Ballaarat Tramline

The Ballaarat Tramline, also known as the Lockville - Yoganup Railway, was the first railway in Western Australia, constructed in 1871 by the Western Australian Timber Company. The railway was used to transport timber from forests in the South West to the company's jetty at Lockville using the Ballaarat steam engine.

History
The preserved Ballaarat steam locomotive

The W.A. Timber Company constructed the 12-mile (19 km) long Ballaarat Tramline in 1871 between Lockville and Yoganup. Governor Weld officially opened the railway on 23 December 1871.[1][2]

The tramline was the first railway in Western Australia. It also included the Ballaarat Bridge - the first bridge constructed to conduct a steam locomotive in Western Australia.[3]

The tramline's name originated from the locomotive that operated on the railway, named Ballaarat by the Mayor of Melbourne on the original spelling of the Victorian town of Ballarat where the locomotive was constructed.[3][4]

The W.A. Timber Company was liquidated in 1888 and its assets auctioned.[5]

In 1897 the W.A. Timber Company's former timber concession was leased to the Jarrah Wood and Saw Mills Company. The section of the Ballaarat Tramline route south of the Bunbury-Busselton railway[6] was reused for the Nannup Branch Railway between Wonnerup and Jarrahwood.[7]

A plaque and locomotive wheel commemorating the Ballaarat Tramline is located at Wonnerup House.[3]

The Ballaarat steam engine now resides in Railway House, attached to the Visitor Centre on the Busselton Foreshore.

References
  1. Alex J Gibson; D H C du Pleiss (December 1947). Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Management Workings and Control of the Western Australian Government Railways (without graphs) presented to both Houses of Parliament (Second Session of the Nineteenth Parliament) (PDF) (Report). Government Printer. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  2. "Ballaarat Tramline". Monument Australia. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. City of Busselton Municipal Heritage Inventory (2013)
  4. "Australiana page "THE BALLARAT" OF BUSSELTON (Western Australia)", Walkabout, 25 (3): 8, 1 March 1959, ISSN 0043-0064
  5. "Ballaarat Tramline". Monument Australia. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. "Old Ballarat Tramline". The South-western News. VI (290). Western Australia. 18 June 1909. p. 4. Retrieved 1 April 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Ballaarat Tramline". Monument Australia. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
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