{"id":"lake-lefroy-coolgardieesperance-wharf-railway-act-1969","name":"Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969","slug":"lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30738,"registerId":"wa-lake-lefroy-coolgardieesperance-wharf-railway-act-1969-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nLake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969\n\nWestern Australia\n\nLake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Authority to construct railways 1\n\n3. Authority for deviation 1\n\nFirst Schedule — Line of railway to Esperance land backed wharf\n\nSecond Schedule — Line of Lake Lefroy Spur Railway\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 4\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nLake Lefroy (Coolgardie‑Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969\n\nAn Act to authorise the construction of a railway to connect the Coolgardie‑Esperance Railway to the Esperance land backed wharf and the construction of a spur railway to Lake Lefroy.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie‑Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* 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\n##### 3. Authority for deviation\n\nNotwithstanding anything contained in the *Public Works Act 1902* it shall be lawful to deviate from the line as described in the Second Schedule, to the extent of 10 miles on either side of that line.\n\nFirst Schedule — Line of railway to Esperance land backed wharf\n\n[s. 2]\n\n[Heading inserted: No. 19 of 2010 s. 5.]\n\nCommencing at a point 1 mile 25 chains, or thereabouts, from Esperance on the Esperance‑Salmon Gums Railway, and proceeding thence generally in a southerly direction for 1 mile 46 chains 84 links or thereabouts, and thence in an easterly direction for a distance of 48 chains to the eastern alignment of The Esplanade in Esperance Townsite as more particularly set out and delineated in red on litho marked C.E. Plan 52984 deposited pursuant to section 96 of the *Public Works Act 1902*.\n\nSecond Schedule — Line of Lake Lefroy Spur Railway\n\n[s. 2]\n\n[Heading inserted: No. 19 of 2010 s. 5.]\n\nCommencing at the 404 mile post, or thereabouts, on the Coolgardie‑Esperance Railway proceeding in a north easterly direction for 2 miles 66 chains thence in a northerly direction for 8 miles, terminating at a point on the northern bank of the peninsula projecting into Lake Lefroy from the south end having a total length of 10 miles 66 chains as delineated in red on C.C.E. Plan No. 61519 deposited pursuant to section 96 of the *Public Works Act 1902*.\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* 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| *Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie‑Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* | 45 of 1969 | 21 May 1969 | 21 May 1969 |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie‑Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* as at 4 Jan 2008** | | | |\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":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly scoped to its original purpose: authorising two specific railway lines. The only amendment (2010) was cosmetic — standardising formatting and adding schedule headings. The geographical descriptions and construction powers are unchanged from 1969."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short: only 3 operative sections plus 2 schedules","No defined terms section — all language is ordinary English","Minimal cross-referencing: only references to the Public Works Act 1902 and two deposited plans","Simple conditional logic: only one qualification (the 10-mile deviation allowance in section 3)","Schedules consist entirely of geographical descriptions using chains and links (old imperial surveying measurements)","Single amendment in 2010 was purely formatting — no substantive changes to powers or scope"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\nThis 1969 Western Australian law gives legal permission to build two specific railway lines in the state's south-east:\n\n*   **The Esperance Wharf line:** A short railway (about 2.5 miles) connecting the existing Esperance-Salmon Gums Railway to a land-backed wharf at Esperance — essentially a freight line to get goods to and from ships.\n*   **The Lake Lefroy Spur:** A longer line (about 10.5 miles) branching off the Coolgardie-Esperance Railway, running north-east then north to the edge of Lake Lefroy — likely for mining or salt harvesting operations.\n\n**Who it affects:**\nPrimarily the state government (which owned and operated railways at the time) and any businesses needing to transport goods through Esperance port or access Lake Lefroy. The law also overrides normal planning restrictions — it allows builders to deviate up to 10 miles from the planned Lake Lefroy route if needed, bypassing usual requirements under the *Public Works Act 1902*.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is a classic example of a \"railway authorisation act\" — a specific piece of legislation that creates a legal right to build infrastructure across private and public land. Without this law, the government couldn't compulsorily acquire land or exercise powers needed to construct these lines. The deviation power (section 3) is particularly significant — it gives extraordinary flexibility to change the route by up to 10 miles either side, which is unusually generous and suggests the terrain or mining interests were uncertain at the time."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed — the legislative text was not retrievable. Based on the title alone, the Act appears to be a narrow, purpose-specific infrastructure statute (a common form for 1960s railway legislation), but this cannot be confirmed or evaluated without access to the actual document."},"complexity_factors":["Actual legislative text is unavailable — the source page has been taken down","Only the title and contextual inference are available for analysis","Cannot assess technical complexity, defined terms, cross-references, or operative provisions without the text","Complexity score is assigned as minimal by default due to complete absence of analysable content, not because the Act itself is necessarily simple"],"plain_english_summary":"**What is this?**\n\nThis analysis is based on a broken or unavailable web page — the actual text of the *Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* (Western Australia) could not be retrieved. The page has been removed or relocated as part of a website upgrade.\n\n**What we can reasonably infer:**\n\nBased on its title, this is a Western Australian law from 1969 that likely authorised or regulated the construction and/or operation of a railway line connected to Lake Lefroy (a salt lake near Kambalda) and the Coolgardie-Esperance Wharf (a freight/port facility). This type of legislation was commonly used in the mid-20th century to greenlight specific infrastructure projects, particularly those supporting the mining industry in regional WA.\n\n**Who would it affect?**\n\nPotentially: railway operators, mining companies using that rail corridor, landowners along the route, and government transport authorities.\n\n**Important caveat:** No legal conclusions can be drawn without the actual legislative text. If you need this Act, contact the Parliamentary Counsel's Office (WA) directly or search the WA legislation register at legislation.wa.gov.au."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The compilation notes show only a reprint and formatting/heading insertion (Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010, No. 19 of 2010 s.5; headings in the First and Second Schedules marked as inserted by No. 19 of 2010 s.5). There is no text in the provided compilation that expands or narrows the Act's substantive authorisations; core scope (authority to construct and permitted deviation) remains unchanged."},"complexity_factors":["Very short statute with only three operative clauses and two schedules — limits internal procedural complexity.","Cross‑references to external law (Public Works Act 1902 and its s.96 plan‑deposit requirement) create dependency on other statutory procedures.","Deviation power (up to 10 miles either side for the Second Schedule) grants broad geographic discretion that could affect land outside the plotted alignment.","Use of historical distance measures and railway mileposts (miles, chains, links, 404 mile post) and reliance on deposited litho plans (C.E. Plan 52984; C.C.E. Plan No. 61519) may complicate modern mapping and interpretation.","No detailed rules on acquisition, compensation, construction standards or approvals in the Act — those matters are left to other laws or administrative practice.","Amendments recorded in the compilation are formatting/heading insertions rather than substantive changes, reducing legislative complexity but requiring attention to the compiled text."],"plain_english_summary":"*Lake Lefroy (Coolgardie‑Esperance Wharf) Railway Act 1969* authorises construction and maintenance of two railways: a link from the Coolgardie–Esperance line to the Esperance land‑backed wharf, and a spur to Lake Lefroy, along the lines shown in the Act's schedules and deposited plans. It affects railway builders, government authorities and landowners by granting land‑use authority and permitting up to a 10‑mile deviation for the Lake Lefroy spur, thereby legally enabling specified alignments and invoking plan‑deposit procedures under the Public Works Act."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969","history":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969/history","analysis":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/lake-lefroy-coolgardie-esperance-wharf-railway-act-1969/documents"}}