Mount Barker Fruit Inspection & Dehydration Shed (fmr)

Values

The place is rare as a purpose-built fruit packing shed associated with a major railway station in the southwest of Western Australia.

As part of the complex of railway station buildings, the place had an integral role in the export of local produce, which in turn had a significant impact on the growth of the town of Mt Barker and its surrounds.

The place represents the need for additional facilities during the expansion of the fruit growing industry in Western Australia in the 1930s.

The place represents efforts of the Mr Barker fruit growing community of the 1930s to work collectively for a more efficient means of processing their produce.

The interior remains relatively intact in comparison to other similar places that have been highly modified.

Physical Description

From External Site Inspection Form by Laura Gray, Heritage & Conservation Consultant. Based on photographs provided by PTA, from an inspection in early 2006: "Mount Barker Fruit Grower's Cool Storage Co-operative building (fmr) is a ‘T’ shaped building with a long rectangular 1918 building parallel along the west side of the railway line. At the south end, the 1936 rectangular form extension is at right angles from the 1918 building. There is an expansive grassed area and bitumen parking area to the west and south of the building. The 1918 building is a timber-framed structure predominantly clad with painted weatherboards. The upper sections of the walls have spaced boards that provide ventilation. There are regular sliding door openings along the east and west sides of the building. Extensions at the north end seem to be clad with horizontal corrugated asbestos sheeting. The entire gable roof is clad with corrugated asbestos sheets. There is a platform along the east side (rail side), and a bracketed awning along that length. The 1936 extension has a hipped roof, also clad with corrugated asbestos. It is mostly timber framed and clad with weatherboards and venting as for the 1918 building, including the south wall that is face brick to vente height. The interiors are unceiled, and the floors are predominantly concrete. The expansive timber truss systems are evident. There is freestanding 2.0 metre high brick walls the length of the 1918 building, and railways lines similarly within the building are aligned north south." The building is in sound condition, has moderate integrity, and high to moderate authenticity.

History

The township of Mt Barker originated as a resting place between Albany and Kojonup from the 1860s, gradually developing with the improvement of the road and the opening of the Great Southern Railway in the late 1880s. A prefabricated railway station building was erected in 1889 and the town grew up around this initial focal point. The railway station made it easier to dispose of farm produce, and soon the commercial life of the town was reliant on the surrounding farms and orchards (the present brick and tile railway station building was erected in 1923). By 1910 there were 75 commercial orchards in and around Mt Barker and the export of apples was a major source of income for the area, as well as pears and peas. Before refrigeration, apples were exported in barrels, and in 1917 local orchardists, unhappy with the exporting conditions, agreed to form the Mount Barker Cool Storage Co-operative. The company arranged the packing, cold storing and export of all their products. When the company was incorporated on 1 May 1918, there were 75 shareholders, all orchardists. "It [the company] purchased a small building with rail access which was immediately enlarged as a packing shed and built a cold store adjoining the packing shed. All the buildings and plant (including the refrigeration plant) were installed in readiness for the 1918 fruit season. At this time most of the fruit was packed by the growers on their own properties, but with the expansion of plantings - mainly of the Granny Smith variety in the early 1930s - growers made more use of the Mount Barker Co-op's central packing-shed facilities so that in 1936 its premises were enlarged, and new apple and pear graders installed; plus, two case-making machines. The premises were enlarged again in 1938-39, so that for the 1939 season there were five graders and three case-making machines ready to handle what turned out to be a record crop. With the outbreak of World War II all apples and pears were acquired by the federal Government and the Mount Barker Co-op packed and cold stored that fruit produced in the district under contract for the Australian Apple and Pear Marketing Board." Glover, R (1979) p350. The Co-op expanded its holdings and diversified into farm merchandise, seed cleaning and grading after the end of the war. Yearly fruit production declined from the 1960s and the Co-op closed the packing shed in 1975. Extensive alterations were made to transfer the shed into a retail complex. It was officially opened on 24 July 1978. The railway station remained in use until 1978 when the passenger service between Perth and Albany was discontinued. The railway station building was permanently registered in June 1995, based on the March 1994 Conservation Plan by Pinder Architects Pty Ltd and Bruce Harry & Assoc. Conservation Architects. Although the consultants did not recommend, they be included in the curtilage of the registration, the statement of significance notes the "associated former fruit packing and cold stores to the south are of some interest for their representation of a historical period in Mt Barker's economic development and help to give context to the railway station buildings" (p53). In the mid 1990s the fruit packing shed was used as a wool store. Photographs indicate it has been painted since the completion of the railway station conservation plan (1994) and the present.

Condition

Mount Barker Fruit Inspection & Dehydration Shed (fmr) is in fair condition. There is evidence of structural subsidence on the west side, extensive termite damage, deteriorated asbestos cement fabric on the roofs, and weathered timbers. On the interior, vandalism is particularly evident in the offices where wall cladding has been smashed, and ceilings damaged and partially removed. No maintenance takes place.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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