Update: It is regretable that the entire Yarloop Steam Workshop was destroyed in the massive 2016 Waroona Bushfire that also destroyed the township of Yarloop. Below is my original 2014 photo essay of the workshops.
I’ve driven past the sign pointing you towards the Yarloop Steam Workshop so many times that I don’t even notice it anymore. I was completely unprepared for what I found there when I finally found myself walking through the front doors.
It ended up being one of the most insightful and enjoyable museums I have ever been to, although museum does not seem to be the right word. I was a little puzzled when the lady at the reception told me that the kids are fine to climb over the engines.
The library is the first stop when you walk into the rail yard. It’s a perspex protected exhibit of old books that gives you the impression that you’re in a typical museum. It even has the typical push button audio playback info booths. But you’d be wrong to hold that impression for long.
By stop two, my interested was piqued. I walked into the saw shop to find what looked to be a workshop during smoko. Were the workers about to return?
These tools are not protected away from you. You can literally reach out and pick them up. It’s quite astonishing to see a venue operate on a trust system like this, in this day and age at least. So don’t spoil it.
An occasional A4 printout explains what you are looking at and how it was used. I won’t go into too much detail there, I’ll leave it for you to read yourself when you go there.
The mill store is one of the most fascinating places to visit. You may think that the perspex cover on one aisle signifies the value of what is behind it. But you’d be wrong. Power struggled between changing co-ordinators of the venue have seen varying measures and anti-measures taken to protect the historical belongings.
A Weber barbecue? It is rusted out, which isn’t easy to do considering they are designed to be left outside. I have a full sized Weber which is as old as I am and it still has all of it’s black paint on it despite being in the full exposure of the the weather constantly. This little one was completely rusted out, with the only black paint left being under the lid. The grilling rack had the typical staining of repeated cooking.
The dates on these balance sheets are from the 1960’s. The news papers range over the 70’s and 80’s. Apparently priests were in the papers for sex crimes back then too.
Suddenly the comment by the receptionist made sense. Rails run straight through the boilermaker workshop, and sitting on those rails are some perfectly, and some not so perfectly preserved steam powered locomotives.
Entrance into the Steam Workshop is $8 for adults, and there is a special day on the second sunday of each month where they power up some full working steam engines. I encourage you to check it out.
In 2015 I returned to the Yarloop Steam Workshops to take these ultra high quality photographs to produce large fine art prints. They are available in the store.
