Forester Estate

Yelverton’s station is a wonderful place. He has three steam engines at work; the last erected is very large; five pieces of timber can be cut at once and each with several saws … To me it is a most exciting scene; here in the midst of the dark forest, to see such ceaseless industry and the wonderful steam power causing the saws to go through the huge logs just as you would go through a piece of soap. Henry John Yelverton was a pioneer of much of the land in the Qunidalup region, west of Busselton in these early days. He was first licensed to cut loads of Jarrah from crown land in 1852 and by 1854 had built the largest timber mill in the colony. The mill employed over 100 men and was fed by a purpose built tramway extending 13 miles in length from the forest through to the Qunidalup jetty. The Estate is surrounded by huge Eucalypt trees that once supported a thriving forestry trade established in the 1850’s. This forestry industry was the first to open up rugged land along the Leeuwin-Naturaliste ridge and provide jobs for many of the new arrivals.