Is this the end of Timbertown? Historic park listed for sale

🏷️ What’s happening? Wauchope’s Tourist attraction Timbertown is up for sale, with Expressions of Interest now open until November 25.

🗝️ Why is this happening? Owners David and Alison Waite are ready to hand over the keys.

🗣️ “After 16 years of owning it, the wife and I have decided that it's time for us to retire and spend more time with our new grandchildren and family,” Waite told the Mid North Coaster.

🔮What does this mean? The future of Timbertown is uncertain as the couple explore expressions of interest. 

🗣️ “I’m not sure if someone out there is committed enough to do what we did 16 years ago and keep Timbertown going – or if it may be better suited for an alternate use,” Waite said, who admits he’d like to see Timbertown live on.

 “But that decision will rest on whoever wishes to buy it.”

🎟️ What’s on offer: The attraction is a recreation of an 1880 -1910 working timber settlement, with about 40 buildings making up the heritage theme park.

When the Waite family took over in 2010, at the top of the list was restoring the steam train that sat idle for 18 months. It was back in operation that same year, and continues a two-and-a-half-kilometre journey through nearby forest.

• The park has paddle boats, carriage rides, a steam sawmill, and a gold-panning stream “very popular with the children”. Timbertown also includes a winery.

💭 Looking back: The Waites packed up their lives in Sydney over a decade ago to purchase Timbertown, leaving behind a home, a business, and taking their three children out of primary school.

• “I’ve always had a passion for collecting steam items mainly, and heritage vintage machinery and vehicles,” Waite said. “I was going to do a smaller scale museum on our property near Windsor in Sydney, and then I got a phone call one day in 2009 from a local fella… he said, ‘Timbertown’s going to close down forever’”.
  

  📍One of the last heritage-themed parks: Waite said Timbertown is the oldest heritage-themed park left in New South Wales, and probably one of the last.

🗣️“All these heritage parks that were built in the '60s and '70s have gone, and I believe Timbertown is one of the last heritage parks where there's working attractions,” said Waite.

➡️ What now? Waite says he and his wife have given Timbertown “110 percent" for the past 16 years. “We've given it our best shot. And I think that's all you can do in life,” he said.

• “We've got two new beautiful grandchildren now, and it's just time for us to take a new direction and see what else exists out there in the big wide world.”
  

• “I'm not the sort of person to slow down, but I can assure you my bucket list is extremely long of things that I'd like to tick off and achieve in life – most would involve heritage in one form or another, that's just what I wish to pursue.”

Thumbnail credit: Timbertown Facebook Page