Description

Bellbrakes, Bullocks & Bushmen
A Sawmilling and Tramway History of Gembrook, 1885–1985
By Mike McCarthy

Softcover | 104 pages | A4 size
Includes 71 photographs, 17 maps and diagrams

After the narrow-gauge railway reached Gembrook in 1900 (64 km east of Melbourne), sawmilling became the region’s leading industry. Over sixty sawmill sites operated in the forests east of town, producing large volumes of timber—supplying not only Melbourne but also the local orchard industry with essential fruit cases.

An extensive network of tramways connected these bush mills to the railway, stretching east and north of Gembrook. This book explores the construction and operation of those tramways, while also telling the stories of the mills and the bush workers who kept them running.

Bellbrakes, Bullocks & Bushmen is a reprint of the long out-of-print 1987 edition.