Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Bloody disaster day! This is my second attempt to bring you the York to Wagin story. I had just finished more than 6 hours work on this very topic yesterday morning when the whole blogsite crashed. All gone. Every single word and picture. I tried every trick I knew to retrieve it.....nothing worked. I'll leave you to imagine the scene chez Marshies at about 0730 hours at the Kookaburra Caravan Park, Busselton. A rising mushroom cloud is about the best description I can think of. It took a visit to the Margaret River Bootleg Brewery and a couple of pints of their Raging Bull dark ale to get over it!
I almost decided to skip Wagin, but it is such and interesting place I was struck by an unusual bout of conscience.....so, let's dry our eyes and get on with it....'Wagin take two'.
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Our 200kms trip from York to Wagin took us through more of the WA Wheatbelt country
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although we did notice that as we made our way further south through Beverley, Brookton and Pingelly, larger gum trees became much more commonplace. In many stretches they formed avenues along the highway.
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We also saw a number of examples of the degradation caused by the curse of rising salt where the otherwise productive and arable land is wasted and useless. These are very bleak patches of the landscape, particularly when compared to the otherwise thick fields of grain and hay.
.JPG)
The township of Narrogin presented us with something of a surprise and did nothing to dispel our impression that when the seasons are favourable, folk in the Wheatbelt do well. It was much larger than we had expected. The main street was bustling
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and, as this shot (taken very much in passing) of the upper storey of the Town Hall shows, there are some impressive buildings in Narrogin. It is a town on our revisit list....after the harvest and the hayfever season is well and truly over!
Our choice of Wagin as our overnight stop proved to be a good decision for a number of reasons. Again we found ourselves in a town with a significant history. And although the caravan park was somewhat different from any other we had experienced, it worked very well indeed.
As we discovered on arrival, all the sites are sealed with bitumen. And, as a notice at the entrance proclaimed, this is a 'site yourself' park. Travellers are invited to select a site and either pay later at the local Shire Office or await the arrival in the late afternoon of a shire employee who wanders around and collects the princely sum of $20.
I was a little confused on arrival as to just how we would place the rig on the rather oddly shaped sites available. Fortunately a couple of locals who were installing a new sprinkler system made it clear that one parks on an angle. We did just that!
Whilst the sites were sealed, the clean and functional amenities block and the nearby guest pergola and BBQ area were located on a lovely lawned area and the whole park was well serviced by both flowering and shade trees. It really was a good spot and one we would highly recommend.
Our arrival timing was immaculate....just in time to watch the Melbourne Cup whilst we had lunch. There are some advantages in the time difference. And then it was off to town. We had the afternoon to see Wagin.
.JPG)
From the back corner of the park we walked past a very well constructed water feature where a rock waterfall
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feeds a series of streams and ponds (it is a shame the water is so muddy) which run all the way
.JPG)
to the 'Big Ram', the symbol of Wagin, here seen in its garden setting.
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And it is a big baaaa(stard!) (sorry...irresistible)
But why the Big Ram? Simple. Wagin is the home to a thriving Merino sheep stud industry and the host town of the 'Wagin Woolarama', the largest annual rural show in WA, one known Australia wide, which attracts up to 20,000 visitors each March.
Sheep were not always the primary Wagin industry. For some historical perspective let me quote from the admirable 'Wagin Heritage Trail' booklet we picked up from the Shire office when we paid our park fees.
"The Wagin area was ideal for agriculture as the climate and rainfall both proved suitable for grain crops and stock. Settlers began arriving in the 1890's and 1900's, stimulated by the construction of the Beverley to Albany railway in 1889. Wagin was a railway junction, and by 1906 was well established as a service centre for the surrounding hinterland with three hotels, five banks and several shops and factories.
There have been various theories as to the origin of the name Wagin. One is that it is from the Aboriginal word ' Wedge-an' (Emu), the nearby Wagin Lake having been a popular watering place for emus."
I must comment that I find it particularly odd that the origin of the town name is shrouded in such mystery...its not that old after all...but there you go.
.JPG)
And off we go...our historical walk through Wagin, where our first stop was at St George's Anglican Church. As old church buildings go, this is nothing really out of the box, but it has one major distinction....it was built entirely by the Wagin locals, on donated land, from raw materials (stone, gravel and sand) all sourced from nearby farms. It was consecrated in February 1902.
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Along Tudhoe Street, one of the two major commercial streets of Wagin, we came across the imposing Community Hall (the history of which has completely now slipped my mind) which also serves as the local RSL. Bragging rights here!
.JPG)
Tudhoe Street, which is the main thoroughfare through Wagin, houses the majority of its commercial buildings in a short streetscape which by now, was becoming pretty familiar.
.JPG)
A little further down the street we found the local Post Office, a building which, for any who have visited Toodyay and York, was also very familiar in its style and shape.
Beyond the PO the Wagin architectural grandeur emerges, firstly in the form of the Mitchell Hall Hotel, one of the three Wagin pubs.
.JPG)
And here we found another parallel with Toodyay and York. Of the three town pubs, only one actually serves beer and other necessities of life to the thirsty public. The Mitchell Hall, which began life as the far less imposing Federal Hotel, is now given over to a series of food outlets, including, from what we could spy through its windows, a grandly furnished restaurant. Sadly, and, I suspect, possibly as a reflection of the fact that the Wagin Shire has a population of less than 3,000, these food shops are mostly closed and on the market.
.JPG)
The Mitchell Hall stands on one corner of the intersection of Tudhoe and Tudor Streets. Here the railway line crosses Tudhoe Street, and a short hop further on stands the Palace Hotel, Wagin's operational pub. Both time, and the time of day (it was a tad early, even for your correspondent) precluded us from breasting the Palace bar, but we later read that it has won a number of gongs in the country pub competitive field.
.JPG)
From this point, looking off to the right, Wagin's railway history become more obvious with the remainder of the shunting sidings and the old station in view. A small park area runs alongside part of the railway, opposite which, on Tudor Street one finds
.JPG)
the Butterick Buildings. This rather grand shops and offices bock was completed in the early 1900's and still serves that purpose to this day.
The Town Hall and Court House lie next to the Butterick Buildings, making the view along Tudor Street pretty impressive.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
On that somewhat sad note, we completed our brief flirt with the history of Wagin. As we wandered back to our digs we were impressed by the number and size of the many gum trees in the town
.JPG)
I almost decided to skip Wagin, but it is such and interesting place I was struck by an unusual bout of conscience.....so, let's dry our eyes and get on with it....'Wagin take two'.
.JPG)
Our 200kms trip from York to Wagin took us through more of the WA Wheatbelt country
.JPG)
although we did notice that as we made our way further south through Beverley, Brookton and Pingelly, larger gum trees became much more commonplace. In many stretches they formed avenues along the highway.
.JPG)
We also saw a number of examples of the degradation caused by the curse of rising salt where the otherwise productive and arable land is wasted and useless. These are very bleak patches of the landscape, particularly when compared to the otherwise thick fields of grain and hay.
.JPG)
The township of Narrogin presented us with something of a surprise and did nothing to dispel our impression that when the seasons are favourable, folk in the Wheatbelt do well. It was much larger than we had expected. The main street was bustling
.JPG)
and, as this shot (taken very much in passing) of the upper storey of the Town Hall shows, there are some impressive buildings in Narrogin. It is a town on our revisit list....after the harvest and the hayfever season is well and truly over!
Our choice of Wagin as our overnight stop proved to be a good decision for a number of reasons. Again we found ourselves in a town with a significant history. And although the caravan park was somewhat different from any other we had experienced, it worked very well indeed.
As we discovered on arrival, all the sites are sealed with bitumen. And, as a notice at the entrance proclaimed, this is a 'site yourself' park. Travellers are invited to select a site and either pay later at the local Shire Office or await the arrival in the late afternoon of a shire employee who wanders around and collects the princely sum of $20.
I was a little confused on arrival as to just how we would place the rig on the rather oddly shaped sites available. Fortunately a couple of locals who were installing a new sprinkler system made it clear that one parks on an angle. We did just that!
Whilst the sites were sealed, the clean and functional amenities block and the nearby guest pergola and BBQ area were located on a lovely lawned area and the whole park was well serviced by both flowering and shade trees. It really was a good spot and one we would highly recommend.
Our arrival timing was immaculate....just in time to watch the Melbourne Cup whilst we had lunch. There are some advantages in the time difference. And then it was off to town. We had the afternoon to see Wagin.
.JPG)
From the back corner of the park we walked past a very well constructed water feature where a rock waterfall
.JPG)
feeds a series of streams and ponds (it is a shame the water is so muddy) which run all the way
.JPG)
to the 'Big Ram', the symbol of Wagin, here seen in its garden setting.
.JPG)
And it is a big baaaa(stard!) (sorry...irresistible)
But why the Big Ram? Simple. Wagin is the home to a thriving Merino sheep stud industry and the host town of the 'Wagin Woolarama', the largest annual rural show in WA, one known Australia wide, which attracts up to 20,000 visitors each March.
Sheep were not always the primary Wagin industry. For some historical perspective let me quote from the admirable 'Wagin Heritage Trail' booklet we picked up from the Shire office when we paid our park fees.
"The Wagin area was ideal for agriculture as the climate and rainfall both proved suitable for grain crops and stock. Settlers began arriving in the 1890's and 1900's, stimulated by the construction of the Beverley to Albany railway in 1889. Wagin was a railway junction, and by 1906 was well established as a service centre for the surrounding hinterland with three hotels, five banks and several shops and factories.
There have been various theories as to the origin of the name Wagin. One is that it is from the Aboriginal word ' Wedge-an' (Emu), the nearby Wagin Lake having been a popular watering place for emus."
I must comment that I find it particularly odd that the origin of the town name is shrouded in such mystery...its not that old after all...but there you go.
.JPG)
And off we go...our historical walk through Wagin, where our first stop was at St George's Anglican Church. As old church buildings go, this is nothing really out of the box, but it has one major distinction....it was built entirely by the Wagin locals, on donated land, from raw materials (stone, gravel and sand) all sourced from nearby farms. It was consecrated in February 1902.
.JPG)
Along Tudhoe Street, one of the two major commercial streets of Wagin, we came across the imposing Community Hall (the history of which has completely now slipped my mind) which also serves as the local RSL. Bragging rights here!
.JPG)
Tudhoe Street, which is the main thoroughfare through Wagin, houses the majority of its commercial buildings in a short streetscape which by now, was becoming pretty familiar.
.JPG)
A little further down the street we found the local Post Office, a building which, for any who have visited Toodyay and York, was also very familiar in its style and shape.
Beyond the PO the Wagin architectural grandeur emerges, firstly in the form of the Mitchell Hall Hotel, one of the three Wagin pubs.
.JPG)
And here we found another parallel with Toodyay and York. Of the three town pubs, only one actually serves beer and other necessities of life to the thirsty public. The Mitchell Hall, which began life as the far less imposing Federal Hotel, is now given over to a series of food outlets, including, from what we could spy through its windows, a grandly furnished restaurant. Sadly, and, I suspect, possibly as a reflection of the fact that the Wagin Shire has a population of less than 3,000, these food shops are mostly closed and on the market.
.JPG)
The Mitchell Hall stands on one corner of the intersection of Tudhoe and Tudor Streets. Here the railway line crosses Tudhoe Street, and a short hop further on stands the Palace Hotel, Wagin's operational pub. Both time, and the time of day (it was a tad early, even for your correspondent) precluded us from breasting the Palace bar, but we later read that it has won a number of gongs in the country pub competitive field.
.JPG)
From this point, looking off to the right, Wagin's railway history become more obvious with the remainder of the shunting sidings and the old station in view. A small park area runs alongside part of the railway, opposite which, on Tudor Street one finds
.JPG)
the Butterick Buildings. This rather grand shops and offices bock was completed in the early 1900's and still serves that purpose to this day.
The Town Hall and Court House lie next to the Butterick Buildings, making the view along Tudor Street pretty impressive.
.JPG)
Before we move on to the third of Wagin's pubs, another small snippet of Wagin history beckons. By now we had noted that a vast majority of the Wagin street names began with the letter 'T', far too many to be mere chance we thought. We couldn't let this oddity go unsolved and enquiries ensued. What a strange story resulted.
The original township of Wagin was laid out by surveyors in the employ of the railways as was the case with many other towns along the Beverley - Albany line. With a staggering lack of imagination, as streets were planned in each of these towns, they were allotted names all beginning with the same letter. By the time its was Wagin's turn, 'T' was on top of the list and so we have Tudhoe, Tudor, Trench, Tennyson, Tasman, Trenton etc, etc, etc. As the town expanded, so did the town fathers' imaginations and other letters were used, but 'T' certainly predominates. What an extraordinary piece of bureaucratic imaginative torpor! I am still shaking my head.
But on to Moran's Wagin Hotel which lies on the corner opposite the Town Hall. What a shame it is to see this once proud pub falling into disrepair. This was Wagin's first watering hole, built
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in the very early 1900's. In 1921 its ownership and licence was acquired by James Moran who came to Wagin by way of the Coolgardie goldfields. It is reputed that Moran, at the time of his death in July 1967, held the Australian record for the longest ownership of, and licence for, the same pub. His family, who took over the hotel, clearly did not display his business acumen and the hotel is now closed.
.JPG)
On that somewhat sad note, we completed our brief flirt with the history of Wagin. As we wandered back to our digs we were impressed by the number and size of the many gum trees in the town
and we had the pleasure of spotting what I suspected would be the last patch of 'Everlastings' we would see for the season.
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We really did enjoy our stay in Wagin. It again proved that this country has so much of interest to offer even on an 'incidental' visit (and I publish this post with great rejoicing!) Tomorrow, the coast awaits us.
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