page_title: Washington Winch
hierarchical_section_title: Washington Winch
caption_attribution_description: English: Washington Steam Winch in operation, 1939 Salvage logging on the Toorongo Plateau near Noojee
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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.
  The advent of more powerful bulldozers, crawler tractors, haulage trucks and petrol chainsaws dramatically changed logging practices after WW2. It then became feasible for machines to harvest logs and for trucks to haul them directly from the forest to town-based sawmills within a few hours. The new diesel and petrol technology eventually made steam power and the Washington Winch redundant.
  The winch remains a unique part of Victoria's cultural heritage and logging history; left intact with engine, spars and cabling still rigged for work it is the only steam-powered engine of its kind in Australia. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, and is managed and protected by local staff at Swifts Creek employed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).
  A roof was put over the winch to protect it from the elements, the original spars had rotted and were replaced with messmate poles and new cables were restrung in about 1999.
caption: Washington Winch - 1939 salvage logging on Toorongo Plateau near Noojee.
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