{"id":452230,"date":"2026-02-01T20:07:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452230\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T20:07:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:07:39","slug":"end-of-era-for-iconic-nsw-mid-north-coast-attraction-timbertown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452230\/","title":{"rendered":"End of era for iconic NSW mid-north coast attraction Timbertown"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a holiday high point and school excursion for thousands for almost 50 years, but last week, heritage theme park Timbertown closed its doors.<\/p>\n

Located in Wauchope, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, Timbertown provided a glimpse of what life was like for Australia’s colonial-era pioneers of the timber industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The park opened to the public in 1976, and for almost five decades featured a working steam sawmill, bullock teams, a blacksmith, a colonial-era general store, schoolhouse and the crowd favourite, a traditional steam-powered train.<\/p>\n

\"Bullocky,<\/p>\n

Timbertown gave visitors a glimpse of life in the early timber cutting days, including carting logs with bullocks. (ABC News: Emma Siossian)<\/p>\n

In December, owner David Waite announced the park would close its doors in the new year.<\/p>\n

The finite opportunity to see or revisit the living museum saw numbers through Timbertown’s door surge right up until the end.<\/p>\n

“It’s been 500 per cent busier since Boxing Day, every single day and it’s not quietened down,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Timbertown has been the main attraction in Wauchope for the past 49 years. (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n

Timbertown’s last visitors\u00a0<\/p>\n

People arrived from near and far this week for Timbertown’s last day, including Sue Murphy, who travelled from Nowra on the NSW south coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sue Murphy drove five and a half hours to go to Timbertown on its last day.\u00a0 (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n

“I’ve always wanted to come here,” she said.<\/p>\n

“[The closure is] so sad, I couldn’t believe it, it’s a great place.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lake Cathie resident Frances Till had a short drive to Timbertown, where she wanted to make one last visit to add to her fond memories of taking her family there in the early 2000s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Frances Till has fond memories of taking her family to Timbertown. (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n

“You used to have the bushrangers going out and holding up the train \u2026 all the kids wanted to go and do everything,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My eldest son loved Thomas the Tank Engine and he called the station manager the Fat Controller; he wasn’t too impressed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The steam locomotive was the main attraction for train enthusiast Alex Albans, who travelled from Newcastle for one last experience of Timbertown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alex Albans was a big fan of Timbertown. (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n

“It’s not just the steam train I came up for though, it’s the heritage of the place and everything else.<\/p>\n

“I love everything about the place, you’ve got the heritage, you’ve got the history of the timber cutting and of course the gold panning.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Good memories<\/p>\n

Mr Waite took over Timbertown in 2010 after the park faced financial struggles and was put up for sale.<\/p>\n

He moved his life and family from Marsden Park in Sydney’s north-west to Wauchope to carry on Timbertown’s legacy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Timbertown featured a working steam-powered sawmill, a fire station, traditional general store and school house. (ABC Rural)<\/p>\n

The decision to close was a difficult one, but one tied to family and years of working seven days a week.<\/p>\n

“It was never a financial decision,” Mr Waite said.<\/p>\n

“I want more family time. I’ve got beautiful grandchildren now, I want to have Christmas off, Easter off, I want to see them on the weekend.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Waite said he walked away with fond memories.<\/p>\n

“I’m overwhelmed this holiday with the amount of people who have come up and shaken my hand and said, ‘Thanks for what you’ve done for 16 years.’<\/p>\n

“A lady this morning put $50 in my pocket and said, ‘Make sure you have a few beers on me tonight’; the wife has been sent flowers several times over the last few weeks.”<\/p>\n

\"Tall<\/p>\n

The steam train ride has been the main attraction at the heritage park over the past decade. (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n

Timbertown was renowned as a school excursion destination for generations of children from as far afield as Sydney, Newcastle, Tamworth and Tweed Heads.<\/p>\n

“Quite often you’d get school kids come in a little bit disinterested, but then they start doing gold panning and they find a little gemstone and they’d leave here super excited,” Mr Waite said.<\/p>\n

“I really will miss that.”Uncertain future<\/p>\n

A campaign to sell the park via expressions of interest last year was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

An auction of more than 10,000 items from the park, including the locomotives, will be held in May, with hopes the site will eventually find a buyer.<\/p>\n

“All the interest so far has been in the land only, not in Timbertown or its assets,” Mr Waite said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a holiday high point and school excursion for thousands for almost 50 years, but last week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[233491,18679,43,12652,44,3860,7134,113094,78865,233489,41,39,42,40,233490],"class_list":["post-452230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australian-colonial-history","tag-closure","tag-headlines","tag-heritage","tag-news","tag-port-macquarie","tag-sale","tag-steam-trains","tag-theme-park","tag-timbertown","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wauchope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}