What about the old timers cutting mulga/gidgee posts, diggin em in then a brace an bit for the wire holes......not to mention their horse pulling the wires through.
Plenty of old gidgee fence lines still where we opal mined in SW Qld......and they all headed to a bore head.
With the old man, I started with cross cut saw, splitting gun and wedges splitting stringy bark posts for around 30 quid a hundred. Split droppers around 8 quid a hundred but if you found a decent messmate that was good money.....it split like butter. That was the timber mainly used for shingles too. Watching a bloke splitting shingles can be quite mesmerising.
About 1956 upgraded to a chainsaw and with the the Atom post hole borer, tractor mounted auger, as fencing contractors our life became much easier.
A neighbour of ours was felling electric light poles and with a broad axe turning them into hexagons. They had to have all the sapwood removed and that was the general way it was done.
Marked them out with a chalk line, could hold a conversation as he chopped the flats onto them.....eventually passed away still with both feet.
Later on tried sleeper cutting with a Hargens swing saw but at 10 stone wringing wet I couldn't hold the bloody thing down or straight.
mike...
