A large part of Western Australia’s economy has been built around the timber industry with the chief millable timber being Jarrah and coming from the forests of the
south-west of Western Australia. This hardwood was used for building houses and the development of the railways by the use of sleepers in the 19th and early 20th century.  

In the early years, the sleepers were cut from logs in the bush by hand with a broad axe and hauled out by animal power. Later, narrow gauge timber railways were developed to transport the logs to timber sawmills.

By the 1920s, road transport was also coming into use and this enabled the