Ludlow, Western Australia

The Wardandi people inhabited the Ludlow area before European settlement.{{cite web|url=https://www.ludlowtuartforest.org.au/page/ludlow-history/|title=Ludlow history|publisher=Ludlow Tuart Forest Restoration Group|accessdate=11 August 2019}} A school, Ludlow School (originally known as Ludlow Bridge School), existed in the area as early as 1866, but initially operated intermittently due to low patronage.{{cite web|url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Admin/api/file/31eddfd0-8a64-8afd-a799-8ed23cb672f8|title=Assessment Documentation: Ludlow Forestry Mill and Settlement|publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia|format=PDF|accessdate=12 August 2019}}

A pine plantation was first set up at Ludlow in 1909,with a nursery being developed in 1916. After the passage of the Forestry Act (1918), Conservator of Forests Charles Lane Poole set up a small forestry settlement in the area, along with the Ludlow Forestry School, the first such institution in Western Australia, which operated from 1921 to 1927. During the 1920s the area was also part of the Group Settlement Scheme for dairy production, and a general store and district office were built, as well as a new school building for children in the Ludlow area.{{cite web|url=https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/60219-ruabon-ludlow-settlers-memorial|title=Ruabon - Ludlow Settlers Memorial|publisher=Monuments Australia|accessdate=15 August 2019}}

The first thinnings were harvested from the pine plantation in 1936/37 and by the early 1940s timber from Ludlow was being used to make cases and crates for food storage during World War II. During the post-war housing boom, Ludlow was used to supply plywood for the housing industry. European immigrants ("New Australians") began working in the Ludlow pine plantation and by the mid-1950s a sawmill and planer mill, along with workers' cottages that formed the main Ludlow forestry settlement, had been constructed. The settlement was divided by the Ludlow River; the north side, where most of the cottages were built, is in the area of the Shire of Capel.{{cite web|url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/1a90e80c-c880-41c5-8517-184d9bb8a754|title=Ludlow Forestry Mill and Settlement|publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia|accessdate=15 August 2019}}

By the early 1970s the sawmill had been closed and plantings were discontinued in the pine plantation in 1973; the planer mill was closed a few years later. The Tuart Forest National Park was declared in the area in 1987 and The Ludlow Forestry Mill and Settlement was registered on the State Register of Heritage Places in 2006. In 2016 the Department of Parks and Wildlife, which rented out the cottages, evicted the occupants, citing maintenance issues, age, and housing conditions; the cottages have since been abandoned.{{cite news|url=https://thewest.com.au/news/busselton-dunsborough-times/ludlow-tourism-potential-ng-b88347080z|title=Ludlow tourism potential|work=Busselton Dunsborough Times|date=31 January 2017|first=Pierra|last=Willix|accessdate=15 August 2019}} In 2021, the volunteer Ludlow Tuart Forest Restoration Group released a masterplan for a future forest education, research and tourist centre at the Ludlow forestry settlement.{{cite web|url=https://www.ludlowtuartforest.org.au/blog/post/8362/ludlow-masterplan/|title=Ludlow masterplan|publisher=Ludlow Tuart Forest Restoration Group|date=21 December 2021|access-date=31 January 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.swtimes.com.au/news/south-western-times/plans-to-turn-historic-ludlow-timber-village-into-tourism-precinct-ng-b881578872z|title=Plans to turn historic Ludlow timber village into tourism precinct|work=South Western Times|date=23 June 2020|first=Shannon|last=Verhagen|access-date=31 January 2022}}

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Category:Timber towns in Western Australia

Category:Shire of Capel

Category:State Register of Heritage Places in the Shire of Capel

Category:State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Busselton

Category:City of Busselton