The Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association (FCRPA) have received a couple of very generous donations over the last few months.
One is the brass identification plate from the Washington Winch.
The winch sits deep in the forest east of Swifts Creek and is the last one of its particular type left in Australia.
It was made by the Washington Iron Works company in Seattle.
This unique winch was one of two machines imported in 1920 to operate in the Karri forests of WA.
Both machines were later purchased by the Forests Commission after the 1939 bushfires for salvage logging at Toorongo to drive elaborate “high lead” cable systems.
This particular machine was later sold to Jack Ezard from Swifts Creek in 1959 where it operated on its current site until about 1961. The fate of the second machine is unknown. It was possibly cannibalised for parts.
The Ezards were innovative sawmillers who introduced high lead logging into Victoria. They had owned and operated sawmills in the Warburton area from 1907, before shifting to Erica in Gippsland in 1932.
Bulldozers and powerful logging trucks eventually made steam and the Washington Winch redundant.
The plate was recovered from underneath the Washington Winch in about 1980. Permission was sought at the time from Ezards sawmills.
The heavy 21 cm diameter plaque with the markings 11 x 14 refers to the double drums and the serial number is assumed to be 3832.
It will be displayed at DEECA’s Altona Museum.
The winch is listed on the State Heritage Register.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Winch
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 