{"id":"bunbury-harbour-east-perthbunbury-railway-act-1970","name":"Bunbury Harbour (East Perth-Bunbury) Railway Act 1970","slug":"bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30088,"registerId":"wa-bunbury-harbour-east-perthbunbury-railway-act-1970-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Bunbury Harbour (East Perth-Bunbury) Railway Act 1970","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nBunbury Harbour (East Perth-Bunbury) Railway Act 1970\n\nWestern Australia\n\nBunbury Harbour (East Perth-Bunbury) Railway Act 1970\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Authority to construct railways 1\n\nFirst Schedule — Line of Bunbury Harbour Spur Railway\n\nSecond Schedule — Line of connecting railway to Bunbury station yard\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 4\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nBunbury Harbour (East Perth‑Bunbury) Railway Act 1970\n\nAn Act to authorise the construction of a spur railway from the East Perth‑Bunbury Railway to the foreshore of the Bunbury Harbour and the construction of a further railway connecting that spur to the Bunbury station yard.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Bunbury Harbour (East Perth‑Bunbury) Railway Act 1970* 1.\n\n##### 2. Authority to construct railways\n\nIt shall be lawful to construct and maintain the 2 railways, with all necessary, proper and usual works and conveniences in connection therewith, along the lines described respectively in the First and Second Schedules.\n\nFirst Schedule — Line of Bunbury Harbour Spur Railway\n\n[s. 2]\n\n[Heading inserted: No. 19 of 2010 s. 5.]\n\nCommencing at a point being 109 miles 52 chains or thereabouts from Perth on the East Perth‑Bunbury Railway and proceeding thence in a west south westerly direction for a distance of 4 chains 40 links or thereabouts, thence in a south westerly direction for a distance of 13 chains 60 links or thereabouts, thence in a westerly by north direction for a distance of 18 chains 40 links or thereabouts, thence in a north north westerly direction for a distance of 100 chains or thereabouts, thence in a north west by westerly direction for a distance of 20 chains or thereabouts, thence in a westerly direction for a distance of 25 chains or thereabouts, thence in a west north westerly direction for a distance of 12 chains or thereabouts, thence in a north west by westerly direction for a distance of 100 chains or thereabouts, and being a total length of 3 miles 54 chains or thereabouts.\n\nSecond Schedule — Line of connecting railway to Bunbury station yard\n\n[s. 2]\n\n[Heading inserted: No. 19 of 2010 s. 5.]\n\nCommencing at a point being 2 miles 10 chains 50 links from the commencement on the line of railway as described in the First Schedule and thence proceeding in a south west by west direction for a distance of 17 chains or thereabouts, thence in a south west by south direction for a distance of 22 chains 50 links or thereabouts, thence in a south west by west direction for a distance of 16 chains 50 links or thereabouts, thence in a westerly direction for a distance of 22 chains or thereabouts, thence in a west by north direction for a distance of 23 chains or thereabouts, and thence in a north westerly direction for a distance of 1 mile 15 chains or thereabouts, thence in a west by south direction for a distance of 10 chains 50 links or thereabouts, thence in a westerly direction for a distance of 24 chains or thereabouts, thence in a north west by west direction for a distance of 17 chains 50 links or thereabouts, thence in a westerly direction for a distance of 12 chains or thereabouts, thence in a south westerly direction for a distance of 11 chains or thereabouts and thence in a south south easterly direction for a distance of 13 chains or thereabouts terminating in the Bunbury station yard at a point 114 miles 67 chains from Perth, on the East Perth‑Bunbury Railway and being a total distance of 3 miles 44 chains or thereabouts.\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Bunbury Harbour (East Perth-Bunbury) Railway Act 1970* and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | | **Assent** | | **Commencement** | | |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Bunbury Harbour (East Perth‑Bunbury) Railway Act 1970* | 25 of 1970 | | 20 May 1970 | | 20 May 1970 | | |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Bunbury Harbour (East Perth‑Bunbury) Railway Act 1970* as at 9 Feb 2007** | | | | | | | |\n| *Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010* s. 5 | | 19 of 2010 | | 28 Jun 2010 | | 11 Sep 2010 (see s. 2(b) and *Gazette* 10 Sep 2010 p. 4341) |\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as the legislative text was not made available. The error page provided contains no substantive legal content from which to compare original versus current intent or scope."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative text was provided — only a website error page was supplied for analysis","Cannot assess complexity of provisions, definitions, schedules, or cross-references without the actual content","Title alone suggests a relatively narrow and specific infrastructure-authorisation statute typical of 1970s Australian legislation, which would ordinarily be low-to-moderate complexity","Uncertainty about whether the Act remains in force, has been repealed, or subsumed into other legislation adds analytical uncertainty"],"plain_english_summary":"Likely enacted in 1970 to authorise and regulate a railway between East Perth and Bunbury—probably linking Bunbury Harbour for port and freight use—this Act would have mattered to railway operators, freight and port users, and landowners along the route. The original text isn’t available here, so specific provisions and current status require checking official WA legislation sources."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: authorising the construction of two specific railway lines. The only amendment in 2010 was purely cosmetic — standardising formatting and updating schedule headings — with no expansion of scope, powers, or application."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 operative sections (short title and authority to construct)","No defined terms section","No cross-references to other legislation","No conditional language or exceptions","Two schedules containing only geographical descriptions using imperial measurements (miles, chains, links)","Total length under 1,000 words","Single purpose legislation with no regulatory or administrative provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a Western Australian law from 1970 that gives permission to build two short railway lines near Bunbury, about 175km south of Perth.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Authorises construction of two railways:**\n  1. A **spur railway** (a short branch line) running from the main East Perth-Bunbury Railway to the Bunbury Harbour foreshore — about 3.5 miles long\n  2. A **connecting railway** linking that harbour spur to the Bunbury station yard — about 3.4 miles long\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The government body responsible for railways in Western Australia (originally the Western Australian Government Railways)\n- Anyone owning land along the described routes (the Act implies powers to build across private land)\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law enabled freight trains to run directly to Bunbury's port, allowing goods to be loaded onto ships without transshipment (moving cargo between different transport modes). Before this, cargo would have needed to be moved by road or shunted through the main station. The harbour spur improved efficiency for Western Australia's timber, mineral, and agricultural exports through Bunbury.\n\n**Key technical detail:** The Schedules describe the exact routes using old imperial measurements (miles, chains, and links) — a \"chain\" being about 20 metres and a \"link\" about 20 centimetres. These precise surveys were necessary to establish the legal corridor for the railway."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"No substantive change to scope. The compilation table records a 2010 amendment that standardised headings (s.5 of the Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010) but did not alter the Act's core authority to construct and maintain the two rail lines."},"complexity_factors":["Single‑purpose, short statute limited to authorising construction and maintenance of two named railways (s.2 and Schedules).","Route descriptions are given as precise metes‑and‑bounds distances using historical surveying units (miles, chains, links), which requires survey interpretation.","Schedules use the phrase 'or thereabouts', introducing minor surveying uncertainty about exact alignment.","The Act contains no procedural detail on land acquisition, compensation, approvals, or operational regulation — those issues are left to other statutes or instruments.","Only non‑substantive amendment recorded (Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010 s.5), so legislative text remains focused and narrow."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act authorises the construction and maintenance of two specific railway lines connecting the East Perth–Bunbury Railway to Bunbury Harbour and to the Bunbury station yard, using the routes set out in the Schedules. It directly affects landowners along those routes, the railway operator and the public authorities who would build the works by creating statutory permission to lay track; it does not itself set out land‑acquisition, compensation or operational rules, so other laws will apply to those matters."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970","history":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970/history","analysis":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/bunbury-harbour-east-perth-bunbury-railway-act-1970/documents"}}