local gin. All venues were wheelchair accessible and under cover.
Workshop bookings sold out. The Wootha Prize opening night sold out. And when the Trail formally wrapped, at least one exhibitor had already enquired about booking accommodation for the 2027 event.
Looking Ahead
All indications point to the Montville Timber Trail becoming a permanent fixture in the hinterland calendar. “There is absolutely a strong appetite to formalise the Timber Trail,” Ben confirmed. “The response from both the public and participants made it clear that there’s a real demand for a well-curated, craft-focused experience that celebrates timber, craftsmanship, and the creative community of the hinterland.”
Barung Landcare President Barbara Kelly echoed that confidence. “Barung Landcare was delighted by how beautifully the reimagined 2026 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize sat in its new home at Montvale, alongside recycled beams and surrounded by rainforest gardens,” she said. “The event exceeded expectations, with an exceptional field of entries that pushed boundaries and raised the bar across every category.”
For Barung Landcare, the weekend represented not just a successful Prize but a confirmation of the organisation’s broader mission. Proceeds from the exhibition, still being finalised at time of writing, will flow directly into Barung’s conservation and land restoration work across the Sunshine Coast hinterland, continuing a relationship between craft and country that has been at the heart of the Wootha Prize since 2004.
Through workshops and demonstrations, through competition and community, through the quiet dedication of a guild that has made toys for children at Christmas for thirty years, the weekend of May 2–4, 2026 offered a vision of what the Blackall Range is at its best: a place where sustainability, skilled handwork, and deep community connection are not aspirations, but lived realities.
Further Information
Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize: barunglandcare.org.au/woothaprize | Facebook: Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize
William Bayliss Commemorative Prize: barunglandcare.org.au/william-bayliss-prize
Barung Landcare: barunglandcare.org.au
Blackall Range Woodcrafters Guild: Montville Sportsground, 230 Balmoral Road, Montville
Montville Woods Gallery: email: shop@montvillewoodsgallery.com.au
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