Boulder Subway Bridge

Statement of Significance

Assessment of Significance: Each element within the place (comprising the Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline), is valued for its individual aesthetic characteristics, and together they form a significant group. (Criteria 1.1 & 1.3)

The architectural features in the brick construction of the Boulder Subway walls are aesthetically pleasing. (Criterion 1.2)

The places that comprise Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline each have a landmark setting in the Boulder townsite or in the goldfields vista surrounding the town. Boulder Railway Station Building is a landmark associated with the approach drive, and the Rotunda is a pleasing element within the picturesque Park setting in front of Boulder Station. The Boulder Subway is a distinctive element in Boulder and is a marker between the town and the goldfields beyond. The war memorial by Porcelli is a fine example of his work. (Criterion 1.3)

The places that make up Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline represent a series of markers along the Loopline Railway line and provide a significant visual aesthetic and contribute to the cohesiveness of the cultural environment associated with the Loopline Railway. (Criterion 1.4)

The construction and subsequent operation of Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline was a result of the successful ongoing exploitation of the Eastern Goldfields, and in particular the Golden Mile. The Loopline operated between 1897 and 1976. (Criterion 2.1)

Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline provides a fine example of the transport infrastructure of the Eastern Goldfields during the 1880s and 1890s in Western Australia when large numbers of workers, heavy machinery, ore and timber had to be moved efficiently between mines, townships and transport depots. (Criteria 2.1 & 2.2)

The Boulder Railway Station and Boulder Subway are representative of the growth of Boulder as the major residential and support and service centre of the Golden Mile mining tenements. (Criterion 2.2)

The riveted plate bridge girder of the Boulder Subway demonstrates technical expertise in its construction. (Criterion 2.4)

The riveted plate bridge girder construction of the Boulder Subway demonstrates technical expertise. It was built before the advent of modern welding techniques and is significant in representing steel fabrication techniques of the early 1900s. (Criterion 3.3)

The structural competence and architectural achievement of the Boulder Subway, together with the central Pedestrian Subway to the roadway below and the railway above, is of considerable significance in demonstrating the expertise of the time in responding to transport requirements. (Criterion 3.3)

Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline is valued by the local and wider community for its ongoing railway associations, its connection with Boulder's gold boom past, and for its considerable aesthetic and landscape appeal. Its importance to the community is demonstrated by the formation of the Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society which operates the line as a tourist attraction, and by the occupation of Boulder Railway Station Building by the Goldfields Historical Society from 1976 to c. 1995. (Criterion 4.1)

Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline contributes to the local and wider community's sense of place as a significant reminder of the 1880s and 1890s goldrushes in Western Australia. (Criterion 4.2)

The Boulder Subway provides the only known example in the State of a subway built to its particular specifications, in particular regarding length, the number of tracks and the roadway carried by the bridge. The use of brick faced parapet beams and semi-circular floor troughing is unique in Western Australia. (Criterion 5.1)

The riveted girder construction, gravity brick abutments and retaining walls of Boulder Subway represent a nineteenth century form of construction that is now obsolete and is becoming increasingly rare in Western Australia as subways are gradually being replaced to meet town planning and railway requirements. (Criterion 5.2)

Boulder Railway Station, Subway and Loopline, and associated elements which assist in understanding the place, represent a unique example of what was a typical turn of the century goldfields railway system. (Criterion 6.2)

Statement of Significance: Boulder Subway has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:

- the place provides a fine remnant example of the transport infrastructure of the Eastern Goldfields during the 1880s and 1890s in Western Australia, when large numbers of workers, heavy machinery, ore and timber had to be moved efficiently between mines, townships and transport depots;

- the construction of the place was a result of the successful exploitation of the Eastern Goldfields, and in particular the Golden Mile. The Loopline operated from 1897 to 1976;

- Boulder Subway provides the only known example in the State of a subway built to its particular specifications and demonstrates technical expertise in the riveted plate bridge girder construction. The use of brick faced parapet beams and semi-circular floor troughing is unique in Western Australia;

- the riveted girder construction, gravity brick abutments and retaining walls of Boulder Subway represent a nineteenth century form of construction that is now obsolete and becoming increasingly rare in Western Australia;

- the place contributes to the local and wider community's sense of place as a significant reminder of the 1880s and 1890s goldrushes in Western Australia. It is also valued by the various groups interested in conserving and promoting Western Australia’s railway heritage; and,

- the Boulder Railway Station and Boulder Subway illustrate the importance of Boulder city as a major residential, and support and service centre, of the Golden Mile mining tenements at the turn of the century.

Physical Description

Less than a few hundred metres north of the Boulder Railway Station, at the end of the platform, is the Boulder Subway. It is a complex structure with a brick Pedestrian Subway parallel with the railway lines, a road Subway in Burt Street, at right angles to the railway line, and seven railway lines over the top, of which only three are still operational. A vehicle crash rail has been installed adjacent to the footpath through the subway.

The central Pedestrian Subway slopes down from the original island platform. It is a ramped open tunnel down to the Burt Street road level. The entire construction is a substantial series of brick gravity mass retaining walls laid in English bond. The Boulder Subway walls are also constructed in brick. There are fretting bricks in evidence, particularly on the north west facing wall, and efflorescence, on the north east wall of the Subway.

The railway support is a riveted steel bridge. It is a series of steel plate girders with the rail and ballast supported by steel troughing on the plate girders. The deck is in two sections, one each side of the Pedestrian Subway access. The eastern section of the deck, approximately 15 metres long, originally carried a road. It is supported by rolled steel longitudinal girders. The west end which carried the railway is fabricated riveted plate girders with lighter steel, semi-circular troughing.

Girders and rivets are in an advanced state of corrosion and the residual strength cannot be properly assessed without dismantling the bridge decks.

Under the Subway, there is still evidence of the original tram connections fixed under the steel girders. Venting elements are also still in place in the brick walls.

The brick pump house is still in situ on the east side of the Subway.

The railway track is laid with rails of a size and shape especially provided for the WAGR (58lbs/yd WAR) and is in reasonable condition. This rail type has been obsolete for many years (Bruce James, Chairman, Heritage Panel, Institution of Engineers of Australia, correspondence to HCWA dated 24 November 1999 - HCWA File R4639. This rail was also used to construct the Kalgoorlie-Leonora Railway and a slightly modified rail was adopted as a WAGR standard for use in many parts of the system, including the Northam to Kalgoorlie Railway and the Norseman to Esperance section of the Esperance railway). The railway also features a number of timber box culverts in reasonable condition (Bruce James, Chairman, Heritage Panel, Institution of Engineers of Australia, correspondence to HCWA dated 24 November 1999 - HCWA File R4639. These were a WAGR standard in common use but have been fully replaced on operating railway lines).

Comparative Information: The construction of the Boulder Subway is typical of WAGR subway construction of the time, but its length of approximately 75 metres makes it one of the longest, if not the longest, in the State.

The rivet construction, gravity brick abutments and retaining walls of the Subway represent a nineteenth and early twentieth century form of construction that is now obsolete. Other examples are in the Perth metropolitan area, but these are gradually being replaced to meet the changing requirements of town planning and railway axle roads. For example, the Hay Street subway in Subiaco has recently been removed. The Subway is also unique in the use of brick faced parapeted beams and semi-circular floor troughing, rather than the usual trapesoidal shape (Bruce James, Chairman, Heritage Panel, Institution of Engineers of Australia, correspondence to HCWA dated 24 November 1999 - HCWA File R4639).

History

All the work on the Boulder Railway Station was completed by June 1903. Boulder Railway Station Buildings comprised the main Station Building (or station house; extant), the lamp room, and the latrines building (extant) on the 'up' platform, and a shelter house on the 'down' (island) platform. An overhead footbridge connected the two platforms just north of the main Station Building. Another footbridge south of the platforms provided access over all lines from the western (Boulder) side of the Station Reserve to the eastern (mines) side. The footing remains of the latter footbridge are extant.

At the Burt Street (northern) end of the Station platforms, a road Subway allowed road traffic to pass under the railway line. A Pumping Station kept the Subway dry enough for traffic, and a Pedestrian Subway provided access from Burt Street up to the island platform with a connecting Underpass to the 'up' platform. There was another Underpass connecting the two platforms at the southern end of the station (plan of layout of Boulder Railway Station yard, CCE 4476; Eastern Goldfields Railway, Kalgoorlie Boulder Duplication, Boulder Station buildings plans, EEL Plan No. 5511, 1902, Drawings No. 2-6). The Stationmaster's house (extant) was constructed north of the Boulder Subway on a corner of the Station Reserve that was later annexed as Lot 3166 (Boulder City Station plan, EEL Plan No. 6957, 7 July 1909; Certificate of Title Vol. 3034, Fol. 798, 23 June 1993).

The construction of the Boulder Subway divided the station yard in two. Originally, the Boulder Station yard had consisted of a single large wedge-shaped area on Hamilton Street between Forrest Street, at the southern end, and Wittenoom Street, at the northern end (Site plan of Boulder Station reserve prior to construction of Subway and existing station building, EEL Plan No. 6552).

The Boulder Subway was designed to allow road traffic, particularly trams, to pass under the railway line. A tramway through the streets of Kalgoorlie and Boulder had been mooted as early as 1897, but the conflicting interests of Kalgoorlie Municipal Council, Kalgoorlie Roads Board, and Boulder Municipal Council, as well as the trade unions, brought delays. The Government was also concerned about a tramway competing with the Boulder Railway line. Nevertheless, Premier John Forrest believed that the difference in speeds and frequency of stops between a steam train and an electric street-car would make them complementary rather than competitive (Webb, 1993: 538).

The first tramways were laid in Kalgoorlie in 1900, authorised by the Kalgoorlie Tramways Act of that year (Kalgoorlie Tramways Act 1900, 5 December 1900, Statute No. 43, 1900). The first trams ran on the Kalgoorlie lines on 2 May 1902 (Goldfields Magazine, 13 May 1993: 3). That year, the route was extended, and then duplicated in 1904 (Kalgoorlie Tramways Act, Amendment Act 1902, Statute No. 10, 1902, and Amendment Act 1904, Statute No. 5, 1904). The Boulder Municipal Council was slower in getting a tramway system in Boulder, hoping to encourage residents to patronise local commercial ventures rather than shop in Kalgoorlie. However, the fact that residents already had access to the Loopline to travel to Kalgoorlie made the argument redundant.

The tramways were laid along Lane Street and through the Boulder Subway in 1903 and, in January 1904, the Boulder Tramways Act was passed (Boulder Tramways Act, 1904, Statute No. 2, 1904). Even before the tramway was running in Boulder, railway revenue was being effected by the competition, as reported in the Government Railways 1903 Annual Report.

"During the year the competition with the Kalgoorlie Electric Tramway Co for the Boulder line traffic was keen, and caused shrinkage in our receipts for this line. Reduced fares and improved service gave satisfactory results, but only temporary. As soon as the electric trams run right into Boulder City our service will hardly pay" (Report on the workings of the Government Railway and the Roebourne-Cossack Tramway, June 1903, in Votes and Proceedings of the Parliament of WA, 1903, Paper No. 30: 18).

The Railways department was correct in its forecast. From 1904, the Loopline began to lose money and services were curtailed, although it was claimed that the trains still ran every half hour, day and night (Webb, 1993: 538; Morris, 1984: 29-30). Trams ran along the main streets of both Kalgoorlie and Boulder, and through the Subway to the mines and the Boulder Block, which had developed as a commercial and recreational area in the heart of the mining tenements.

While the Loopline may not have been profitable for the Government Railways, it was still a busy railway system. One of the requirements for operating the mines was timber, and from as early as 1898, timber companies, such as Millar Bros, leased land in the Boulder Station yard and constructed their own sidings. Timber for fuel was needed to generate electricity for lighting and power, to run the electric trams, to power the steam driven winders that hauled ore to the surface and to heat the furnaces in which the gold ore was roasted. Structural timber was also required for the shafts and passageways of the underground mines. Before the advent of the Goldfields Pipeline, water was condensed for drinking and for use in the steam train boilers, again requiring large supplies of timber. After the Goldfields Pipeline was completed between Mundaring and Kalgoorlie, timber was needed to fuel the eight steam-powered pumping stations along the pipeline route (Gunzberg and Austin, 1997: 163).

After 1919, a number of companies involved in wood collecting operations concentrated on the area south of Lakeside, and Kamballie was the main depot where the wood wagons were left for distribution by WAGR to the mines and other users on the Loopline. The wood companies built 'woodlines' (railway tracks into the bush), moving them to a new area when the current area was cut out. Wood was cut in the area until about 1964, when diesel power began to take over (Gunzberg and Austin, 1997: Chapter 9). A 1952 map shows sidings from Boulder Station to the wood stacks at the Kalgoorlie Power Corporation site at the end of Hamilton Street (WAGR, Kalgoorlie Power Corporation sidings, Plan No. 41148, 1952).

As well as transporting timber, and goods and machinery to the mines, and ore to Fremantle, the trains on the Loopline were used by the miners. The changing of the shifts saw thousands of men transported back and forth within a short space of time, with trains passing through Boulder Railway Station every few minutes at change of shift. Sixty trains, each up to ten carriages in length, provided the service (Uhe, 1994). Children travelling to Sunday School picnics at Lakeside were carried on a special train that ran around the Loopline collecting passengers on the way. Another benefit of the Loopline was felt by courting couples, who could catch the 8.30pm train at Boulder Railway Station, travel the Loop in comfort and in the dim light of the oil lamps, and be home by 10pm (Morris, 1984: 29-30).

Passenger services on the Brown Hill Loop were discontinued in 1931, after all the houses in the area had either been dismantled or abandoned due to the Depression. The section closed completely in 1937. This left the Boulder City Loop and the mines line still operating. In 1952 the trams were replaced by buses, and by 1954 the rail service on the remaining Loopline was reduced to two passenger trains a day to Boulder and a goods train to Kamballie (Uhe, 1994).

West Australian Government Railways had always had the problem of running a narrow gauge rail system while the rest of the rail link with the eastern states was standard gauge. The two systems met at Parkeston, 4 kms east of Kalgoorlie, where everything had to be manually transferred from one system to the other. In 1966, the standard gauge line was finally extended to Fremantle, and the narrow gauge system was phased out. The Loopline Railway was narrow gauge.

Although emphasis was shifting to road transport, considered to more efficient than the railway as it reduced handling time and costs, Westrail did not cease operation of the Loopline until 1976. The Loopline Preservation Group was formed to retain the line and the remaining stations, and the Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society arranged to lease the line from Westrail to run as a tourist operation.

In the late 1980s, new mining technology resulted in the development of the Super Pit open-cut mining operation. Since 1989, the Super-Pit operation has spread to the extent where very little remains of the Loopline. The original lease of the Loopline extended from Golden Gate to Trafalgar station, the next station on the line past Kamballie, but the operable section of line has since been reduced to that between Golden Gate and Kamballie (Westrail/Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society Lease, 1982).

In April 1996, Westrail commissioned a structural investigation of the Boulder Subway, with a view to extending the operating life of the two tracks operated by the Loopline Railway Society (BSD Consultants, 1996).

In 1999, the Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society, the Kalgoorlie-Boulder City Council and Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold mines Pty Ltd began working on a ‘Loopline Heritage Restoration Project Plan’. The plan is considered imperative to the Loopline remaining a viable operation and to improve the facilities it provides as a tourist attraction in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The central focus of the plan aims to recreate an important original aspect of the Loopline; ie. a rail connection between Boulder Station and Hannan Street (Presentation to Development Committee on 22 February 2000 - HCWA File P 4639).

The Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society and Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines signed the agreement for the Loopline Heritage Restoration Project on 30 March 2000 (Kalgoorlie Miner, 31 March 2000: 3). Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines are funding the $1.5 million project in return for the removal of a section of the line that traverses part of a planned open cut mining area. The funding will go towards a loopline trust, restoration works to Boulder Subway and Station and future construction programs (Kalgoorlie Miner, 31 March 2000: 3).

In 2000, the Boulder Station Buildings are occupied solely by the Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society, from which they run their tourist operation. The Society has recently constructed a shed for the use of restoring railway rolling stock. Their current lease on the Loopline buildings and line runs until 2003.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate to High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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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.