BULLOCK TEAM; LION MILL, MT HELENA

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1882 - 1898

Subcollections

Overview

B & W photo of a bullock team carting logs at Lion Mill, Mt Helena.
Washing on line at one house - Could be boarding house. Houses and sheds have timber walls - tin roof in middle ground.
Large building back right hand side, possibly hall. 10 bullocks in team.
One man mounted on horse and one man standing with stick in right hand.

Historical information

The Lion Mill operation ran between 1882 and 1898.
Initially timber was cut for sleepers for the Eastern Railway and also for Charles Harper's Guildford residence, 'Woodbridge'. Timber processed at the first mill was also used in the interior of St Georges Anglican Cathedral, Perth. Residual timber was sold for firewood.
In 1889 the new Lion Jarrah Mill produced dressed floorboards, including some tongue and groove which did not need nails.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-37-2001.1206

Item type

Photographs

Material

Photographic Paper

Width

21 cm

Height or length

16 cm

Contextual Information

In April 1882, James Wright, the successful tenderer for the second section of the Eastern Railway, established a sawmill in an area containing large stands of untouched jarrah, on the north side of the proposed route and 3 km north-west of Sawyers Valley.
In August 1882, he obtained a 12 month license for the mill which was operated by his partner Edward Keane. Keane's father-in-law Abraham White and later his son Lionel White were mill managers.
In 1883, Keane and White purchased the mill. In May 1888 the mill closed and was taken over by the Union Bank.
In 1889, Adelaide timber merchant Richard Honey purchased the site, and his manager James Port constructed the new Lion Jarrah Mill.
When Honey died in 1892, the mill was purchased by F.W.C. Forsyth and Richard Hummerston. The mill employed up to 80 men before it closed in 1898.
(Historical information sourced from the Heritage Council's inHerit entry for Lion Mill Place number 24383)

Year

1882

Year End

1898

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Shire of Toodyay

Organisation Details
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