Locomotive Ballaarat

[ozbob]

ABC --> How Ballarat's 19th-century locomotive innovation became Busselton's historical treasure


The 'Ballaarat' locomotive, pictured here in Ballarat, was an innovative leap forward for engineering in Australia.(Supplied: Rail Heritage WA)

There is a 19th-century steam locomotive on display in Busselton, a small city with a population of about 25,000 on Western Australia's south-west coast.

Key points:
A landmark steam locomotive was built in Ballarat in 1871 for use in the WA timber industry
After falling into disuse, the locomotive was nearly destroyed in a fire
It now sits, refurbished, in Busselton, in WA's south-west

It is a treasured piece of Australian history and is also named after Ballarat, a Victorian city that is 3,400 kilometres away.

So why is it in WA?

In 1871, the Victoria Foundry built the 'Ballaarat' [sic] locomotive, the first functional locomotive to be built in Ballarat and used domestically.

They named it after the city, using the old way of spelling it.

It was a venture initiated by a group of enterprising locals, who had their eye on a burgeoning business opportunity sprouting up in the west.

"A group of Victorian businessmen decided that they would take advantage of some of the timber industry offerings in Western Australia, some of the amazing hardwoods," railway historian Philippa Rogers said.

"It makes perfect sense for them to order their first locomotive from Victoria, in this case from Ballarat."

They formed the Western Australian Timber Company (WATC), and leant on the might of Ballarat to build their first steam-powered workhorse.

Servicing a colony in its infancy

At the time, timber was shaping up as a primary industry for WA, and Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said the region's timber was itself a product for the railway industry overseas.

"As the British colonial empire stretched its pink tendrils throughout the subcontinent and Africa, many of their timbers were unsuitable for railway sleepers due to their susceptibility to termites, whereas these hardwoods were excellent," Mr Henley said.

"So they were very much sought after, and the southwest of Western Australia was plundered for those timbers, and they were exported extensively.

Unfortunately, the promise of this new industry was short-lived, and by 1900 it was effectively dead.

"The demise of the timber industry here was in part led by the gold rush at Kalgoorlie," Mr Henley said.

"Where a lot of the workers from the timber industry left for the better paying jobs in the deserts around Kalgoorlie."

And as timber's viability degenerated, so did the locomotive Ballaarat's fortunes.

"In 1871 it starts operating, it changes that focus for railway in Western Australia; six years later, it's actually described as dilapidated," Ms Rogers said.

"We don't know whether it actually managed to operate for much more than 10 years."

An unwanted treasure that weathered the elements
As the century turned, the Ballaarat had become a 10-ton white elephant

"By 1900 the original company had gone broke, and people thought about buying it but didn't," Ms Rogers said.

"And it was just brought to a shed that unfortunately caught fire, and some of the special features of Ballaarat were destroyed in the fire, but being mainly metal, it survived that.

"But it was pretty close to a beach, and so that didn't help either in keeping it going."

By 1925, the locomotive was hauled to Perth, where it was thought it would go in the Western Australian Museum, but cost of refurbishments was deemed too high, so it was left in a shed, gathering dust.

Four years later, it was rather ironically and ignobly hauled by horse and cart through Perth's streets as part of the state's centenary celebrations.

In 1934, the Busselton Municipal Council realised this important piece of history had been mistreated for too long and requested its return to the city — it arrived three years later.

In 1939, it was painted a handsome, if historically inaccurate, dark green, and was placed in Victoria Square where it was clambered on by children for the next six decades.

Finally, it now sits in Railway House, on the Busselton foreshore, awaiting its 150th anniversary next year.

An unlikely cross-state connection

In a time where the states are as isolated from one another as they have been since Federation, the story of the locomotive shows how even the most unlikely connections can endure through the years.

"This is another indication of that connection," Ms Rogers said.

"So, the depth of feeling for Victoria and understanding of some of its past is probably greater in Western Australia than most states."

Homeless and neglected for so long, the Ballaarat locomotive is now a resplendent symbol of the vim and vigour of early Australia.

"I think there's some real connections with the modern-day with how we're looking at innovation in manufacturing and technology," Mr Henley said.

"All of this, coming out of COVID, that we sort of need to reinvent that entrepreneurial spirit that existed in Australia 150 years ago."