Summary

The Enterprise Mill was a large sawmilling operation situated on the southern slopes of Mt Victoria, above the Warburton township, that was originally established by the Enterprise Sawmilling Co. Pty Ltd in 1922.

Logs harvested in the Cement Creek catchment to the north were transported to the mill along a tramway running down Cement Creek, which crossed the O'Shannassay Aqueduct on a concrete arch bridge, situated about 1 km west of Yuonga Road. Sawn Timber from the mill was dispatched to metropolitan markets over a tramway running down to the La La Siding on the Victorian Railways Warburton Railway, crossing the Yarra River by a wooden bridge near the La La Sidings Turntable, close to the present-day Bramich Bridge.

The business was forced into liquidation in 1925, with the sawmill and timber concessions being sold to Cuming, Smith & Co. for £9,500, following a dispute between the shareholders leading to protracted litigation. The mill continued to operate until 1932, when all plant and equipment were sold by public auction.

No evidence of the former mill site remains near the end of Henri Street, off Brisbane Parade. The abandoned tramway bridge over the O'Shannassy Aqueduct is still extant, as are remnants of the tramway formation where it enters the forest across the bridge.

Description of Content

View from the southern slopes of Mount Victoria, overlooking the Enterprise Sawmill, towards the township of Warburton in the background. White smoke is billowing from a chimney at the sawmill. A large plume of smoke or fog/mist hangs over the hillside and township in the background, In the foreground are the stumps of several former large trees on the hillslope above the mill, and a single tall tree fern, while down the gully closer to the mill is the bleached white trunk of a tall dead eucalypt tree left standing when the forest was cleared. Behind the mill in the right middle ground is a cleared patch of grass used as the Warburton Football Ground, situated within a bend of the Yarra River.

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