Tramways to Timboon

Tramways to Timboon The rails and resource of the Heytesbury Forest By Peter Evans Early-bird Pricing. After October 4 the price will be $66.00 ($49.50 for members) Published by the LRRSA ISBN 978-0-9093-406-3-6 Hard cover, 180 pages on art paper, A4 size, 61 maps and diagrams, 200 other illustrations, with bibliography, references, and index The Heytesbury forest once occupied huge swathes of south-west Victoria, stretching from Warrnambool in the west to Lake Corangamite in the east, and south to the infamous shipwreck coast. A heavily-timbered land, but with occasional open areas of grasstree plain and swampland, swarming with leeches in winter, snake infested in summer, and where not only the first settlers, but their children and grand children were pioneers. This book recounts the history of the Camperdown to Timboon broad-gauge branch line of the Victorian Railways, opened in 1892, and describes all the known tramways served by it. It includes the history of over 100 individual sawmills; as well as that of numerous lime works and quarry operations, many of which used tramways as an integral part of their operation. This book outlines the processes and policies that used land selection and sawmills to clear the forest, and establish dairy farms and the other industries that followed the railway. <!– –>