Becker & Co Ltd
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Becker & Co Ltd
From Millhands to Mill Owners
By 1926, Charles Frederick Becker had erected a sawmill in the Woodford Station yards, just beside the railway line. A former engine driver and shareholder in Fredin & Co, Charles went into business for himself, forming Becker & Co Ltd in 1925. The mill operated for nearly two decades before being taken over by Stephens & Simpson in the early 1940s.
Charles Frederick Becker (1889-1964)
Legacy Rooted in Woodford
Charles Becker was no stranger to sawmills—his father Frederick had worked for Fredin & Lovf from 1910, and all the Becker boys spent time as millhands. By 1917, Charles was working as an engine driver, and in 1920 he and his wife Agnes became shareholders in Fredin & Co. A few years later, Charles stepped out on his own, founding Becker & Co and establishing a new mill at the Woodford railway yard.
From TROVE: North Coast Advertiser 3 August 1918
Transitions and Takeovers
Though the Beckers moved to Ipswich around 1936, the mill continued operating in Woodford. In 1942, Stephens & Simpson took over the site, keeping timber production alive until the 1960s.
Workers from Fredin & Co Sawmill
L to R Back: Charlie Becker (3rd), brother Tom (4th)
Ron Trim
Local Historian Recalls
On Coronation Avenue but in the Railway Station Yards, was another mill that was said to have been started by Charlie Becker about the time of the end of the 1st World War. Bob Stephens and Mick Simpson were also involved in it as well. After the war was over, it was being run by Paddy Bourne, and in later years by Gordon Fredin until it closed during the 1960s.
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Address
109 Archer Street, Woodford, Queensland, Australia,
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are held on the 3rd Sunday of
each month from 7am to noon.