Various sites in Wedge Street

Statement of Significance

Wedge Street is of considerable significance as the main commercial centre of the Town of Port Hedland, located in close proximity to the port it is a uniquely located town centre. The sites of the early development of the town are significant historical reminders of the development of Port Hedland.

History

POST OFFICE Prior to the Post office, Port Hedland initially had a telegraph office at Boodarie Station between 1892 and 1897, then a temporary post office at the causeway near Redbank Bridge. One of the original buildings constructed in the town, the post office was built in 1910 by Charles (Charlie) Bayman, who was responsible for a number of the town’s early buildings. Built of sandstone with a low verandah and lattice surrounded attached bungalow, the post office was also one of the several places in town with a ‘crow’s nest’. Crows nests were sleeping towers designed to sleep in during hot weather to catch the breeze and escape from sandflies and mosquitoes. By the 1930s gardens had been established around the verandahs. The Glass family operated the Post Office from the late 1930s, at which time there was the Post Master, Postal Clerk, Postal Assistant and a messenger. The Post Office existed here until it was replaced by the existing post office in 1967. DEMPSTER’S STORE Built by Tom Traine about 1899, the two storey building with a cellar was originally the Port Hedland Hotel, the first hotel in Port Hedland. From the 1920s the place became the garage of Len Taplin, who pioneered truck driving in the Pilbara and operated a wool trucking and mail run from the premises. Following this the building became Dempster’s store. The general store stocked a variety of goods including farming equipment and clothing. The building was demolished with a number of other buildings during the 1960s industrial boom. CRAMERI’S BILLIARD SALOON William Leonard (Will) Crameri worked on the trams between Roebourne and Cossack, where he lost a leg, and following this he established a shop on the corner of Wedge Street. Will Crameri made knits, and was a bootmaker and barber in addition to running the billiard saloon, which was operating by the early 1920s. During the early 1940’s, rooms at the back of the billiard salon were used to accommodate the spillover of children form the Catholic school until more facilities became available. ROAD BOARD BUILDING-SITE (VISITORS CENTRE) The Port Hedland Roads Board was established in 1906. In the sociology of the town the Roads Board secretary was amongst the police and doctors in importance, overseeing the rates, vehicle licensing and the construction and maintenance of roads. A single storey timber framed asbestos building with a corrugated iron roof and wide surrounding verandahs, the Roads Board building accommodated the whole shire building in one room. During council meetings a curtain would be drawn across the room for privacy. This building operated as such until the late 1950s. PICTURE GARDENS Located on the site currently occupied by the ANZ Bank, the picture gardens were built by Charles Bayman in 1936. Charlie Bayman operated the picture gardens for children, who initially saw the shows for free, whilst adults paid 30 shillings. The movies were operated at first by the motor mechanics from Len Taplin’s garage on a timber and flat iron screen, with Mr Bayman repairing the screen and the perimeter fence regularly due to cyclones, until 1942, when the Australian Army took over the operation of the picture gardens. Silver coin donations covered expenses, but during this period the perimeter fence was not re-erected, and movies were screened on a painted wall of the adjacent courthouse. From about 1946 Fred Hull took over the management of the picture gardens for Charles Bayman, and in the early 1960s the business was sold to Jack and Joyce Glass. During the iron ore boom of the 1960s, the 350 capacity gardens became inadequate, so the twice weekly movies were screened nightly, with three movie changes. For many years after World War Two, annual Christmas parties were also held at the picture gardens for the local children.

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