M. C. Davies

Who was M. C. Davies?

Maurice Coleman Davies was a timber miller in the early history of Western Australia. He created the M.C.Davies Karri and Jarrah Timber Company, a timber empire that employed hundreds of men, laid over a hundred kilometres of private railway, and even built its own private ports for exporting of timber.

Maurice Coleman Davies was born in London on 24 September 1835. His family migrated to Australia when he was about five years old, and settled in southern Tasmania as farmers. In 1847, the family moved to New Norfolk, where Davies' father found work as a shopkeeper. In 1851 the Davies family joined the gold rush to the Victorian gold fields.

M. C. Davies moved to South Australia in 1856, establishing himself as a supplier of building materials. His venture was a financial success, and by 1867 he was operating as a general commission agent and merchant in Adelaide, specialising in the supply of hardwood timber to the railway and construction industries. In 1872, Davies was part of a successful tender for the construction of a section of the Adelaide to Melbourne railway. This required a steady supply of quality hardwood, which was scarce in South Australia. Davies was involved in the difficult task of contracting for timber, and during this time he became interested in the large forests of Jarrah and Karri in Western Australia. In 1875 he migrated to Western Australia, and the following year was granted a licence to cut timber. He then erected two saw mills on the Collie River. The success of these mills was limited, mainly because of the poor quality of road between the mills and the port of Bunbury.