This week, Nicholas Pusenjak takes us to the sea-side resort town of Busselton. This was a port with a long jetty that extended over a mile into the waters of Geographe Bay. It is said to be the longest timber pile jetty in the southern hemisphere. Construction began in 1865 and it has been extended a number of times over the years. Much of the structure was destroyed in Cyclone Alby of 1978, but with money from grants, the jetty was repaired and is again open to the public. Busselton was a major port for the export of timber and the jetty was connected to the railway network so wagon loads of timber could be brought alongside ships tied up in the deep water at the end. Over 5,000 ships used the port until commercial shipping finished using the port in 1973. Maintenance of the jetty ceased when the port closed. The jetty is now a major tourist drawcard for Busselton and comes under the auspices of the Shire of Busselton. A small train now conveys visitors to an observation facility at the truncated end of the jetty. The picture below was taken on 22nd March 2013. It runs on rubber tyres and the flanged wheels and rails appear to be more for guidance than anything else. The timber jetty structure precluded the use of heavy railway locomotives and the Western Australian Government Railways needed to retain small light weight locomotives for jetty and wharf work. Three Z class 0-6-0 diesel mechanical locomotives were purchased for use on jetties and wharves where weight was an issue. A Z class was often stationed at Bunbury and would be sent to Busselton when wagons needed to be taken to and from the jetty. At other times, G class steam locomotives were used and this was the key to the survival of G233, a 2-6-0 G class that is in my pictures. Busselton is no longer served by the railway, but that was not the case in 1972 when the Bunbury Tourist Bureau ran a trip to Busselton and out to the end of the jetty using G233 and a rake of ACL side door compartment coaches. Also in the picture is HMAS Acute, one of twenty Attack class patrol boats in the Royal Australian Navy. Acute was built in 1968 by Evans Deakin in Brisbane and was decommissioned in 1983 and transferred to the Indonesian navy. She was powered by two Paxman diesel engines. Thanks so much to Nicholas for his very informative shares.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 03:41:04 +0000
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