Beacon Railway Barracks

Values

• The place illustrates the provision of accommodation for crews of trainsmen on country rail routes, which was necessary to enable the operation of Western Australia’s extensive rail system.
• The place is valued by the local community for its association with the railway that played a key role in the development and economy of Beacon, and more recently for its role in the local tourism industry as budget accommodation.

Physical Description

The place is located on the north side of Lindsay Street close to the town centre of the Wheatbelt town of Beacon.
The former Beacon Railway Barracks building is currently used as budget tourist accommodation and consists of 8 cabins. Each individual cabin has original floors, walls, windows, doors and ceilings but the original roof cladding has been replaced. External walls are weatherboard.
The complex includes a shared kitchen and ablution facilities. Of the nine cabins relocated to the current site in 1971, 8 remain as one cabin was demolished due to white ant infestation.

History

Land around Beacon was officially made available for selection in 1926. The townsite had already been surveyed when construction of the Kulja-eastward railway line commenced in April 1929, and Beacon townsite was gazetted in October 1931. Frank Rowlands erected the first building in the town, a corrugated iron store on Beacon townsite Lot 5. Work on the section of railway from Kulja to Bonnie Rock was completed on 27 April 1931, and the first scheduled train arrived in Beacon on 4 May 1931. At this time, the town began to develop rapidly to include a bakery, butchery, garage, greengrocer, two boarding houses, and a Buffalo lodge. A progress association was formed and cricket and football teams established.
Bulk handling facilities were installed at Beacon in time for the 1933-34 harvest. By 1936, the town had a bank and a post office. By 1939, there was still only one weekly train to Beacon. The arrival of the Friday train was a highlight for locals who would gather at the station for the train’s arrival, the crowd then moving on to the CWA for afternoon tea, many dressed in their Sunday best. The train brought provisions to the town including mail, newspapers, bread, stores, fuel, machinery, parts and fertilizer.
The first railway accommodation in Beacon consisted of three modest weatherboard and asbestos, corrugated iron roofed houses with kitchen and dining room facilities constructed in the 1930s. These houses served as permanent accommodation for railway gangers and fettlers who maintained the line between Beacon and the terminus at Bonnie Rock. There were also four free standing cabins supplemented by a number of canvas tents, all located on the north side of the railway line. Many of the permanent railway workers were post war immigrants from Europe. The houses have since been demolished.

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