Local Government
Shark Bay
Region
Gascoyne
Hamelin Pool Shark Bay Shark Bay
Flint Cliff Telegraph Station
Shark Bay
Gascoyne
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Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 12 Dec 1997 | Category 1 |
Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station and Post Office (fmr) has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: As part of the 1886 Northampton to Roebourne Telegraph Line the construction and operation of the telegraph station was significant in the development of early telegraph communications across the state and providing communication links to Great Britain and the world. The place later operated as a post office and telephone exchange, continuing a key state communications role. The place has the potential to yield information that could contribute to an understanding of the operation of a remote telegraph station, post office and telephone exchange and the technological changes that influenced the ongoing development, and eventual closure, of the place as a communication centre. It has potential to yield information that could contribute to an understanding of the life, and hardships, of the people working and living in the remote north-west. It has significance for the families and descendants of the people who lived and worked there and those who work to curate their stories. ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE IMPORTANCE TO THE COURSE, OR PATTERN OF OUR CULTURAL OR NATURAL HISTORY The construction and operation of the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (fmr) was significant in the development of early telegraph communications in the district and the state. It facilitated a communications link from the south to the north of Western Australia and communications to Great Britain and globally. As well as being an early telegraph station, it later operated as a post office and telephone exchange. The place provided an invaluable service to the NASA project to land man on the moon by enabling communications during a critical phase of the launch of the Gemini Space Craft. POSSESSION OF UNCOMMON, RARE OR ENDANGERED ASPECTS OF OUR CULTURAL OR NATURAL HISTORY Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (fmr) provides evidence of the operation of a remote telegraph station, post office and telephone exchange and the life of the staff who operated it. POTENTIAL TO YIELD INFORMATION THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF OUR CULTURAL OR NATURAL HISTORY Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (fmr) has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the operation of a remote telegraph station, and later post office and telephone exchange, and the technological changes that influenced the ongoing development, and eventual closure of the place as a communications centre. It also has the potential to provide information the life, and hardships, of the operations staff living in the remote north-west. IMPORTANCE IN DEMONSTRATING THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A CLASS OF CULTURAL OR NATURAL PLACES OR ENVIRONMENTS Post and telegraph stations were often civic centres and a place for local people to meet up and chat to others when visiting from remote stations. As the original post office for the Shark Bay region Hamelin Pool station functioned as a social point of contact and communication for local residents. IMPORTANCE IN EXHIBITING PARTICULAR AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS The buildings exhibit the developing PWD style for standardised building construction in remote places that was further refined under the guidance of architect G.T. Poole. IMPORTANCE IN DEMONSTRATING A HIGH DEGREE OF CREATIVE OR TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AT A PARTICULAR PERIOD Hamelin Pool telegraph station was an integral part of nineteenth century advances in electronics communications. As a repeater station it had a essential role in telegraphic communications repeating messages to and from Perth to other areas of WA and to the world via the submarine cable at Cable Beach in Broome. STRONG OR SPECIAL ASSOCIATION WITH A PARTICULAR COMMUNITY OR CULTURAL GROUP FOR SOCIAL, CULTURAL OR SPIRITUAL REASONS. THIS INCLUDES SIGNIFICANCE OF A PLACE TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AS PART OF THEIR CONTINUING AND DEVELOPING CULTURAL TRADITIONS Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station is significant to the individuals who worked and lived there and their descendants to its current custodians and supporters who work to curate the stories of the place. It is significant for supporting a way of life – that of a telegraphist - no longer practised. SPECIAL ASSOCIATION WITH THE LIFE OR WORKS OF A PERSON OR GROUPS OF PERSON, OF IMPORTANCE IN OUR HISTORY Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station is associated with the Western Australian Public Works Department and its development of robust buildings suited to isolated sites and intemperate climatic conditions.
The Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station is part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, the boundary of which also takes in the stromatolites cluster and the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve directly to the west of the site. The place provides the main public access to the stromatolites. On approach 3 white corrugated iron buildings appear against the background of a 10m shell ridge with acacia and hakea patches. Entering the settlement local bore drain couch grass provides a cool effect. The buildings are on the edge of a silty loam samphire flat. Early domestic plantings were survivors on little water (jade, tamerisk, bougainvillea). Some eucalypts now give shade. The buildings remain little changed in 137 years and convey the atmosphere of early Telegraph Station life. As previously noted the settlement is surrounded by 608 ha (1500 acres) of Commonwealth common land set aside in order that the Telegraph Station may graze stock for food and grazing of the work animals (camels and horses). This is known as the Hamelin Pool Common (reserve 658) and it is within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. Other buildings associated with the place are: 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 The Shire of Shark Bay’s Municipal Inventory provides the following physical description: 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. Nearby is also a grave, flagpole and a shell block quarry FMR HAMELIN POOL POST AND TELEGRAPH STATION: The building is a 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.
Assessment: 2021 Construction: Opened 21 April 1884 Altereations/Additions: 1896 Architect/Designer: West Australian Public Works department Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (fmr) is the last remaining example of repeater station properties which connected Perth with the north of Western Australia. In 1889 it also connected the colony with Britain – and before Federation in Australia, this undersea line connected from Broome’s Cable Beach via Cocos (Direction) Island, Indonesia and India. The station encompasses the times and histories of these remote stations. In later years it became the Post Office and Telephone Exchange for the area and also played an invaluable service to the project of NASA to land man on the moon by enabling communications during a critical phase of the launch of the first Gemini Space Craft. The location of the place, adjacent to some of the earliest life forms on Earth has provided a valuable research base for scientists from around the world. Aboriginal people have lived in the Shark Bay Region for tens of thousands of years. The Shark Bay Area contains over 130 registered Aboriginal sites including rock shelters, quarries and burial places. The Hamelin Pool area is the traditional land of the Malgana People. No known Aboriginal sites exist in the Telegraph Station area although Aboriginal links to the adjacent Stromatolites is certain. The following contains some documentary evidence from the Shire of Shark Bay’s Municipal Inventory which has been supplemented and amended: The Geraldton to Northampton telegraph line was established in 1878 ostensibly to cater for the communication needs of lead mining in the Northampton area. This was an extension of the existing telegraph line from Perth to Geraldton via Guildford, Newcastle (Toodyay) and through the wheatbelt which was constructed from 1871 to1874. An extension from Northampton to Roebourne was approved in 1881 to link up with a proposed submarine cable to India and from there to Great Britain. The line reached Roebourne late 1885. It reached Broome in 1889 and was further extended to Derby in the same year. Because of a gold finds around Wyndham the line was extended to that town in 1893. The first undersea cable to Australia between Banjoewangie (Banyuwangi) in Java and Darwin was completed in 1873 and another laid in 1880. But these passed over an area of seismic activity so the cables were often damaged. A third cable from Banjoewangie to Broome was suggested as a more reliable option. Cable laying on this route began in February 1889. The first telegraph cable was sent from Perth to London via Broome on 9th April 1889 by a Mr E Kean. The Government settlement at Hamelin Pool was surveyed in January 1884 by the Director of Public works H. S. Carey who apparently chose the site for the availability of fresh water and easy access to sea transport. He named the place Flint Cliff after the white cliffs 5 kilometres to the north of the site – a geographical feature also used as a navigational aid. The place was gazetted on the 1st April 1884. On the 21st April, 1884 the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station commenced operations at the southern end of Hamelin Pool. At this time, repeater telegraph stations were generally placed every 200 to 300 Kilometres along the line as the signal deteriorated with distance. The place was maintained by linesmen using horses and camels. The size of the original reserve, (608 ha) allowed sufficient area for these animals to graze. The Telegraph Station and simple quarters were designed by the Architectural Division of the Public Works Department. Later additions (1896) were carried out under the leadership of Principal Architect George Temple Poole. Other services carried out at the Telegraph Station included recording weather and distributing mail which came from Carnarvon by lighter – a shallow draft vessel. 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. 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 direct to Carnarvon. The intermediate station at Wooramel was closed and the Wooramel 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 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 had previously operated there. The small telephone exchange continued to serve a handful of subscribers. The Linesman's Quarters, located to the north of the Telegraph Station, was removed in c1962 to Woodleigh Station for use as a Cook's House. The Hamelin Pool line station closed on 29 November, 1963, however the post office continued to operate until July, 1971. Mrs Lillian O’Donahue, the Postmistress at Hamelin Pool in 1964, played a key part in the success of Gemini 1, the first flight of the Gemini Space Program which ran from 1961 to 1966. At that time the Carnarvon Tracking Station was not officially operational but was pressed into service for this first (unoccupied) flight of the Gemini program. Telecommunications between the Carnarvon Tracking Station and Perth, via Mullewa, was through the Postmaster General’s (PMG) existing trunk telephone lines. From Perth, communications went to Adelaide and thence to Maryland in the US. One minute and 37 seconds before the spacecraft was due to launch on Wednesday 8th April lightning struck the Carnarvon to Mullewa cable putting it out of action. Communications were quickly re-routed through the exchange at Hamelin Pool. Although already redundant and sold for scrap, the primitive earth return line between Northampton and Carnarvon (through Hamelin Pool) had – luckily - not been removed and was still operational. Lilian was roused from her bed and from 10.30 pm until 3.10 am the next morning she – helped by her husband - relayed blocks of figures in half hour segments so that the Carnarvon Tracking Station could operate effectively. Later, Lilian received a letter of appreciation from the Superintendent of Post Offices in Perth lauding her for her work in the emergency. In the early 1970s the Post Office building was adapted for use as a residence, with work undertaken including a kitchen and verandah enclosures. Other construction at the site included a shed, shade house, engine room and toilet block. The building suffered damage by Cyclone Mavis in 1971 and Cyclone Hazel in 1979, with half of the roof having to be replaced. On 6 July, 1971 the status of the settlement was reduced to that of telephone office and in 1977 the telephone exchange was discontinued. The building currently operates as a museum.
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.