As the Yarloop Workshops Restoration Group and, a little later, the Committee of Yarloop Workshops Inc., worked to restore the badly damaged buildings, they also saw the need to have, firstly, a building on the site that could be a front reception area and shop, then later, another building for a restaurant and meeting area.
The first building was built on the site of the former Company bakery. Internally there was no attempt to replicate the former use but externally it bore a resemblance being built to match the other Workshop buildings. This building, next to an existing caretaker’s cottage, had multiple uses. It was a place to welcome visitors and introduce them to what they were about to see. This included a model of the site and sheets to guide them in their exploration of the site if a volunteer wasn’t present to show them around. Memorabilia was available to purchase as well as limited foodstuff and drinks. It also provided a place for locally produced crafts and foodstuff to be sold. The Yarloop Post Office was also housed there until 2013 and there was a small kitchen for the volunteers to use. Volunteers were rostered on to staff the reception area, though this often fell to the caretaker. It was open from 10.00am to 3.00pm.
Millars’ Grocery Store, originally known as Millars’ Emporium.
The second building was on the site of town’s general store operated by the Company. The original building was called the ‘Millars Emporium’. This replica was also very similar to the original building on the outside but inside it was a restaurant with jarrah flooring, furniture and a magnificent, polished jarrah bar. It had a well-equipped modern kitchen that, with the workers who operated it as required, was able to produce excellent meals. It operated on Steam Days, on days when busloads of usually elderly people, visited and on other special occasions when booked. On the wall were copies of historic photographs showing scenes related to the area and the timber industry. These were mostly copies of photographs held by the Battye Library. The building extended, at a higher level, to the rear and could accommodate many people. There was also an office in this rear section.
More recently these two buildings were linked to form a single building.
The original buildings, a general store and a bakery, together with the main store and a Millars’ butcher shop (on, I believe, part of what is now One Tree Park) were linked by a railway line so items could be loaded and sent to the mills in the hills.
These are the replica buildings of which I am aware. Most, if not all, of the buildings in the townsite east of the West Australian Government railway line were Millars’ buildings but west of the line there were private buildings and businesses as well.
Allan Ward, Hon. Curator
Yarloop Workshops Inc.,
The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly, Part 30, April 2024.
I credit the first photograph to Samuel Baker and the other two, probably taken in 2005 by Dawn Pitts, to Geoff Fortune’s collection.