Settlers of Ruabon & LudlowPrint Page

The plaque commemorates the settlers of Ruabon and Ludlow.

In 1999, a sub-committee of the Busselton Shire Community Heritage Committee began a project to honour the memory of the group settlers in the Busselton Shire. It was decided to erect plaques on the site of each of the twenty-four group settler camps in the shire. The project was completed in 2003.

The 1920's saw a new wave of settlement for much of the region with the introduction of the federal, state and British governments' Group Settlement Scheme. Under the Group Settlement Scheme settlers were to work in small groups to develop a number of dairy farms within Australia's South West, to address Western Australia's reliance on imported dairy products. The lack of reliable transport was one impediment to the success of the scheme as the railway was not extended into the region until 1924 and farmers were forced to cart produce and supplies along hand cut tracks. The distance from the main market of Perth also hampered the distribution and sale of the milk.

By July 1927, 72 blocks had been abandoned and 124 amalgamated from the 923 blocks in the Busselton area alone. The rate of abandonment increased significantly after the onset of the depression in the 1930's as the number of livestock carried on each farm proved to be too small for economic survival. The scheme was abolished in 1930 and despite the hardship it placed upon many people it did manage to establish a dairy industry which still flourishes in many parts of the South West.
 

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