By Ray Brown
Introduction – Wellington Mills Primary School was the first of my postings as a teacher. The year was 1969. I was also the last teacher there. It closed in 1971. Although my great grandfather worked for Millars’, it was at Wellington Mills that my interest in the timber industry really commenced, so the following story by Ray Brown particularly attracted me. It also involves stationary steam engines, Millars’ Timber Co. and Yarloop. The Wellington Mills started in 1896 as part of the Canning Jarrah Timber Co. but became part of the Millars’ Combine in 1902. (Allan Ward, Editor.)
My great grandfather, Richard Scott Brown, worked at Wellington Mills in Western Australia circa 1899 to 1920. Initially he was employed as a blacksmith and sometime after 1908 became an engine driver.
Richard Scott Brown was born at Sale, Gippsland, Victoria on 8 March 1877. Circa 1899 he left Victoria for Western Australia along with his siblings, Thomas, Alexander and Isabella. All of them worked in the timber industry in and around Wellington Mills. [There is evidence that Richard may have worked in other Millars’ mills in the area, including Yarloop (see the photographs below). Some of his family were associated with Worsley and probably continued in WA.]
Richard returned to Victoria in 1907 and married Anne Duck at St James’ Church Traralgon on 18 September 1907. They returned to Western Australia and lived at Wellington Mills. Their two children were born at Bunbury, Richard Forrest in 1908 and Constance in 1911.
In 1916 Richard enlisted for WW1 at Bunbury but was rejected as medically unfit due to a double hernia.
Circa 1920 Richard and his family moved back to Victoria, where he was employed as an engine driver for the timber mills around Traralgon in Gippsland. On 31 August 1944 Richard had a seizure at work and died. He was aged 67.
After his death many significant items belonging to him were stored in my grandfather’s shed at Trafalgar, Victoria. An old collage picture frame was stored in the loft and his engine driver’s tool cabinet was located in his tiny workshop where he polished gemstones for a hobby. I remember seeing the cabinet when I was around the age of 13 and was told by my grandfather (Richard Forrest Brown) that it was his father’s steam engine tools.
Richard Scott Brown was a keen photographer and this enthusiasm seems to have been passed down to his son Richard (1908-1983), his grandson Barry (1933-2006), and to me, his great grandson. I obtained the old collage picture frame of photos taken by my great grandfather Richard at Wellington Mills. A few years before my father died in 2006 he showed me great grandfather R. S. Brown’s old wooden camera and tripod and many boxes full of plate glass photo negatives that he had stored in his shed. I remember looking at some of the negatives but did not know of their historical importance at the time. Unfortunately, my father sold the camera and boxes of glass negatives to an unknown collector. [Ray has, however, managed to accumulate many of the old photos, including those on plates, and digitised them.][1]
The Collage
Richard Brown and the baby on the engine (not operating).
Richard Brown at the Yarloop (?) Barber Shop, circa 1906.
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[1] From ‘The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly’ Part 15, written by Ray Brown. Inserts [ ] and additional information from Janice Calcei’s book ‘Wellington Mills – A History’.