The Wharf

18 August 1939

Bunbury wharf was for years straight and only small steamers and ships could be accommodated at it. Any ship drawing more than 16 ft. had to haul off and the rest of the cargo of timber lightened off. Mr. Ian Moore had a 12 ton lighter built on the north bank of the estuary nearly opposite where the electric light building now stands. A Mr. Gibbs and his sons and James Wenn were the builders. She was a good sailor and Charles Berry had charge of her for a few years working her on shares. 

The Steam Company also had a 25-ton lighter (Hampton). William Hislop used to work her for the agent (Mr. R. Forrest) mostly on share conditions, for about 7 ½ years Ted Withers drove a horse on the wharf taking timber for Mr. C. Davies also all the cargo in and out as the wharf was let at a yearly rent to the company. 

A few years later another horse was used to help get the cargo down and back as there was no engine in the district. There was a big shed under the hill opposite Forrest's Mill which would hold about 120 tons of goods and the carts and carriers used to deliver the goods. 

All the timber from the Ferguson mill was brought in by horse and bullock teams. There were quite a number of both. They unloaded on the roadside and men did the stacking. Sometimes there were large stacks of sleepers and piles, also sawn timber of a lot of different sizes and lengths. The piles often reached from the corner where the Burlington Hotel stands now, about five piles on the bottom and four on the top on both sides of Victoria-street to Henry street corner. The men used to square the ends with a crosscut saw and cut the wanted lengths of both hewn and sawn timber. 

Stacks of sleepers used to be opposite where the Union room stands now, 15 to 20 high. I do not suppose the council would allow it now but if you want to get timber away you must have somewhere to stack it. 

Bunbury has altered a great deal these last 20 years and all the old ways of loading have altered but the old days were good days with plenty of hard work for little money but we were all happy, and the hotels used to do a fair trade and would serve you all day and night. You might say that they never really closed. The storekeepers always kept open till 9 or 10 every night. 

There was no Saturday half holiday and there was a good deal of selling quietly on the Sunday. A lot of Boston whalers used the bay in the summer for fresh vegetables and meat as they used to be away from their home port for from one to two years and used to give their sailors a run ashore for the day in turns.