Harvey Railway Station Precinct

Child Places

• 26450 Snell Park and Trees
• 26451 CWA Hall

Statement of Significance

• The railway station complex has landmark value for the Harvey townsite as it occupies a central location and its role since 1893 has been important to the development of the town and district.
• The railway station building has historic and social value for its association with the development of the town and district in the 1930s.
• The railway station has aesthetic value as a simple expression of inter-war design implemented in timber and tiles.
• The station master’s house has historic and social value for its association with the development of the town in the early decades of the twentieth century.
• The good’s shed and the adjacent crane, have historic value as a demonstration of the methods used to load and unload goods for rail travel and for the role the station had in the economy of the district.

Physical Description

Stationmaster's House
Single storey brick residence orientated away from the street and towards the fmr railway station building. The house incorporates a hipped roof with twin rendered brick chimneys with decorative corbelling. The front elevation has a partially enclosed verandah with a battened frieze supported on timber columns, which extends across the full width of the façade. The façade is symmetrical with 2x2 sash windows flanking the doorway. A skillion roofed rear addition of asymmetric plan form constructed from brick and corrugated iron on a timber frame. An external timber framed weatherboard toilet remains extant. Angled buttresses to the side elevations have been constructed to provide additional support. Brick arches are contained in the footings of the structure.

Railway Station
The station building is of timber framed construction on timber footings and weatherboard cladding with a shallow pitched gable terracotta roof. The roof extends to provide a continuous verandah canopy to both the front and rear elevations. A timber framed ramp access and separate timber framed access to the three sets of doors to the front elevation. Four timber framed sash windows also punctuate the façade. The roof is shallow pitched with vented gables at either end and brick chimneys with brick corbelling and terracotta flues. The rear elevation forms part of the platform to the station. The verandah canopy projects out over the platform, supported on round metal columns and metal tubular brackets. The elevation has a regular rhythm of windows/door/window/door along the full extent together with benches under the windows. A tiled canopy projects from the south elevation supported on timber columns and with a single door in the elevation. The railway station has now been converted into the Railway Station Museum with a commemorative plaque marking the restoration works, 17 February 2001.

Goods Shed
Timber framed structure in poor condition with shallow skillion roof. The corrugated metal cladding to the structure has been replaced in part, is in a poor condition hanging off and deteriorating as well as having been vandalised. The sliding doors are no longer operable leaving large open voids. The skillion roof is clad with short sheet corrugated iron. The floors are bitumen with part of the floor being raised to provide a platform level with the rail truck.

The Crane
The crane that was used for freight handling purposes as part of the station function remains extant. The crane is mounted on a concrete base.

History

The Perth to Bunbury Railway Line was officially opened in 1893 and a small station was built. The railway enabled Harvey to grow and prosper as vegetables, fruit and stock were transported to Perth for sale. Up until that time the road distances and the time taken getting the produce to Perth was too great to make it viable for local growers.
The railway station was a focal point of the town. Cattle yards, on the north west of the railway line unloaded stock for the local abattoirs.

On the railway reserve, station houses were built on both sides of the railway north of the station and gangers stayed overnight in small single roomed huts. The gangers were responsible for track maintenance between Bunbury and Perth. The Station Master’s house is remaining evidence of this practice. The Goods Shed may well date from the 1890s although no documentary evidence has been found to determine its date of construction.
By 1915 there was a very efficient train service to Harvey, with two passenger trains to Harvey each way daily. In 1936, a new station building was constructed designed by the Public Works Department. The local press described the building which cost £1415 as follows:

The new building, which will be of rusticated weatherboards and a red tiled roof, will be erected slightly south of the present structure, and the platform will be some 20ft longer than the present one. (The West Australian, 15 July 1936, p. 9.)

The new railway station was one many major works undertaken in the district in the mid-1930s including the Harvey River diversion funded by the State Government. The Harvey Road Board also initiated several new projects in this period including the new Town Hall, Shire Offices and grandstand.

Following World War I, rail travel became less profitable and popular as road transport became more affordable, leading to a decline in the use of the railway station.
In 2001, the railway station building underwent repairs and refurbishment for occupancy by a museum display.

Today [2014], the Harvey Museum operates in the former railway station. The Station Master’s house is not occupied or used and the good’s shed is vacant and subject to vandalism.

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ 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.