Hamelin Pool Post Office, Post Master's Quarters & Telegraph Station (fmr)

Parent Place or Precinct

12412 Shark Bay Area

Child Places

• 24478 Fmr Hamelin Pool Post & Telegraph Station
• 23885 Fmr Post Master's Quarters

Values

• The place has historic significance due to its association with early communications in both the Shark Bay district and the State as a whole. Not only did it provide a valuable link between the north and south of the state, it assisted with communications between Western Australia and Great Britain.
• The place is associated with the development of the Shark Bay district.
• The Post Master’s Quarters are representative of the practice of relocating and re-using buildings and infrastructure in remote areas.
• The Grave site is evidence of the isolation and difficulties faced by early travellers and settlers in the district.
• The place creates a precinct which has the potential to reveal how communication between a greatly dispersed population was undertaken and achieved.

Physical Description

The Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station is part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, which also includes the stromatolites cluster and the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. The place provides the main public access to the stromatolites.

The former Hamelin Pool Post and Telegraph Station is situated in a small precinct which also includes the former Post Master's Quarters, harness shed, and several other more recently constructed buildings. The buildings remain little changed in 137 years and convey the atmosphere of early Telegraph Station life.
Other features associated with the place include:
1. The original flagpole has had 2 reincarnations and the last (3rd) was built in 1998.
2. There are notable graves on the Boolagoorda walk trail
3. The site of the original wool shed at the landing
4. The Linesman’s Quarters were removed to Woodleigh Station and the Telegraphist’s Quarters burnt down
5. Coquina Shell Block Quarries – used for building material
6. Remaining telegraph lines to Carnarvon & Freshwater Camp
7. Early fresh water wells
8. Stromatolites and natural formations of Hamelin Pool

FMR HAMELIN POOL POST AND TELEGRAPH STATION: White timber framed building clad with vertical corrugated iron. Consisting of two original rooms, the place has a hipped corrugated iron roof which extends to cover verandahs to three sides. The verandahs have been enclosed with fibro, louvre windows and shade cloth to provide for more living/working space and also to combat the heat. The building, which is supported on piers of local rock, has timber framed casement windows with three panes. The interior has timber lining to the walls and ceilings.

There are rainwater tanks to both sides of the building. Immediately to the north are the shell block foundations of the Linesman's Quarters, removed in c.1962.

HARNESS SHED (or Camel Stables): is a small, simple timber framed building located to the south of the Telegraph Station. The structure is clad with corrugated iron, both horizontally and vertically placed. The building has a hipped corrugated iron roof. There is a large opening and a skillion roof attached to the north elevation, with a lean-to roof at the rear. The building, which is in fair condition, is currently used as a garage and for storage purposes.

History

The extension of the coastal telegraph line from Northampton to Roebourne was approved in 1881 to

link up with a proposed submarine cable to India and from there to Great Britain. Constructed during the early 1880s, there were repeater stations approximately every 500km along the line. In April 1884 the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station commenced operations at the southern end of Hamelin Pool. The place was also known as Flint Cliff after a prominent white cliff located 5km to the north which was used as a navigational guide. The telegraph station and simple quarters were designed by the Architectural Division of the PWD, Architect-in-Charge, George Temple-Poole. Other services carried out at the Telegraph Station included recording weather and distributing mail.

The Government settlement at Hamelin Pool was surveyed in August 1891. In 1896 additions were made to the Telegraph Station and by 1897 the small settlement contained 8 separate buildings.

Effective from 1 July 1904 the Telegraph Station became a Post and Telegraph Office, although it had carried out postal services unofficially from its early days. Also, in 1904-05 telegraph equipment was upgraded to transmit 300 miles instead of the 150 miles previously. Consequently, every second station was dropped out and Hamelin Pool then remitted to Carnarvon. The intermediate station at Worramel was closed and the Post Master’s Quarters was transported to Hamelin Pool where it was re-erected to the north-west of the Telegraph Station.

In 1914 the further emergence of new technology took away the need for Hamelin Pool as a repeater station on the main line, however the service to Shark Bay, which was established in 1892-93, was maintained.

In 1926 the telegraph station commenced operations as a telephone exchange, serving one subscriber and one public telephone. In 1952 the old coastal telegraph line was replaced by a new communication channel via Mullewa and Gascoyne Junction to Carnarvon, by-passing Hamelin Pool. On 11 May 1953 the status of the post office was reduced to non-official/non money order without the Bank agency which has previously operated there. The small telephone exchange continued to serve a handful of subscribers.

All functions of the Hamelin Pool Post and Telegraph Station finished in July 1971. This building currently operates as a museum and the Station Master’s Quarters operates as a restaurant.

The Grave located within the Group is for Thomas Onslow Carmody, a 7-month-old who is believed to have succumbed to typhoid or cholera whilst travelling with his parents along the telegraph line from Cossack to Denham.

The flagpole was erected in 1884 as a navigation marker for vessels delivering freight, mail and passengers to Hamelin Pool.

The shell quarry was established to overcome the lack of timber and rocks for building and construction. Coquina shell blocks were used as an alternative. The quarry is still used to maintain the historic buildings in Shark Bay.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity- High
Authenticity- Moderate

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

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.