Entire WA town up for grabs
Fancy buying an entire town?
Look no further than the former timber mill town of Tone River, near Manjimup.
Built as a mill town in 1952, timber operations closed at Tone River in 1978 and the property became a wilderness camp, run by the Department of Sport and Recreation for three decades.
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After nine years in limbo, the State Government sold the property to a private enterprise last year. But the new owner, a builder who was keen to revive the site, has had a change of heart and is retiring.
Now, the 39.8ha property, which includes 20 cottages, a town hall, workshop, an old reception office, undercover barbecue area, two tennis courts and its own cricket oval, is back on the market.
Lot 83 Radburn Road (Lake Muir) Manjimup, WA 6258. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
“Since families could not readily get to Manjimup, they did most of their shopping at the general store, which stocked every conceivable item. Bread and milk were delivered daily from Manjimup,” McConnell says in her written history A Town Like Tone.
“The store also served as a bank and a post office. Mail was delivered three times a week.
There was a petrol bowser outside the store and a public phone booth, the only telephone in town except for the company phone inside the store.
“The houses had been built in 1949 from the same design used by the State Housing Commission. They all had electricity and wood stoves for cooking. Bunnings provided this housing to the families for a very low rate (around $10 a week for rent).”
This bush and river paradise once operated as a wilderness retreat. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
The town, which had a steam-powered mill, employed 117 men at its peak.
“Many migrants came to Australia and took jobs at the mill town because it gave them a chance to make some money and establish themselves in their new country,” McConnell writes.
“Many of these migrants came from England, but Tone River had people from quite a few European countries as well – Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Serbo-Croatia.”
But numbers dwindled in the declining industry and the mill closed in 1978.
Some houses were sold and removed, while the clubhouse was bought by the Walpole Country Club.
Selling agent Colin Wallbank, from LJ Hooker Pemberton-Manjimup, says the former timber settlement now presents a unique proposition for a buyer with vision.
The houses had been built in 1949. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
“We were previously marketing the property and had lots of interest from community groups and not-for-profit groups. There was even talk of someone buying it as a rehab centre or a health retreat,” Wallbank says.
“Given the wide expanses of river and its private location, it’s very unique in its offerings.”
Wallbank says the basic timber cottages are in varying conditions and many need work. Two cottages on the site are privately owned.
The property will be auctioned at 6pm on November 14 at LJ Hooker Victoria Park, 288 Albany Highway.
This article originally appeared as “Fancy buying an entire town?”.
