Kulja - Town & Siding Site

History

When the construction of the Amery Northward railway line got to Burakin it turned due east. It then became known as the Kulja to Bonnie Rock line. About a mile and a half from the present siding of Kulja, comfortable quarters were built for the engineers and a camp sited for the navvies.
First of all, water had to be provided for the building of the line and steam engines. The Public Works Department engineer, a superintendent and his men worked long hours on the railway dam. Kulja Rock Dam was excavated, built up, lined and roofed, a three inch pipe line with standpipe was run to the railway route and then the next job was to build a big storage tank near the line
An advanced construction gang of the Public Works Department reached Kulja and were putting down earthworks with larger gangs following ballasting and platelaying.
Near the railway barracks dining rooms were opened for workers. With the British Government paying for the line and the optimistic hustling times, the building of this line was very different from the slow drag of the Wyalkatchem/Mt. Marshall 'permanent way' built during droughts and a war.
Just before Christmas, 1927 Joe Creighton and his brother established a store. The premises were of kerosene cases sold to Creightons for 6d each. The roof was of railway tarpaulins. The cases served the dual purpose of walls and shelves which could be added to with the minimum of trouble. Christmas Eve 1927, Kulja's first, was an hilarious occasion when Creighton's store was taken apart. When everyone had recovered it was put together again quite easily and improved upon, most agreed.
Working for Surveyor Rutherford who did most of the Kulja area, was G.A. (Jim) Jordan. He decided there were better prospects in business and opened dining-rooms in a building of saplings and tarpaulins, the 'Kulja Cafe', at which the best of meals could be served at a moment's notice. He acquired several good agencies and in a short time was driving a large Chrysler car.
About the beginning of seeding, 1928 the first steam engines were heard in Kulja. 22,000 bags of wheat were stacked at the siding waiting for the line to be handed over to the Railway Department. Around Koorda "Kulja watching" was of interest to the old hands. It was all so different. Kulja was growing at an amazing pace. About this time there were parties of journalists touring the Wheatbelt in its second big boom. A Melbourne journalist writing in the Age , October 1928:
"I shall always remember the little brown hessian town of Kulja. It is six months old. There is a hessian cafe which gets as many as ten travellers a day, a hessian store, a butchers shop with a gramophone playing modern fox trots and a Progress Association. All around are green acres of wheat where before was scrub and trees. In Kulja we saw the birth of a township".
The township by the railway barracks continued to grow, another store, a bake house, bank, three more agents, a barber and a bootmaker. A. Grinke opened a large garage and engineering workshop which was cleared out at night and used for dances and social evenings. The townsite of Kulja was surveyed during the winter of 1928 and the first sale of town blocks was the talk of the wheatbelt. Top price of £250 was paid by J. Graves and £180 by Roberts of Dalwallinu. The National Bank paid £61 for a site. The townsite of Kulja was gazetted on 26th October, 1928
Mrs. Bright (formerly Arkell) of Koorda built the first shop on a town lot. It was opened as a greengrocery. Then Jim Jordan moved his dining rooms and agency business, followed by Tomlinson the butcher and Johnston's store and Post Office. By June all that was left of the old hessian town was one store and Grinkes engineering shop. Next a bakehouse, shop and residence in the town. Then Grinke's engineering works in the old town burnt down and he built a large workshop. This for years also served as Kulja's hall. The Gorins took over Jordan's dining rooms as Jim Jordan was too busy with agencies for farm requirements. J.G. Mann, accountant and taxation consultant opened a Shell Agency and Accounting business.
Farms were being developed at a great rate and there were clearers, dam sinkers, fencers and farm hands all good customers for the Kulja shops.
The Amery Northward Railway Line was opened officially by the Premier, Phillip Collier, on the 17th May, 1929. Mrs. Stan Jones and Mrs. Roach of Bunketch held ribbons across the line for the engine to break as it puffed into Burakin. This symbolic ceremony opened the line to Kulja and the Kalannie extension at the same time.
Phillip Collier recalled that, in 1915, Scaddan, Thomas Bath and himself went through Dowerin on their way to Cowcowing after the 1914 drought and decided to continue with the Mount Marshall line in spite of calls from many sides to abandon the line. He said that no one who saw the magnificent salmon gums after the early 1915 rains could doubt the land the the Wyalkatchem-Mt. Marshall line had always paid.
The new townsite was a busy little hive of industry. Sport and social activities abounded. There was a Grand Ball in Grinke's large engineering workshop, Paddy Baker also showed his pictures there. Hodge's Kulja Band was all the rage from Dalwallinu to Koorda and Mrs. Orchard also had a group. There were picnics and sports days at Mr. Collier - old Mt. Misery renamed as the line went through in honour of the then Premier.
By 1938 Kulja was wanting a hall. A deputation wanted the Koorda Road Board to raise a loan to buy and re-erect the old East Kirup Hall which was for sale for £350. The loan was to be repaid by rates form the Kulja residents, a list of those agreeable being given to the Board. The old East Kirup Hall was re-erected at Kulja. As the Kulja Hall it opened on the 4th December. It was a day of great rejoicing especially for the young people. The local branch of the C.W.A. contributed £70 for furniture.
However with the depression, World War 11, the town, that mushroomed with the railway line, started to decline and despite the boom years of the 1950's by 1961 the town was back to a store and a hall. The use of the railway line was discontinued for a few years although re-instated and the school closed. All that remains now is a very large wheatbin owned and operated by Co-operative Bulk Handling. There is nothing left now to show the bustling, vibrant town there once was after the opening of the railway line.

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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.