Behind the entrance through the Shop to the Workshops was the original Main Store, seen in some of the photos dating back to the early 1900s. The Huon Pine window frames made it a building of note. It had a very high roof with an added room that housed The Vault. On one side of the building was a lengthy railway platform accessed by a double door.
A store isn’t the most interesting building until you start looking at what is in the store.
An uncle of mine was the storeman in the Main Store on Cockatoo Island off the Kimberley coast, 90 miles north of Derby. Showing me around his workplace, he took me to one shelf that contained several long lead lined boxes. They were coffins. The Island’s location meant that Australian Iron and Steel had to be prepared for any eventuality.
In 1900 Yarloop was just as isolated. I never found a coffin but there was still a variety of objects on the shelves. In plentiful supply were nuts and bolts and washers of various sizes but also glass tubes for the water gauges on steam engines. There was also a variety of brass or bronze valves and fittings. There were the customary railway station scales and a machine for making metal labels. Bottles of a variety of shapes and sizes were on the top shelves, empty, but I wasn’t game to touch them.
Along the east side of the building, the railway platform enabled items from the Main Store and other stores to be loaded on the trains that daily travelled to the mills. The Yarloop Mill had a direct link with the Workshops as did the mills at Waterous, Hoffman, Nanga Brook and Klondyke. The latter four communities in the early days were completely dependent on the railway for their supplies. Millars was also dependent on them to bring the timber to Yarloop. The Main Store was also linked to the WA Government Railways rail system and this enabled items to be sent to other Millars’ mills, often using a combination of the WAGR’s and Millars’ own extensive rail system. All the mills had ledgers at the Main Store and the items sent out were recorded.
The office section of the building had several roles over the years. Initially it was the Office for the Workshops, but during the peak times of the 1920s another office was built up near the Black Smiths’ Shop. This was mentioned in an earlier article with an accompanying photograph. Later, this was no longer required and the on-site Office possibly returned to the Main Store. Racks for keys, pigeonholes for filing and bookshelves were existing evidence of this.
Evidence on the south side of the building suggests that it was also a drawing office. The large window and the raised sloping desk suggest the presence of draughtsmen and perhaps engineers. Plans of railway tracks exist among the material recovered from The Vault.
As well as these uses the counter indicates its use as the office for the Main Store.
Access to The Vault was also through the office. The Vault will be dealt with separately in the next article.[1]
The Main Store looking north. The Vault can be seen on the left and the railway platform on the right.
Photo: Graham of Yarloop Photo Club.
Inside the Store. Photo: Harvey Shire’s inspection.
Looking across the office to the draughtman’s desk. Photo: Harvey Shire’s inspection.
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[1] From ‘The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly’, Part 33, by Allan Ward.