William Bedlington

BEDLINGTON, William David, JP (1852-1926)

Born 10th February 1852 at Glebeland, Merthyr Tydvil in South Wales, where his father was a mining engineer, Bedlington began work in a mine in 1867 and in 1872 was reported to be a colliery manager. In 1886 he emigrated to New South Wales where he managed several collieries near Newcastle.

Bedlington moved to Western Australia in 1896 and floated the West Collie Coal and Fireclay Company. He was manager of the Collie Co operative Company’s colliery, where he introduced Jeffrey mechanical coal cutters in 1904. He leased the Moira mine (also known as the Government mine) from 1906 to 1911, and was associated with the Collie Proprietary Coal Fields of WA Ltd in 1909, and the Collie Coal Proprietary Ltd. in 1913.

Bedlington was a member of Collie Municipal Council in 1901, and gave evidence to the Select Committees on the Coal Mines Regulation Bill and on Stimulating the Coal Mining Industry in 1901, and to the Royal Commission on the Collie Coal Field in 1905.

---

References:
WAPD 1920;
Battye 2, pp. 27-28;
Skinner 1903, 1909;
Stedman p.205.