Mundaring & Hills HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mount Helena
Timber town . .
Mount Helena was a timber town in its earliest days, chosen as a sawmill site in 1882. White’s Mill provided timber for some significant buildings around Perth as well as the railways. It pioneered the firewood industry in the Hills, railing waste timber to populated centres.
Image: Mount Helena Railway Station. WAGR 7544
where lines crossed ….
Abandoned, White’s Mill was taken over by Lion Timber and hence a townsite gazetted in 1899 was known as Lion Mill. By that time the mill itself had passed its peak of production and horticulturalists took up land in the area. But timber cutting remained an important source of income while others made wages from working for the railways, since Lion Mill was an important stopping place on the railway line. The original Eastern Railway line via Boya and the less steep deviation through Jane Brook valley crossed over here.
renamed for its position
Lion Mill was renamed Mount Helena in 1924 following a competition asking for suggestions from schoolchildren. The name they chose ‘Hillcrest’ was duplicated in New South Wales so Mount Helena was chosen as a reminder of the old Helena Land District and the place being a relatively high point on the railway.
Above: Building the Greenmount District Road Board Offices in Lion Mill, 1906.
Above: Lion Mill School, 1903.
Above: Lion Mill Hotel and Cricket Match, 1924.