Ballaarat steam engine

33°38′42.058″S 115°20′44.113″E / 33.64501611°S 115.34558694°E / -33.64501611; 115.34558694

Ballaarat on display in Railway House, at the Busselton Visitor Centre
About 1908, Ballaarat  lay dilapidated in a paddock at Lockville, near Busselton, after it had been damaged by fire. Two decades later its first, partial restoration started.

The Ballaarat steam engine, built by James Hunt's Victoria Foundry in the city of Ballarat, Victoria in 1871, was the first 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge locomotive built in Australia. It was purchased by the Western Australian Timber Company, which was awarded one of only three milling concessions granted in the colony. The company had 181,500 acres to mill at Yoganup, near the town of Busselton.[1]

  1. ^ Rogers, Philippa (April 2012). "Ballaarat - its story" (PDF). Light Railways (224). Light Railway Research Society of Australia: 3–11. Retrieved 13 May 2023.