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Research by Gordon Freegard From about 1900 for about 40 years, the WA
Goldfields Firewood Company operated a small but efficient 1067 mm narrow gauge
railway, commonly known as the Kurrawang Wood Line. These woodlines used to supply timber to the mines and
Kalgoorlie Power House. Many Italians arrived in Western Australia in search of
gold in the Kalgoorlie Goldfield. Not all were successful and many worked
cutting the timber on these woodlines, before ultimately moving and settling
down in areas like Pickering Brook and Karragullen. The townsite of Kurrawang is located in the eastern goldfields region,
about 15 km south west of Kalgoorlie. The townsite was gazetted in 1910, and
although in a gold bearing area, owes its existence to timber rather than gold.
Kurrawang was first established as a railway station on the eastern line to
Kalgoorlie in the early 1900's, and was a junction with one of the main
timberlines in the area. The timberlines were used by firewood companies to
reach out into the forested areas to gather firewood which was also used for
burning to condense fresh water from saline and brackish water. Kurrawang is an
Aboriginal word of unknown meaning, perhaps related to "Currawong"
the name of a common Australian bird.
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KURRAWANG WOODLINE TRAIN LOADED WITH WOOD #1 |
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The lines were moved about to follow the
salmon gum forests. Starting from Kamballie at the southern end of the
Golden Mile, the railway cut across to Kurrawang on the WAGR main line 13
kilometres west of Kalgoorlie. It then extended northwards from Kurrawang,
shifting the line as the timber cut out. Finally, it swung south, again crossing
the main line, this time at Calooli, 14 kilometres west of Coolgardie. From
this point, the line stretched as far as 130 kilometres to the south and
south-west. ... Although the company had its own locomotive and rolling stock,
at times WAGR vehicles travelled over the line. In order to assess royalty
payments, the Railway Department would undertake periodical measurement of the
lengths of the main and spur lines. This would be carried out using a pulling
tricycle - colloquially known as an Armstrong - fitted with a revolution
counter, the number of revolutions being converted into distance. In January
1932, I made one such measurement, at which time the longest spur had reached a
point only a few kilometres west of Pioneer, a lonely siding on the Coolgardie-Esperance
railway just 43 kilometres short of Norseman.
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KURRAWANG WOODCUTTERS CAMP #2 |
KURRAWANG WOODCUTTER AT WORK 1928 #3 |
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CUT WOOD STACKED ALONG THE KURRAWANG WOODLINE 1938 #4 |
CUT WOOD STACKED ALONG THE KURRAWANG WOODLINE #5 |
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In 1903 Mark Hayes was working on these woodlines in the
Kalgoorlie area. The men employed by the Firewood Company at Kurrawang and
surrounding areas expressed a desire to form a Woodcutters Union Branch of
their own. The main difficulty in the past had been the impossibility of
getting the various nationalities to arrive at a common understanding of their
requirements and the contention as to whether it was better to cut wood by the
load, the ton, or the cord. Many woodcutters in the area were foreigners who
could not speak or understand English. Mr. D. Paul Canaletich acted as
interpreter for the Austrians and Mr. August Zappa in a similar capacity for
the Italians. A meeting was organised on the 15th March 1903 to form
the Kurrawang Woodcutters Union, affiliated with the A. W. A. By doing this
many injustices under which the woodcutters currently worked, could be remedied
by appeal to the Arbitration Court. Mark Hayes proposed and Paul Canaletich
seconded – “That a Society be formed on the same lines as the Timber Employees
at Broad Arrow Woodsiding, to include cutter, carters and loaders.” The motion
was carried promptly and officers were chosen with Mr. Thompson President, Mark
Hayes Vice President who later became Secretary on 19th April 1903.
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KURRAWANG SCHOOL 1907 #6 |
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As the British were outnumbered by the Austrians and the Italians,
many confrontations arose. Successful efforts were made to get all cutters,
Italian, Austrian and British, into the Woodcutters Union. On one occasion when
Mark Hayes was talking unionism to some Italians, a misunderstanding occurred,
resulting in Mark’s mate, Harry Henningson, being severely stabbed in several
places, and Mark was also roughly handled. Mark was a champion woodcutter and in July 1903 he won a
Wood-cutting Handicap at Kurrawang from scratch. He moved from the Goldfields
to the Collie area and became Bush Foreman at Holyoake in September 1910 and
then at Boyanup for a number of years where he acquired a small block of land,
sub-lot 93 from C. E. Taylor. Mark was very militant and once got as far as
nominating in a Labor selection ballot. He afterwards retired in the interests
of the other candidate whose prospects seemed brighter.
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H. N. FRETWELL ON RAIL TRIKE 1938 #7 |
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He became very active as MCs at Balls at Boyanup in 1914 and 1915.
Five years later, in 1920 a wood-chopping competition put on by the “Uglies”
was akin to a re-union of old identities of the jarrah country. Many families
that had left the timber areas turned up in force to renew long standing
friendships with others in the timber industry. These men still showed a fine
physique when stripped for the contest to show brawny arms, brown to the
shoulder from constantly working in the sun. Amongst those to feature in the
“come back” events were Mark Hayes and Joe Ferguson.
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Later Carilla and Pickering Brook became the home for Mark and in
1924 he was elected chairman of a committee to push for a community hall in the
area. Two sites were discussed, one on the Water Board Reserve near the present
Golf Course and the other next to the School. A year later the hall was built
with volunteer labour and opened about 1926. Mark Hayes, with his strong loud
voice, often acted as MC at many of the dances that were held there. He became very vocal and pushed for better returns on produce
grown in the area by local orchardists and other small farm producers. There
had never before been so great a need for organisation among primary producers
to enable them to obtain a fair price for their goods. At the Westralian
Farmers’ Buildings, a gathering of enthusiastic growers met in August 1931, to
discuss a marketing organisation and protection association. A motion was moved
by Mr. A Noek (Gosnells), seconded by Mr. Mark Hayes (Carilla) to elect a provisional
committee to organise the new body. The association was to represent the pip,
stone, berry, and citrus fruits and grapes, poultry, egg, honey, potatoes,
onions and vegetable producers.
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CARILLA HALL #8 |
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“As one who
has played a leading part for the past three years in working for the
organisation of growers,” said Mark Hayes amid loud applause, “I can assure you that the conference will not cost
the Government a penny. No Government can do as much for the grower as he can
for himself. This conference will not impose another farthing on the public.
Those between the producer and the consumer have, in the past, taken too much
and the position we are in is due to our own fault. We have been too jealous
and too suspicious to work together. I suggest that an organisation should be
formed to provide for better distribution of products, means of dealing with
country centres, and to arrange for reciprocal trading with the Eastern States.” The following were elected to the Committee:- P. B. Brooks
(Nedlands), G. Tapping (Wanneroo), J. Arbuckle, T. Price (Karragullen), G.
Simpson (Karragullen), T. Ilbery (Mundaring), W. Hart (Roleystone), I. Thorne
M.L.A. (Toodyay), N. Marich (Spearwood), A. E. Annetts ( Carmel), W. Temby
(Pickering Brook), H. A. Smith (Gosnells), J. W. Rolinson (Spearwood), and J.
F. Vaughan. Mr. A. Noek was elected Secretary. What ever happened to this association or Mark Hayes, we may never
know, as found history has not thrown any light on the outcomes. The aims of
this 1931 committee could still be very relevant today. Nothing much has
changed.
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References: Article: Gordon Freegard Images: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 Internet
Copyright; Gordon Freegard 2008 - 2020 |
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HAYES Mark AS REMEMBERED BY RAY OWEN Another well known and interesting character was old Mark Hayes. He lived for some time I think, in a tent in the bush. He was a sleeper and firewood cutter with lots of experiences throughout the State. He had worked at Mills down at Denmark and other places in the timber forest. I don't know just when he came to Pickering Brook. I remember his name being mentioned one time, that he was interested in contesting the election against John Forrest in the very early days. And I am told that Mark, to keep in trim, used to address a jarrah tree or a gum tree and give a speech on his policies and whatnot. He had quite a big boomimg voice and it could be true because Mark was a very, very strong Labor man. He got interested in the local dancing and very often, took on the job of Mc. And he didn't like the jazz: he like the old, what we called the square dances. I just can't think of the names of them at present. It wasn't the American square dancing, it was the Lancers and the Royal Irish and things like that and he knew the various movements and called them out. Everyone could hear when old Mark spoke. But he didn't like the jazz and once told a few of us boys, "It just reminds me of an old draught mare trying to shake a britching off her rump!" But he was quite strict in the dancing and called them to order if they got a little bit out of order. Mark was particularly good on the old Circular Waltz, what we used to call the Threepenny Bit dance. We could go round and round and round. We use to have vistors and friends up from the metropolitan area for the weekend and old Mark would pick his partner and go round and round until the girl was almost giddy and then he'd go in reverse for another circle around the hall and the poor girl had difficulty in keeping her feet when he stopped. |
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It was very interesting there because he used to have the barn dance where you danced with your partner and then as the music stopped or changed the beat, and they walked in circles: the men going in one direction and the ladies in the other. When the music stopped you grabbed the partner nearest you. There was usually one male surplus and he went off if he couldn't find a partner, he had to retire and so the next time there'd be another shortage and this went on sometimes, until there was only one or two left and they'd be declared the winner of the dance. But moving round with the different partners, some had barely reached their teens, some were good dancers, some were learners, some were thin and some were very stout. I remember on one occasion this woman, who was from Barton's Mill and a well known mother and grandmother, she wasn't very tall but she had plenty of weight and someone remarked she was about "three axe handles across the rear." And I got her as a partner and went to swing her but she had the weight and she swung me! It was all in the fun of the game. I remember one occasion, Mark Hayes used to get in and help with the washing up. They had a big tin dish and that would be filled with water for washing up and then rinsed. Mark used to walk to the side door of the hall where there was a small platform with steps leading down.
Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.
Copyright :Gordon Freegard. 2008 - 2019
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