Railways and the power of steam more than any other factors made possible the development of the Mundaring district says Ian Elliot in his book Mundaring A History of the Shire.
The worldwide demand for jarrah railway sleepers and jetty piles were responsible for the construction of private railway lines down to the Canning River where the sawn timber was ferried on barges to Fremantle.
By 1875 the need for a railway between Fremantle and the Avon Valley was being raised in Parliament. The first section from Fremantle to Guildford commenced. By February 1881 this section was opened. The second section would reach “Chidlow’s Well.”
By that time there were many men working at cutting and sawing timber in pits.
There was a steam driven sawmill at Guildford, but the sawn logs had to be taken there by bullock teams.
In 1877 Alfred Charles Smith set up a timber mill on Nyaania Creek in the heart of the forest. This was the first timber mill to be set up in Mundaring district. The mill itself near a well by the banks of the creek. It was equipped with vertical saws powered by a “Marshall” steam engine.
Alfred was 40 years of age with a family of seven children when he entered the timber trade. By July of that year the family was housed in a two roomed hut built of mud bricks.
Edmund Gilyard Lacey set up Lacey’s Enterprise Sawmill near Mahogany Creek. After stripping the area of all the large timber in September 1882 he moved to a new location, an area of 2,880 acres in an Sawyers Valley. He employed around 25 sawyers and at this time Lacey was one of the largest employers of sawyers in the whole district. This mill operated for fourteen years and during that time would have provided employment for up to seventy men. This area grew substantially and was finally declared an official town site on 28th October 1898.
Alfred Charles Smith
Thomas Smith and Family
Lacey's Enterprise Sawmill C1890
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