M. C. Davies

Maurice Coleman Davies (24 September 1835 – 10 May 1913) was an Australian timber merchant and pastoralist. Born in London, he emigrated to Tasmania with his family as a child, and later moved to Blackwood in the Victorian goldfields, then to Melbourne and Adelaide. He then relocated to Western Australia, where he created the Davies Company, later the Davies Karri and Jarrah Timber Company, a timber empire that employed hundreds of men, laid over a hundred kilometres of private railway, including the Flinders Bay branch railway, and even built its own private ports for exporting of timber. He also formed the Kimberley Pastoral Company and was its managing director.

Early years Davies was born in London on 24 September 1835 to John and Catherine Davies (née Hart; 1795–1889). His family migrated to Australia when he was about five years old, and settled in southern Tasmania as farmers. In 1847, the family moved to New Norfolk, where Davies' father found work as a shopkeeper. In 1851 the Davies family joined the gold rush to the Victorian Goldfields, where Davies worked in Blackwood; he later moved to Melbourne. This required a steady supply of quality hardwood, which was scarce in South Australia. Davies was involved in the difficult task of contracting for timber, and during this time he became interested in the large forests of jarrah and karri in Western Australia. In 1875, he applied for a lease of of forest in Bunbury, and the following year was granted a licence to cut timber. He then erected two saw mills on the Collie River, which operated for eight years. His timber business continued to prosper and expand, but the timber markets expanded even more rapidly, and by 1897 the company no longer had the resources to keep pace with market growth. In that year, Davies went to London to float the business as a public company, under the name Davies Karri and Jarrah Company Ltd.

Amalgamation of timber business, other ventures, and final years The next five years were difficult for Davies' business. Many new companies had entered the timber market in Western Australia, and there was fierce competition. South African demand for timber had been seriously affected by the Second Boer War, and other overseas markets were flooded with jarrah and karri. In 1902, Davies Karri and Jarrah Co. Ltd amalgamated with seven other companies to form Millars Karri and Jarrah Forests Limited, informally known as the "Millars Combine". The main Karridale mill was closed soon after, and by 1913 all of the Davies Company mills were closed.

Davies retired from sawmilling after the formation of the Millers Combine. However, he also had interests in other fields, including shipping, gold-mining, and especially the pastoral industry. He was involved in the 1881 formation of the Kimberley Pastoral Company, which bought the Liveringa station, and was the company's managing director until 1913. He also ran Palmirup Grazing Company, which had large holdings in the Kojonup and Katanning areas.

Personal life On 24 March 1858, Davies married Sarah Salom, sister of Maurice Salom. The couple had twelve children, four of whom predeceased Davies; six sons and two daughters outlived him.