Ruin: Washington Winch - VIC

The Washington Winch sits in the forests of eastern Victoria near Swifts Creek and is also known as the Washington Iron Works Skidder.

Its rusting relics are close to Bentley Plain and the Moscow Villa hut which was built in 1942 by firetower man Thomas William Ah Chow.

It was a steam-powered logging skidder, or cable winch. It was one of two machines imported to Western Australia in the 1920s and was initially used by the Karri Timber Company to move the large jarrah logs. It burnt wood as fuel.

Both winches were sold to the Forests Commission Victoria for salvaging timber in the Central Highland on the Toorongo Plateau near Noojee after the 1939 Black Friday fires. The machines were able to move large logs up to 800 m by high-lead cables in the wet and steep terrain. They were also capable of lifting logs off the ground, over rocks and creeks back to a central landing.

The machine near Swifts creek was later sold and moved to its present site by local sawmilling company Ezards in 1959 where it operated until 1960-61. A large logging camp supported men operating the machine. The fate of the second machine is unknown.

With thanks to Wikipaedia