By Heather Wade, 2025.
Harvey’s first blacksmith was Thomas Hince Brown who arrived in Harvey in 1898. He was first mentioned in newspapers in September 1898 when he and his son became members of the Harvey Agricultural Alliance.[1] In a December article that same year it was reported Mr TH Brown was the latest arrival on the Korijekup Estate and that:
He has about 7 3/4 acres altogether, about 4 1/2 acres of which are under cultivation, being planted with potatoes from which a good crop is expected. He is also establishing business as a black smith at the Harvey and has erected a blacksmith’s shop upon a town block opposite the Railway Station.[2]
Brown conducted his blacksmithing business until 1904 when he sold to Mr Foley of Yarloop ‘at a figure fully in accordance with the bright promise of the future. Mr. Brown now devotes himself entirely to his river-side property which is looking spick and span.’[3]
A number of gentlemen attended a farewell social for Brown in August 1906 as he had sold his holding to Mr Robert Lloyd Herbert of the West Australian Bank and was leaving the district. During his time in Harvey, Brown had been involved in many activities for pleasure and the advancement of the community and agricultural endeavours.[4] He moved to Cuballing, bought land there and was described as a blacksmith in his bankruptcy case in 1907.[5]
Micheal Foley was the second blacksmith in Harvey commencing in 1904. By October 1909 he had moved to Doodlakine where he advertised as a wheelright and general smith.[6]
Thought to be TH Brown’s smithy on Hayward Street. Photo: Harvey History Online Collection.
Postcard showing Hayward Street in 1904. Under the tree on the right are wheel rims that would have been made by a blacksmith.
Arthur E Roesner
Arthur Ewald Roesner moved to Harvey from Worsley following a timber strike in 1906 and started a blacksmith’s shop in Hayward Street behind where the National Bank now stands.[7] In 2024 Equest & Lifestyle Realty conducts its business in the former National Bank, (see ‘No. 15 Hayward Street, Harvey – formerly the National Bank’ on this website).
In 1909 Roesner advertised extensively, initially with the following:
ARTHUR E. ROESNER
THE WELL-KNOWN BLACKSMITH …..HARVEY.
ENGINEERING AND GENERAL SMITH….
…. SHOEING A SPECIALTY.
Estimates given for the Construction and Repair of Vehicles of all descriptions.
UPHOLSTERING and COACH PAINTING of all kinds done.[8]
And later in the year he added the following to his advertisement:
A Harvey man fills local needs,
Thus Roesner can recount his deeds;
Right truly fit his horses’ shoes,
Of just the style our farmers choose;
Each new machine, from frame to brake,
Smartly he’ll mend, as well as make,
Not as a Smith will he be beat,
Each thing he makes is sound and neat;
Remember, too, he sells well-dressed
Selected Timber of the Best.[9]
Arthur E Roesner, General Smith and Coachbuilder, date unknown. Both photos courtesy of Harvey & Districts Historical Society.
Advertisement from ‘South Western Advertiser’, 2 January 1914.
In September 1919, Arthur announced that he had taken his brother Len, a returned soldier, into partnership.[10] However, this did not eventuate and Arthur continued to carry on alone.[11]
William Mincham
Mr William Mincham purchased Roesner’s blacksmithing and wheelwright business in October 1921.[12] A year later, at the very successful 1922 Harvey Show, ‘the only industrial exhibit was that of Mr. W. Mincham, blacksmith, who showed an unpainted spring cart and several other exhibits of the wheel-wright’s and blacksmith craft.’[13]
In September 1928 Mincham advertised:
A TRIAL SOLICITED.
W. Mincham
BLACKSMITH AND COACHBUILDER
STOVES RELINED.
MOTOR BODIES BUILT TO ORDER.
MOTOR SPRINGS REPAIRED.
TANKS BUILT TO ORDER.
PIPE AND PIPE FITTINGS STOCKED.
ESTIMATES GIVEN FOR ALL CLASSES OF BLACKSMITHING AND COACHBUILDING
W. MINCHAM, HAYWARD STREET, HARVEY.[14]
And in August 1932 he ‘WANTED—Ford truck chassis without engine. Apply, Mincham, Blacksmith, Harvey.[15]
L-R Harvey House, Hairdresser, National Bank then Mincham Blacksmith & Coachbuilder on the southern (left) side of Mrs Markham’s two-story building, 1935. Mincham’s site is now the Harvey Thrift Shop. The building at the right front of the photo is the former CWA Building, now the Harvey Lions Clubroom. Photo: Harvey District Historical Society, Federation Display.
Shops on Hayward Street, pre-1957. L-R National Bank of Australasia Manager’s House; W Mitcham’s blacksmithing business; two-storey building with a pair of shops at street level housing JC and DM Malone, Men’s & Boys’ Wear and Josephine’s Ladies Hairdressing Salon; and KW Pritchard, dentist.
AE Roesner
After selling his business in Harvey, Arthur Roesner worked in several places before returning to Harvey:
In Collie as a coachbuilder[16]
In Yarloop as a coachbuilder in the business, Roesner and Storer.[17] The Yarloop Hall was built on that site and was officially opened in April 1938 (See ‘Yarloop Town Halls’ on this website.)
In Brunswick Junction as a general blacksmith and coachbuilder situated next to Retallack’s from August 1931. He specialised in oxywelding and spring making.[18]
Roesner had come full circle when in April 1934 he thanked his patrons for their support for his Brunswick business and announced that he had taken over Mr Gus Wotzko’s blacksmith business in Becher Street, Harvey.[19] In 2025 it is the site of the car park behind the Cusmano Complex at 94 Uduc Road.
Meanwhile, in 1929 Arthur Ewald Roesner made an Application for Letters Patent for an invention titled – Improvements in and relating to tip trucks.[20]
Around 1942 AE Roesner moved to Newell Street, where Harvey Tyrepower is in 2025. The business later moved to Turnbull Street and remains there today. Roesner Pty Ltd’s website explains the transition from blacksmith to manufacturers of the Marshall Multispread and the increasing use of technology.
The blacksmith trade became virtually redundant in the 1940’s and when Arthur’s son Roy took over the firm he introduced electric welding, a technique he had picked up in his time in the military during the Second World War. Besides general fabrication and repair of farm machinery Roy took on the International Harvester Agency selling tractors, ploughs and disc harrows.
In 1956 Roy was approached by Arthur Marshall to build a prototype fertiliser spreader, and by 1961 the first sales of the Marshall spreader were made to the local fertiliser company, CSML (now CSBP), as they wanted to promote the supply of bulk superphosphate fertiliser as an alternative to bagged product used at the time.[21]
AE Roesner & Son’s premises in Newell Street. Photo courtesy of Memories of Harvey Facebook.
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[1] 1898 ‘HARVEY AGRICULTURAL ALLIANCE.’, Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916), 3 September, p. 3. , viewed 22 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166974085
[2] 1898 ‘THE KORIJEKUP AREA.’, Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916), 22 December, p. 3. , viewed 22 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166974985
[3] 1904 ‘HARVEY.’, Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916), 14 May, p. 5. , viewed 22 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158084748
[4] 1906 ‘Harvey.’, Bunbury Herald (WA : 1892 – 1919), 13 August, p. 3. , viewed 22 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87212091
[5] 1907, The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), 29 August, p. 3. , viewed 23 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2560748
[6] 1909 ‘Advertising’, The Eastern Recorder (Kellerberrin, WA : 1909 – 1954), 27 October, p. 4. , viewed 23 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256377419
[7] Harvey Murray Times, 18 September, 1964. Also see 1935 photo below showing Mincham Blacksmith & Coachbuilder next door to the National Bank premises.
[8] 1909 ‘Advertising’, Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916), 10 June, p. 2. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158877425
[9] 1909 ‘Advertising’, Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916), 31 August, p. 6. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158879162
[10] 1919 ‘Local and General.’, The Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express (WA : 1919 – 1929), 3 September, p. 2. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87005429
[11] 1919 ‘Social and Personal.’, The Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express (WA : 1919 – 1929), 17 September, p. 2. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87007437
[12] 1921 ‘NEWS AND NOTES’, South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1917 – 1929), 4 October, p. 2. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210774896
[13] 1922 ‘HARVEY SHOW’, South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1917 – 1929), 28 October, p. 3. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210442825
[14] 1928 ‘Advertising’, The Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express (WA : 1919 – 1929), 19 October, p. 3. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87039180
[15] 1932 ‘Advertising’, Harvey Murray Times (WA : 1931 – 1955), 26 August, p. 2. , viewed 06 Oct 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article251282085
[16] 1922 ‘Advertising’, The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), 24 June, p. 4. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28172090
[17] 1924 ‘Advertising’, The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), 9 February, p. 5. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31214369
[18] 1931 ‘The Village Blacksmith.’, The Harvey-Waroona Mail (Collie, WA : 1931 – 1956), 21 August, p. 3. , viewed 28 Aug 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266732693
[19] 1934 ‘Advertising’, The Harvey-Waroona Mail (Collie, WA : 1931 – 1956), 27 April, p. 2. , viewed 06 Oct 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266735666
[20] National Archives of Australia (NAA: A627, 18841/1929, Item ID 4210106)
[21] Roesner Pty Ltd, website, https://roesner.com.au/about/#history