Originally two
towns, Collie Cardiff and West Collie, the town was given it’s current name
in 1896 after Dr Alexander Collie, who explored the area in 1829.
The area was at first recognised as being useful for pasture land and timber
production, but with the discovery of coal in 1883, Collie's direction was
from that point on well and truly set. The declaration of Collie as a
townsite in 1896 speeded the arrival of both resident population and
associated infrastructure, such as railway.
From this humble beginning Collie grew to become an important West
Australian town, supplying the State with coal - the all important resource
for power production in railways, shipping, and generation of electricity.
Timber was produced in abundance from the surrounding hardwood forest and
agriculture sprang up on the periphery, but these were all subsidiary to the
production of coal. Coal and coal related industry was (and still is)
Collie's main economic base.
The known history of Cardiff can be neatly divided into two periods; the
mining era from 1902 until 1960, and the present era.
Cardiff was originally a timber camp, but with the opening of the coal mine
in 1903 the population swelled as miners and their families settled close to
the mine. Bound close by ties of kinship, school, work union and sporting
loyalties, the Cardiff folk made up a colourful and tight knit community.
Cardiff's peak population was 600.
The gantry of the mine dominated the landscape: its lights and sounds part
of the warp and woof of Cardiff Life. The mine, the river, the hall, the
train and the school, these were the focal points of old Cardiff life, and
somehow or other everything revolved around them. The Masonic and Buffalo
lodges as well as the RSL met at the hall. There were balls and weddings,
dancing classes, concerts and band practice, the Pictures and church
services.
Pre WW1 Photographs show large numbers of people gathered by the river for
celebrations. Even the Chinese market gardeners, industriously cultivating
their paddies on Smith's farm in the thirties, looked to the river for the
water with which they ingeniously irrigated their crops.
The closure of the school at the end of the year in 1950 saw the gradual
decline of the Cardiff mining community even before the mine closure in
December 1960 as families moved into Collie for greater comfort. However
after some years Cardiff came into its own again.
People who like to live an individualistic lifestyle away from town
pressures bought the empty houses. 60 acres by the river was subdivided,
soon farmlets with new houses were springing up on them, and a new and
different Cardiff community came into being. Problems this community have
addressed have included the threat of expansion of underground mining
sterilising surface properties (no longer a problem), a drop in ground water
levels and most daunting of all, the complete dewatering of the wonderful
river pools of the south branch of the Collie River, which have been
Cardiff's pride and joy since settlement began.
A resolute and organised community have confronted all these problems with
efficiency and determination. Solutions and investigations are ongoing. The
Cardiff Hall built in 1915, was restored and refurbished in the early 90's
by voluntary labour and Lotteries Funding.
Collie Burn and Collie Cardiff began as settlements simultaneously, with the
construction of the rail line from Collie to Cardiff in 1901. The Scottish
and Collie Burn Collieries attracted workers to Collie Burn and the Cardiff
Colliery attracted workers to Cardiff.
Flooding from the river eventually led to the closure of both the Collie
Burn mines before WW1.
Unlike its close neighbour Cardiff, Collie Burn did not have a school and
the children travelled by train into Collie every day. However it did have a
town hall, Post Office and telephone exchange.
After WW2 the little settlement gradually fell into disrepair as families
moved out and flimsy houses were moved or abandoned to the elements and the
white ants.
The closure of the Cardiff mine, the availability of better housing in
Collie, work in other areas and improvements to transport all contributed to
the desertion of the little village.
Only a few houses remain now of the many which once dotted the town area.
Blocks which once contained houses have been absorbed into farmland, but if
one looks hard, remnants of the former village can be discerned. Chinaman's
Bridge is still there as a reminder of the Chinese market gardeners who
established gardens in that area in the twenties and early thirties.
Driving up to Collie at night, on a high stretch of Coalfields Highway,
there suddenly appears on the far left horizon a great blaze of many lights,
like a large city in the midst of the wilderness. These are the lights of
Worsley Alumina Refinery.
Some kilometres further along the highway is the road into the refinery.
Gastaldo Road; curving through re-growth forest it leads to the complex where
bauxite from the Darling Ranges is refined into alumina, the base product
for manufacturing aluminium.
The only structures remaining of Worsley, once a thriving timber town are
the large multi-peaked house, once the mill manager's residence and the St
David's Roman Catholic Church visible from Gastaldo Road. (the main township
was north of these buildings)
Worsley was once bigger than Collie and its jarrah forest was once the
largest stand of its kind in the world. The town has now disappeared and the
spindly jarrah regrowth is but a reminder of milling history. Milling
started in the area in 1895 when James Port and Richard Honey began the
tramway which is now Beela Road. They also had two other mills, one on
Victor Road and one opposite the present pole dump. Much of the timber from
these mills was exported to Britain through Bunbury port.
Coalfields Highway between the Worsley turn off and Roelands follows almost
the same route that was used by the horse and bullock teams transporting
timber from these mills.
Worsley hit its zenith in 1902, with a population of 1500, a two teacher
school, two butcher shops, two grocery stores a billiard saloon, an Anglican
and a Roman Catholic Church. It was a prosperous little town. The good days
continued until 1914 but a gradual decline over each succeeding decade until
1953 was marked by the closure of the school. The town, or what was left of
it, disappeared.
The Worsley Alumina Refinery opened in April 1984, but few of its workers
live in Collie, fewer in the Worsley countryside. Up to 2300 people have
been employed in Worsley expansion project, which began in 1997 and is
drawing to a close. The temporary accommodation camp housed over 1400
workers at its peak.
The pole dump, the last remnant of Worsley's timber industry is being run by
Rod Lee for firewood and fencing posts. Occupants of the Mill Manager's
house plan to restore the historic building and church to its former glory
and establish a heritage orchard on the old Gastaldo homestead and orchid
site.
Allanson, as it is known today was first called 'The 21 Mile' because it was
twenty-one miles from Roelands. It was given that name by the old teamsters
who hauled the equipment to the new mine that was starting there - the first
mine that was put down in Collie. The old dump is still there, by the oval,
opposite the school.
Coal was discovered on the Collie River in the early 1880's in the locality
of what became known as West Collie and was later re-named Allanson.
The coal
story
There is still some contention about who first discovered coal in the area
but the information we have gathered has produced the following story:
A shepherd called George Marsh was employed by Arthur Perrin. One day when
George built his campfire in the evening as usual he noticed some black
lumps in the ground. After the fire had gone out the black lumps continued
to smoulder until they were reduced to ash. Thinking this might be coal he
reported the find to Perrin who convinced George that there was nothing to
it.
Perrin obviously recognised the coal for what it was as he arranged for
George to ‘find’ work somewhere else and George left the area leaving Perrin
the sole claimant to the discovery. Perrin then spent the next few years
trying to organise a reward for anyone who found coal and kept the secret to
himself. He fell ill and fearing he might die let the secret slip to his
brother John. John could not keep a secret and the information got out.
A proposal was made to Arthur by David Hay and an agreement was duly signed.
Hay had no more scruples than Arthur and along with his other partner,
Dixon, Hay set about taking up leases in the area and carefully omitting
Perrin’s name.
Finally the Government offered a 1000 pound reward for the discovery and
both Perrin and Hay put in separate claims.
An enquiry found that Perrin had been the source of the information but his
agreement with Hay meant the reward had to be equally shared.
Meanwhile the forgotten George Marsh had died and had no opportunity to be
recognised as the original discoverer.
The Collie Commercial Coal Company was established in 1890 and set about
digging shafts in the area to determine if payable coal could be found.
As is so often the case in the mining industry the company came so very
close but gave up just before they hit ‘pay dirt’. The next group to move in
found a coal seam just 6 feet from where the original company had stopped
digging.
The Government's subsequent test drilling programme of the early 1890's
showed optimistic results and, within a few years, numerous leaseholders
began to consolidate their interests.
One of the main groups to emerge was headed by William Thornboro Atkinson.
With this group's interest lying in the West Collie area, and their
enthusiasm to begin full-scale operations, Atkinson can now be recognised as
one of Allanson's earliest pioneers. A highly qualified Mining Engineer, he
had participated in the Government's earlier test-drilling programme and, in
a report to the Premier, Sir John Forrest on 1894, had stressed what he
considered to be the value of the fireclay underlying the coal seams. He was
convinced that the fireclay would possibly prove more valuable than the coal
itself. Thus, when his group formed the "Coalfields West, Coal and Fireclay
Company Ltd." They, and other early companies, included the mining of
fireclay in their prospectuses and when he commenced sinking a shaft (on
Mineral lease 31) in 1897, he also began the construction of a large
brickworks on the adjoining Mining Lease (32) in anticipation of a thriving
dual venture - coal and fireclay.
On the 11th of November, 1897, instructions were issued to the Registrar of
the Lands and Surveys Department that an existing file should be made the
subject of a new file: "Proposed new Townsite" some miles away from the
Collie Townsite. This simple formality was to mark the first consideration
given to West Collie as a prospective settlement, on a par with the
settlement of the Collie townsite.
Mr Atkinson made application to the Mining Registrar at Collie by Atkinson
for the Mineral Lease of an area, the greater portion of which clashed with
the temporary reserve for the townsite. As Atkinson's mine was the only
colliery in the area at the time, it can be reasonably concluded that the
Collie district's first private coalmine, the remains of which are still
visible today by the Allanson Oval, opposite the school, was named the "Forrestville".
Following the closure of the "Forrestville" at the West Collie settlement,
the interests of the Atkinson syndicate were taken over by the Moira
Colliery Which worked Mineral Lease 245 on the western outskirts of the
Collie townsite - this mine later became the co-operative Colliery. By
September 1905 it had been noted that the population of west Collie was
rapidly diminishing and therefore no further plans were prepared for
subdivision.
Early mining
attempts were less than successful with seams not opening up as expected,
too much shale and faults causing mine collapses. In 1901 a fire in the
Wallsend Mine caused its closure for a number of months. Imported coal was
cheaper than the local product - coal from Newcastle was in fact being used
in locomotive in Collie! and as Collie coal was said to cause too many
sparks, it was banned in locomotives travelling in agricultural areas in
summer.
Finally it was
a shortage of coal from New South Wales (due to industrial problems) that
saw things start to turn for the better in Collie.
It was not until January 28th, 1908, that the townsite of West Collie was
officially declared when the Under Secretary for Lands notified both the
Premier of Western Australia and the Mining Registrar, Collie.
By 1913, there was an urgent demand for West Collie lots as the whole of
those which had been thrown open for release had already been applied for to
the Lands and Surveys Department. In July, 1915, the Secretary for Railways
wrote to the Under Secretary for Lands regarding a change of name for West
Collie.
The name of the townsite of Allanson, formerly West Collie, was officially
gazetted on March 31st 1916. "The area adopted the name Allanson to honour
Allan Wilson MLA., who was one of the earliest miners to work in West
Collie. He was a civic leader, as well as being spokesman for the mine
workers at both mine and district levels. Mr Wilson was district secretary
of the Mineworkers' Union from 1904 to 1910. While secretary of the union he
won the right to represent the electorate in the Legislative Assembly,
holding the seat from 1908 to 1948". - " One Day in Collie" by HW Williams
In keeping with the true spirit of the early pioneers in the throes of
establishing themselves as a community, one of the first community-based
efforts of the people of Allanson (after the establishment of the school)
was the building of a hall, or "meeting place." The full force of the Great
Depression hit Allanson in 1931 when the "Great Westralia Coal Mine" ceased
operations. History repeated itself. The Westralia met the same ultimate end
as the ill-fated "Forrestville" colliery and, although Allanson's population
did not drop as immediately and dramatically as in 1898, from this time
onwards we see the beginning of a gradual decline. Allanson once again
reverted from a thriving industrial centre to a "dreamy looking little
wayside hamlet".
On January 29th, 1967 a special Allanson Progress Association meeting was
held to decide what was to become of the Allanson Hall as the annual Water
Rates and Electricity Bills were gradually eating out the remaining funds of
the association. It was decided that the hall would be sold by Public
Tender. A Mr Stan Walton bought the hall, complete, and transported it to
Geraldton where he used the timber to re-build a house.
The Allanson Bushfire Brigade formed in the late 1950's as an offshoot of
the Progress Association.
Today, Allanson displays its history in the landmarks and quaint buildings
still characteristic throughout the town - memorials of what was once a
thriving community of mills and mine people.
The development of the late 1970's, of the Allanson Park "hobby-farm
sub-division was the first sign of new growth. However, the revitalisation
of the local bush fire Brigade, the re-formation of the Progress Association
and the Government's endorsement of its faith in the future of Allanson by
the building of a primary school is what shows promise of a rosy future.
Extracts taken from "A History of Allanson - Our Little Bush School"
compiled and edited by Aileen Rusconi & Esther Saunders
Most of Perth’s power is generated by the Muja power plant. Unlike other
coal towns overseas, Collie is most attractive. The surrounding area
includes Wellington Dam, and the Collie River winds it's way west towards
Australind. (Muja is the Aboriginal name for the
Cabbage or Christmas Tree
(Nuytsia floribunda.))
Swimming spots, camp sites, bush walks, good fishing and plenty of areas to
explore make this a must see town if you are in the general area. Remember
if you want to fish in the river or dam, you must have a freshwater fishing
license. (Available from any post office).
There are some good swimming holes around the town including the original
coal discovery site that has been converted into a water recreation area.
Surrounding Wellington dam are miles of dirt roads which wind their way
through the forest.
Sections of the above text were provided by the Town of Collie for
inclusion.
