Woodanilling Railway Goods Shed Site

Statement of Significance

The site is significant for its association with the development of transport and communication.

Physical Description

The Goods shed site was on a loop line west of the Woodanilling Station. It was constructed so that rail carriages could pass through the shed for unloading onto the ramp.

History

The building of the Great Southern Railway opened up farming lands to the east of the King George's Sound Road. Previously development had been limited to isolated pockets of farm land and to sandalwood cutters and teamsters. The 'Iron Horse' provided a quick means of transporting grain, livestock, sandalwood, wool and mallet bark to the major centres of Perth and Albany for export. By 1901, the number of settlers using the siding had increased to the extent that a meeting was held to urge for the appointment of a Stationmaster. However, it was not for another three years than one was appointed. The freight figures for Woodanilling certainly justified this appointment. In 1904, the siding was again the freight leader for the Great Southern. In 1906, there were moves to get a weighbridge installed and an assistant stationmaster appointed. The cart weighbridge was finally installed in March 1909, and another stationmaster was also appointed. The Woodanilling station was still a hive of activity during the first World War years as John Leggoe later recalled: "Woodanilling railway station was a staff station and at one time had rated the status of a stationmaster. However, when I knew it, the station was unattended and the stationmaster's house was occupied by a family named Sullivan. Being just across the road from us, and being the hub of the districts activities, the railway was a source of absorbing and never-ending interest to we children. We would go over the station to see the trains come in, watch the guard as he changed the staffs, watch the shunting and sometimes have a ride in the engine while it shunted. We would watch the trucks with farm machinery being shunted off, watch them being unloaded onto the ramp by the hand operated crane and watch sheep, cattle and horses being loaded and unloaded in the trucking yards. We would watch the wagons coming in with wheat and wool, watch the wheat agents weigh and sample every bag of wheat and watch the lumpers carrying the bags on their backs to the top of the wheat stacks. We knew so much about what went on in the station yard that one day I was able to solve a farmer's problem by telling him how his wool bales should be loaded into a railway truck How none of the children who used to play in that railway yard were not killed or maimed is something I will never know. We used to take the brakes off the low side H trucks, get them rolling faster and faster down the loop line and jump in and out of them as they went through the goods shed. One slip and we would have been under the wheels with a leg or arm gone at least.

Integrity/Authenticity

Original Materials: None

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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