Burra Rock Woodline

Values

The place is associated with the gold rush in the Goldfields as it was used to source timber to fuel the industrial components of the gold mining industry as well as small commercial enterprises and domestic wood consumption.

The place is rare as a visable woodline track in Wester Australia associated with the Gold Mining Industry.

The place is representative and a good example of the woodlines that existed throughout the goldfields.

The place represents an industry comprising a large proportion of immigrant workers from the Southern and Eastern Europe.

The place is representative of a way of life no longer practised.

Physical Description

□ Distinct raised path through the bush.

□ The compacted ground has prevented the return of plants once use stopped thus preserving the tracks for clear viewing.

□ It is impossible to determine a curtilage to any chosen site at this time. Extensive time is required in the area with an experienced local guide with a 4WD.

□ The actual tramline construction has been removed. The formations through the bush remain.

History

Wood was needed in the early 1900s in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie to support machinery for mining as well as for private domestic use. More and more firewood were needed as the population rapidly increased in response to the gold rush experienced at the time. The stocks of wood around Kalgoorlie were rapidly depleted and woodcutters began to move further afield. Entrepreneurs such as W.N. Hedges devises a solution to these problems – a railway line ‘Woodline’ along which private trains operated transferring wood long distances into Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie.



Woodcutters who provided wood for these trains often lived in remote locations, leaving wood at the side of the rail to be collected. They lived in rustic conditions. They were also considered to be of a lower class than the miners. Relics from the woodcutters' camps can be seen along some of the tracks. The Woodlines were narrow gauge railway lines used to haul timber into Kalgoorlie-Boulder for the mines and fuel for industry. They were developed around 1900 following the discovery of gold in Coolgardie in 1892 and in Kalgoorlie the following year and operated until the 1960s.



There have been reports from four-wheel drive users that use the tracks still contain many of the original railway elements remain such as loading ramps, landings, rubbish pits and camp remnants scattered in the vicinity of Burra Rock Road.

Timber cut from the arid inland forests and woodlands was also used as fuel in the pumping stations along the Goldfields water pipeline between Mundaring and Kalgoorlie, completed in 1903. The last of the wood-fired boilers and pumping stations converted to diesel in 1960. By 1965 the Goldfields Woodlines and timber-fueled pump stations had been consigned to history.

This Woodline is significant in that they are rarely found in such a good condition.

The Shire of Coolgardie is in the preliminary stages of developing an interpretation centre based on the woodlines in the region.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

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.