The story
Westralian Farmers Co‐operative Limited was formed in 1914 as a cooperative company by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association of Western Australia, to acquire the assets of the West Australian Producers' Union, to be focused on the provision of services and merchandise to the Western Australian rural community. The word "Westralian" is a portmanteau of "western" and "Australian". By 1919, more than 65 local co-operative companies were acting as agents for Westralian Farmers Limited. In 1924, it established the first public radio station in Western Australia with 6WF, before it passed into the hands of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1929, now called ABC Radio Perth
The organisation was linked with the activities of the Co-operative Federation of Western Australia.
By the 1940s, the company's business included "being wheat and general merchants; country distribution for Commonwealth Oil Refineries; wool, livestock, skin and produce auctioneers; grain & fruit exporters; insurance underwriters; acquiring agents for the wheat pool of W.A. Known as Westralian Farmers Limited, it had premises in various locations within the Perth central business district. In the 1940s the company had premises at 563-571 Wellington Street. It also had premises in Newman Street in Fremantle.
In 1949, Wesfarmers acquired Ashburton Transport, which at the time was lossmaking. The following year it also acquired its major competitor Gascoyne Trading Company, combining the operations of the two companies to supply the northwest of Western Australia. Along with wool and mail, it carted bananas from Carnarvon to Perth, returning with stores and mail from Perth. Gascoyne Trading introduced refrigerated transport to the region and three trailer road trains that now carry loads up to 115 tonnes.
In 1979, Wesfarmers acquired a controlling interest in CSBP, the successor to Cuming Smith, a Melbourne based fertiliser and chemicals manufacturer established in 1872. The takeover, valued at approximately $60 million, was described at the time as the largest corporate acquisition in Australian history.
In 1984, Westralian Farmers Co-operative Limited formed Wesfarmers Limited, restructuring from a co-operative to a public company and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 15 November 1984. Initially the co-operative retained 60% of the ordinary shares, guaranteeing that the co-op's farmer members retained control, and the rest was distributed to its members.
In 1986, Wesfarmers completed the acquisition of CSBP by purchasing BP’s remaining stake, thereby assuming full ownership.
In 1991, 19 m3 of the records of Westralian Farmers Co-operative were deposited with the J S Battye Library in Perth.
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Rural business, Dalgety Farmers and Wesfarmers Landmark
Bought in January 1993 the integration of Dalgety Farmers with Wesfarmers proved more difficult than expected. For a time the merged rural agency and merchandise business was Wesfarmers Dalgety until renamed Wesfarmers Landmark in March 2001 after IAMA Limited was brought in. Landmark, Wesfarmers foundation business, was sold to AWB Limited in August 2003.
Bunnings
An initial investment in 10 percent of Bunnings in February 1987 reached full ownership in January 1994. Bunnings bought UK retailer Homebase in February 2016 and Britain's first Bunnings store opened twelve months later in February 2017. They were 265 well-located stores and Wesfarmers believed Bunnings' management would greatly improve their modest profits. The plan was to make changes gently but tactics changed and local management, perceived as under-performing, was removed and replaced by expatriate management. The expatriate management's changes alienated the existing customer base and, aided by a poor retailing climate, brought a rapid decline into losses. A strategic review by Wesfarmers resulted in the May 2018 sale of the Homebase business to Hilco Capital at a loss of A$1.96 billion.
Despite returning to profitability, Homebase collapsed in 2024, with its stores sold off or closed and the IP sold to CDS Superstores International "The Range".
Australian Railroad Group
Australian Railroad Group began a joint venture with Genesee & Wyoming by the purchase of Westrail at the beginning of 2000. It was sold in 2006 to Babcock & Brown and Queensland Rail.
End of co-operative ownership
In 2001, Wesfarmers became a freely-traded publicly listed company with open ownership. After becoming a public company, Wesfarmers diversified its interests by acquiring other businesses.
From Wikipedia’s article on Wesfarmers, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5