Lindsay Calyun and friends Brucy Mippy, Noel Quartermaine and William Bodney playing at Millar’s Cave, 1965. (©West Australian Newspapers Limited)
Millar’s Timber & Trading Co. had offices on Nash Street and a joinery, timber yard and sheds on Lord Street near the railway crossing for many decades. The company played a major role in the timber industry in WA from the early 1900s until it was bought out by Bunnings in 1983. Today the area is a carpark beside St Bartholemew’s House.
Before the timber yards were demolished in the 1970s, the area offered Aboriginal people a hidden and sheltered place to meet and camp.
‘Millar’s Cave’, the unofficial name for the area, came from the name of the timber company and also from a popular 1960s American country and western song ‘Miller’s Cave’.
Way down in the state of Georgia, through the swamps and the everglades
There’s a hole in Tiger Mountain
God help the main who gets lost in Miller’s Cave
Miller’s Cave by Charlie Pride (1966)
Listen
Brenda Woods
Marie Pryor
Gallery
Millar's Timber Yard, 1935. (State Library of Western Australia)
Advertisement for Millar's Timber, The Daily News 8 June 1955.
Perth Sewerage Map showing MIllar's Timber Yard and Offices, 1953 (State Records Office, Retro Maps)
Miller's Cave sung by Charlie Pride (1966)
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