W.A. Timber Company

W.A. Timber Company was a syndicate of Victorian investors granted a timber concession of 181,500 acres on Geographe Bay in the south west of Western Australia in 1870.^[1][a]

The company's locomotive, Ballaarat, was on display here in Victoria Square, Busselton, for 75 years. It is now restored and displayed indoors at the city's visitor information centre.

The company went on to develop a mill and jetty at Lockville, 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) north-east of Busselton.^[b][3]

The locomotive ordered for the mill railway, named Ballaarat, was the first steam locomotive to operate in Western Australia, and the first to be built in Australia for 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge.^[4][5] The railway was more commonly known as the Ballaarat tramline.^[6]

The W.A. Timber Company was liquidated in 1888 and its assets were auctioned.^[7]

Notes

1. Also found as WA Jarrah Timber Company.^[2]
2. Lockville and Lockeville are variant spellings found in different sources.

References

1. Gunzburg, Adrian & Austin, Jeff & Rail Heritage WA & Gunzburg, Adrian & Austin, Jeff (2008). In Rails through the bush : timber and firewood tramways and railway contractors of Western Australia. Rail Heritage WA, Bassendean, W.A. ISBN 978-0-9803922-2-7
2. West Australian Jarrah Timber Co. Ltd; Simpson, George; Anderson, J.G (1879), Prospectus [and] report on the plant, locality, position and concessions of the W.A. Timber Co. Ltd., Geographe Bay, W.A. by George Simpson [and] J.G. Anderson, Derrington & Co. print, retrieved 23 December 2018
3. Cresswell, Herbert Augustine (1927), "Some features of railway construction and maintenance in Western Australia", Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 8: 447–482, ISSN 0155-039X
4. Minchin, Ray S. (1976) The "Ballaarat" Locomotive. A collection of material relating to the 'Ballaarat' Locomotive Battye Library catalogue summary: WA Timber Co's locomotive operated between Yoganup and Lockville 1871-ca.1886. From 1937 on exhibition in Victoria Square. Busselton. Scale drawings from photographs and reprints of 1871.
5. Minchin, R.S.(1978) The locomotive Ballaarat. Bulletin (Australian Railway Historical Society), Jan. 1978, pp. 19–23
6. Australian Railway Historical Society. Western Australian Division. W.A.'s first railway : commemoration at Wonnerup historic train and vintage car rally, 10 November 1963.[Bunbury, W.A.] : Bunbury Times print, 1963.
7. "Ballaarat Tramline". Monument Australia. Retrieved 30 March 2016.

See also

• Nannup branch railway
• Tuart Forest
• Vasse and Wonnerup Floodgates

External links

• How Ballarat's 19th-century locomotive innovation became Busselton's historical treasure – ABC News article about the locomotive Ballaarat