Fire-ravaged WA workshops 'invaluable'

The 110-year-old workshops destroyed in a bushfire burning south of Perth were invaluable to the region's history, the State Heritage Office says.

The heritage-listed Yarloop Timber Mill Workshops were integral to the development of the timber industry in Western Australia.

Until the fire tore through the town, they were also the most intact and substantial example of an early 20th century railway workshop, complete with unique machinery, in the country.

Penny O'Connor, acting executive director of the State Heritage Office, said it was a loss to the region.

"The devastation of the workshops represents a loss of an invaluable heritage asset that told an important part of the history and development of Western Australia, in particular, its timber industry from the early 20th century through to the 1960s," she said.

But the destruction must be "viewed in context", with the primary concern for the communities affected, she said.

The workshops had most recently undergone restoration work to become a museum and function venue.