Old Whittakers Mill Rest Area

Old Whittaker’s Mill, off Forrest Highway, is a day rest area that was once a timber mill site.

Located at the corner of Bagieau Road, it has excellent shade and plenty of room, but no facilities.

History

This site was one of Whittaker’s timber mills from 1952 until 1961.

Whittaker Bros was a significant timber producer whose output is linked to the development of Western Australia throughout the 20th Century.

Arthur George Whittaker founded a timber business in the early 1890s. Originally from Melbourne, his experiences in Victoria and America were incorporated into the methods and plant his company utilised.

At one stage, one of the workers at the mill, Amerigo Bucciarelli, left a handwritten plaque on a tree that explains the site’s history.

Amerigo Bucciarelli was a post-World War II refugee who was grateful for the opportunity to start a new life in Australia. Mr Bucciarelli explains on the sign about planting the pine trees there in 1953. T

The sign is no longer there.