Information

The Wolston sawmill was built in the early 1880s by Daniel Jones of Goodna, who in 1882 had successfully applied to the Railways Commissioner to load firewood at the siding at the cattle yard at Wolston. The sawmill was on railway land, 200m on the Brisbane side of Wolston (Wacol) station. The nearby asylum also had its own sawmill, by the rafting ground on Woogaroo Creek. Many small mills, often on railway land, worked to supply the towns with firewood and building materials. Thomas Skyring leased half an acre of railway land at Darra in 1885 ‘for the purpose of erecting an engine for cutting firewood’. Timber carrying was a major income for the railways, which also used huge quantities of timber for sleepers as they expanded their networks.

Daniel Jones had also opened a sawmill in Goodna in 1884, employing 14 hands. It seems he soon sold the Wolston mill and developed his larger sawmill in Goodna. In 1888, the Queensland Coal, Coke and Firewood Co advertised a ‘steam sawmill’ at Wolston. In 1924, the plant was for sale and locals report that the Wolston sawmill was defunct by the Depression years.

Citations

Vicki Mynott, ‘Wacol, Wolston, Woogaroo (1823-2014), Vol 1’, Inala Heights: Richlands, Inala and Suburbs History Group Inc., 2014.

Image Citations

Sawmills like this one at Canungra (circa 1913) provided employment for many rural communities in 19th century Queensland. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Record number: 157966

Map References

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