________________
Stay tuned for Episode 3 - Building the Sawmill and Fires.
The hard work of building and running the sawmill went up in flames. Twice.
Have an awesome day! Cheers, Max.
Stay tuned for Episode 3 - Building the Sawmill and Fires.
The hard work of building and running the sawmill went up in flames. Twice.
Have an awesome day! Cheers, Max.
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Max's Blog
from the
shed floor
from the
shed floor
27th January 2023
My Life Story - episode 2 - Parent's Wedding and Saw Mill House
My Life Story - episode 2 - Parent's Wedding and Saw Mill House
History, heritage, biography.
Some images expand on click.
Some images expand on click.
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Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
Max's Blog
from the shed floor
from the shed floor
Blog Posts
Previous Index Next
Previous Index Next
Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
Max's Blog
from the shed floor
from the shed floor
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Previous Index Next
Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
Max's Blog
from the shed floor
from the shed floor
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Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
My parents, Gordon and Irene, wedding was at the small timber Salvation Army Chapel in Bassendean, Western Australia.
The road ahead for them was a hard-working, tough life with bitter heartaches, but also a firm solid family unit that enjoyed the moments however they came.
My father built their first home in Third Street, Bassendean, in the early '40s, and even made the cement bricks himself. His brother, Owen, lived next door. The Third Ave, Bassendean house is still standing and was on-sold in 2010, and still looking good after 70+ years.
Grandma Sarah and daughters: Ruby, Lyla, Grace, Evelyn, and Irene.
My father and my older brother at the new block on Guildford Road, Bayswater.
My parents sold the house in Bassendean, and bought a few acres down the other end of the "mad mile", a mile long straight stretch of the main Guildford Road, the Perth road to Midland Junction.
Bassendean was at the NE end of the mad mile, and the industrial area of Bayswater down the SW end, with Ashfield in the middle. The road went alongside the railway line to Midland. As seen in the photo below, it was very much undeveloped at that time.
My parents sold the house in Bassendean, and bought a few acres down the other end of the "mad mile", a mile long straight stretch of the main Guildford Road, the Perth road to Midland Junction.
Bassendean was at the NE end of the mad mile, and the industrial area of Bayswater down the SW end, with Ashfield in the middle. The road went alongside the railway line to Midland. As seen in the photo below, it was very much undeveloped at that time.
Because we lived in an industrial area, it left us with virtually no neighbors and a lot of space to explore. Just over one kilometre to the Swan River, lots of creeks to find julgies in (small freshwater crayfish) and drains to dam in the winter. Sneaking in to raid local factories was fun, but never to damage anything - best they not know you were there! Lollies from the factory making boiled sugary sweets, exploring the coffin factory, nails from the joinery factory, paper from the paper mill and plaster from Brady's Ceilings across the railway line. Most of the time, my mother didn't know were I was, but I had to be home by dark. It was a country life in the un-developed suburds of Perth.
My father and his brother Owen were in the timber business, either firewood or saw milling timber for construction. They started small and grew into a full-size saw milling company. The image above was one of their early setups, using the front crank drive on a small Ford truck to power a circular saw, via flat belts and a gear shifter. You've got to start somewhere.
It looks like the Ford truck was stripped down and fitted out with an auxiliary motor to drive a large circular saw to cut firewood in the bush. And yes, these saws were very dangerous, and my farther lost the finger next to his thumb on his left hand using one. Cutting firewood in the bush was always a tough job, even more so before chain saws arrived, but that's another story.
Before the saw mill was built, they cut, chopped, transported and delivered firewood. Notice the charcoal burner used as fuel in the war years, as petrol and desiel was in very short supply.
The large block they purchased was on the corner of Guildford Road and Katanning Street, and had an existing house that was rented out. They occasionally used the J. Krasnostein's gantry (a crane that the boom does not move, but a steel rope is used to hoist items) to shift logs in the yard, until they built their own. In front of this house, Gordon and Owen built a Petrol Station, but that comes later. Just to the left on the picture above is were my father built his second house, the "sawmill house".
I think that the house was built first, then the sawmill, then the petrol station. Again, my father made the cement bricks to build the house, detached laundry and mechanical workshop.
Seen from the Ashfield Railway Station overpass, the main Guildford Road is on the left (half of the mad mile), and West Farmers and Crescos on the right. Our new block is way down the end on the left. This image is many years later than what is covered in this post.
The first more portable log saw on wheels was this saw blade type. Then came a Denison powered 48" circular saw on wheels, similar to the one here, but much larger - and very dangerous. The blade was driven by several "V" belts form the petrol engine. It was mostly used to cut the logs in 12" slabs, to be split with an axe for firewood. Also, the circular blade could be turned sideways to fell standing trees.
The beginning of the sawmill behind our house, were they worked in the open. The logs were dumped directly behind our back fence. The Swan River is about one kilometre away in this direction, with the Darling Range hills in the distance.
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