{"id":"railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973","name":"Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973","slug":"railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":106422,"registerId":"wa-railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nRailway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973\n\nWestern Australia\n\nRailway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Commencement 1\n\n3. Interpretation 1\n\n4. Discontinuance of scheduled railway and matters incidental thereto 1\n\n5. Revestment 2\n\n6. Authority to construct railway lines 2\n\nFirst Schedule — Discontinued railway\n\nSecond Schedule — Railway land\n\nThird Schedule — Line of Bunbury-Boyanup Railway\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 6\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nRailway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973\n\nAn Act to authorise the discontinuance of portion of the railway from Bunbury to Boyanup and to revest in Her Majesty certain land comprised therein, to authorise the construction of a portion of railway between Bunbury and Boyanup and for incidental purposes.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973* 1.\n\n##### 2. Commencement\n\nSections 4 and 5 shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation 1.\n\n##### 3. Interpretation\n\nIn this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —\n\n  railway land means the land described in the Second Schedule;\n\n  scheduled railway means the portion of the railway from Bunbury to Boyanup described in the First Schedule.\n\n##### 4. Discontinuance of scheduled railway and matters incidental thereto\n\nOn the coming into operation of this section, the scheduled railway shall cease to be operated, and on and from that date —\n\n(a) the material comprising the scheduled railway or any portion of that material may be —\n\n(i) used in the construction or maintenance of any Government railway as defined by section 2 of the *Government Railways Act 1904*;\n\n(ii) used in the construction of any railway authorised to be constructed under any other Act, whether before or after the coming into operation of this Act; or\n\n(iii) sold, disposed of, or otherwise dealt with;\n\nand\n\n(b) the costs of the scheduled railway as charged to the Government Railways Capital Account may be omitted from the accounts prepared under Part IV of the *Government Railways Act 1904*.\n\n##### 5. Revestment\n\nOn the coming into operation of this section, the railway land is revested in Her Majesty as of Her former estate and is removed from the operation of the *Transfer of Land Act 1893*.\n\n##### 6. Authority to construct railway lines\n\nIt shall be lawful to construct and maintain the railway described in the Third Schedule, with all the necessary, proper and usual works in connection therewith along the lines described in that Schedule.\n\nFirst Schedule — Discontinued railway\n\n[s. 3]\n\n[Heading amended: No. 19 of 2010 s. 4.]\n\nCommencing at a point 179.118 km or thereabouts from Perth on the Bunbury‑Boyanup Railway and thence proceeding in a south east by east direction for a distance of 1592.647 m or thereabouts, thence in an east south east direction for a distance of 1090.099 m or thereabouts, thence in a south east by east direction for a distance of 147.858 m or thereabouts terminating at a point 181.948 km or thereabouts on the Bunbury‑Boyanup Railway and being a total length of 2.83 km or thereabouts.\n\nSecond Schedule — Railway land\n\n[s. 3]\n\n[Heading amended: No. 19 of 2010 s. 4.]\n\nThat portion of land commencing at a point 179.118 km from Perth and terminating at a point 181.841 km from Perth and being more particularly delineated and coloured yellow on CE. Plan 66142.\n\nThird Schedule — Line of Bunbury-Boyanup Railway\n\n[s. 6]\n\n[Heading amended: No. 19 of 2010 s. 4.]\n\n(a) Commencing at a point being 176.988 km or thereabouts from Perth on the East Perth‑Bunbury Railway and proceeding thence in a west south westerly direction for a distance of 83.485 m or thereabouts, thence in a south south westerly direction for a distance of 166.969 m or thereabouts, thence in a south south easterly direction for a distance of 272.583 m or thereabouts, thence in an east south easterly direction for a distance of 317.845 m or thereabouts, thence in an east by north direction for a distance of 473.751 m or thereabouts, thence in an east south easterly direction for a distance of 327.904 m or thereabouts, thence in a south south easterly direction for 959.571 m or thereabouts, thence in a south easterly direction for 520.019 m or thereabouts terminating at a point 181.948 km or thereabouts from Perth on the Bunbury‑Boyanup Railway and being a total length of 3.122 km or thereabouts.\n\n(b) Commencing at a point being 1.943 km or thereabouts on the Railway as described above and thence proceeding in a north westerly direction for a distance of 136.794 m or thereabouts, thence in a north north easterly direction for a distance of 337.962 m or thereabouts, thence in a north east by easterly direction for a distance of 1017.91 m or thereabouts, thence in a north east by northerly direction for a distance of 249.448 m or thereabouts, thence in a north west by northerly direction for a distance of 213.238 m or thereabouts, thence in a west north westerly direction for a distance of 177.028 m or thereabouts thence in a west by south direction for a distance of 221.285 m or thereabouts terminating at a point 175.298 km from Perth on the East Perth‑Bunbury Railway and being a total distance of 2.354 km or thereabouts.\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973* 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| *Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973* | | 71 of 1973 | | 6 Dec 1973 | | Act other than s. 4 and 5: 6 Dec 1973 (see s. 2);   s. 4 and 5: 29 Mar 2000 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 28 Mar 2000 p. 1687) | |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Railway (Bunbury to Boyanup) Discontinuance, Revestment and Construction Act 1973* as at 8 Apr 2005** | | | | | | | |\n| *Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010* s. 4 | 19 of 2010 | | 28 Jun 2010 | | 11 Sep 2010 (see s. 2(b) and *Gazette* 10 Sep 2010 p. 4341) | |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nrailway land 3\n\nscheduled railway 3\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: discontinuing a specific railway section, revesting the associated land, and authorising construction of a replacement alignment. The only amendments shown in the compilation table are formatting changes (Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010), not substantive changes to scope."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 defined terms in the interpretation section (railway land, scheduled railway)","No cross-references to other legislation except incidental mentions of the Government Railways Act 1904 and Transfer of Land Act 1893","Straightforward sequential structure (6 sections, no sub-divisions or Parts)","Primary complexity comes from the technical survey descriptions in the Schedules (precise distances and compass bearings), not legal complexity","No conditional logic, exceptions, or nested provisions","Very short statute (approximately 3 pages of substantive content)"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis is a Western Australian law from 1973 that deals with a specific railway line between Bunbury and Boyanup (about 180km south of Perth). It does three main things:\n\n1. **Closes part of the old railway** — It officially stops operations on a 2.83km section of the existing Bunbury-Boyanup railway (described in the First Schedule). Once closed, the materials (tracks, sleepers, etc.) can be reused on other government railways, used for new railway projects, or sold off. The costs of this old section can also be removed from the government railway accounts.\n\n2. **Returns land to the Crown** — It takes a specific parcel of railway land (described in the Second Schedule) and gives it back to the State (\"Her Majesty\"). This removes it from the normal land titles system (the *Transfer of Land Act 1893*), meaning it becomes Crown land again.\n\n3. **Authorises building a new railway section** — It gives legal permission to construct and maintain a new 3.1km railway line (with a 2.4km branch) along a specific route described in the Third Schedule. This appears to be a realignment — building a new section to replace or bypass the old one being closed.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The State government (specifically the railway operator, now likely Public Transport Authority or its predecessors)\n- Any future developers or users of the land being returned to Crown ownership\n- Historically, railway workers and passengers on this line\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is a classic example of \"railway realignment\" legislation common in the 1970s. Rather than just closing a line, the government was modernising the route — shutting down a short section while building a new alignment. The long delay between passing the Act (1973) and actually closing the old section (2000, according to the compilation table) suggests this was a long-term infrastructure project or the closure was delayed for decades."},"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"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Insufficient information to assess scope change — the legislative text is inaccessible. Based on the title, the Act appears narrowly tailored to a specific railway corridor and three defined purposes, suggesting it likely remained within its original intent. No further assessment is possible without the full text."},"complexity_factors":["Full legislative text is unavailable — analysis is based on title only","Narrow, location-specific scope (a single railway corridor) suggests limited complexity","1973 era Acts of this type were typically short, purpose-built statutes with straightforward operative provisions","Three discrete functions (discontinuance, revestment, construction) suggest some multi-part structure but unlikely to involve complex legal machinery"],"plain_english_summary":"A 1973 Western Australian Act concerning the Bunbury–Boyanup railway that, from its title, likely provided for discontinuing parts of the line, revesting railway land to the Crown, and authorising construction of replacement or new rail infrastructure. It would primarily affect nearby landowners, local councils, rail‑dependent businesses and (historically) the WA Government Railways Commission; the full text is currently unavailable—search legislation.wa.gov.au."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"No substantive alteration to the Act's operative scope is shown in the compilation materials. The main timing change is that ss.4 and 5 came into operation later by proclamation (see s.2 and compilation table); later reprinting and formatting amendments did not change the substantive powers in the Act."},"complexity_factors":["Short, focused subject-matter limited to a specific railway segment (First and Second Schedules)","Technical surveying and distance descriptions in schedules requiring cadastral interpretation (First, Second, Third Schedules)","Cross‑references to other statutes affecting effect and accounting (Government Railways Act 1904 — s.4(b); Transfer of Land Act 1893 — s.5)","Administrative discretion over disposal and reuse of materials (s.4(a)(i)–(iii)) and over construction of the new line (s.6)","Staged commencement by proclamation for key sections (s.2) which affects timing of legal effects"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act stops operation of a short section of the Bunbury–Boyanup railway, revests the listed railway land back in the Crown (taking it out from the Transfer of Land Act), allows the State to reuse, sell or otherwise dispose of the rail materials, permits omission of the related capital costs from the Government Railways Capital Account, and authorises construction of a replacement line described in the Third Schedule. The State decides and funds these steps; owners and dealings in the specified parcels are directly affected."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/railway-bunbury-to-boyanup-discontinuance-revestment-and-construction-act-1973/documents"}}