Competing with the noise of the boilermakers’ riveting guns coming from behind the Boilermakers’ Shop, was the sound of steel hammers hitting metal on steel anvils in the Blacksmiths’ Shop. The large forge, already mentioned in relation to the former, was also central to the work of the blacksmiths. The blacksmiths had to know the right temperature of the metal for the work they had to do on it. This would range from a warm red glow for simply bending, to a sparkling white for a forge weld. This depended on the charcoal, the air from the bellows and the heat they produced.
Blacksmiths use charcoal rather than coal because it burns in a more regulated way. The charcoal was stored in a bin behind the forge and next to the railway line, which delivered it from the charcoal burners who burn wood, depriving the fire of oxygen. This was reflected in some of the remains of the Workshops after the Fire of 2016. I remember thinking this when I walked through the ruins.
The air in this large industrial complex came from a mechanical bellows that operated just near the entrance to the complex. The air was piped to wherever it was needed.
All this machinery was still in place from the original building, but the great collection of blacksmithing tools, many of which decorated the walls of the restored Blacksmiths’ Shop, were probably collected from many sources. These mostly survived the Fire and ‘clean-up’. They include five anvils, four swage blocks used to shape and bend metal, six leg vices that were designed for large pieces of metal and were cemented into the floor, plus numerous tongs, hammers, cutters, calipers and anvil swages of a variety of shapes that fit the square hole in the anvil. Blacksmiths make and remake their own tools and they boasted of making the tools for all other trades.
I have read that the Blacksmiths’ Shop, particularly the forge, also played a part in the life of the school children. On a frosty Yarloop winter’s day they would cut through the blacksmiths’ shop and warm themselves, before going up the hill to the school. As with all these stories of the early 1920s, life was very different. There was much less regulation and common sense was king. This story, though, reflects the centrality of the Workshops to the town, with fathers and grandfathers working just a short distance from homes and the school.[1]
Looking back into the Blacksmiths’ Shop. Note the bags of charcoal under the sign. Leg vices and other tools are on the bench seen between the whims on the back wall.
The two whims owned by us were on display there. Only the metal parts of these survived the Fire.
The remainder of the Blacksmiths’ Shop, looking out to the South of the Workshops. The forge can just be seen behind the legs of the giant trestle, and the air pipe to the forge goes across behind the gantry crane.
Blacksmithing tongs and other tools.
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[1] From ‘The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly’ Part 38, February 2025, by Allan Ward, Hon. Curator.