Woodanilling Roads Board Office Site (No. 1)

Statement of Significance

The site is important for its association with local government in the shire.

Physical Description

Vacant land on the south side of the first hotel. The building may have been on the site of the current hotel/tavern. The position was described by Zetta Wetherall who arrived in Woodanilling at the beginning of 1907 with her parents.

"Facing the railway was the hotel. Between the hotel and the shop was the Road Board office - a small iron building with H Pittelkow Secretary on the notice board."

History

The Woodanilling Road Board was formed in 1906. This gave local independence to a small community which for many years had small pockets of European settlement
established on its perimeter. The townsite of Woodanilling had been gazetted in 1892, several years after the completion of the Great Southern Railway. The 'iron horse' now linked the colony's main port, Albany in the south with its commercial centre and capital,
Perth.

The present Woodanilling Shire area was included in the Kojonup Road Districts by the Act in 1871. Kojonup's western boundary was approximately as it is today while in the north it was separated from the Williams District by the Arthur River. It extended to Mt Glass in the Bremer Ranges near Esperance in the east and joined Plantagenent in the south. This line being east from Lake Matilda to Point Hood. Following the creation of
further road boards in 1887 and 1892, the Kojonup boundaries were again altered. In 1887, the Arthur Road Board was gazetted with the areas due north of a line passing through the 147 mile post being excised from the Kojonup board. This placed much of the Woodanilling area in the Arthur Road Board until 1892 when the Katanning Road Board was formed. The new 'Katanning Board' northern boundary went from the 147 mile post on the Albany Road east to Boyerine Pool and Woolkabunning Waterhole and was bound on the west by the Albany Road. This meant a considerable portion of the present Woodanilling Shire remained in the Arthur Road Board until the Wagin Road Board was excised from the Arthur in 1896.

The initial meetings of the Board were held in the Agricultural Hall until the office was built. When Elijah Bell built the new hotel a new site had to be found for the office and it was relocated on Robinson Road near where the Co-op was later built.

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.