Kanowna Station Yard, circa 1900
Opened :
November 1897
Location : 20kms North east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Station History : Gold was first discovered in the Kanowna area in October 1893 and by December 1894 the town of Kanowna was gazetted.
Kanowna's population quickly grew to around 12,000 people and at one stage it was seen as the next Kalgoorlie, as Kalgoorlie had been for
Coolgardie only a year or so before.
So many prospectors and their families were packing up from Kalgoorlie to head out to Kanowna, that eventually the WA Government contactred
out, for a railway line to be built from Kalgoorlie to Kanowna and this line reached Kanowna, by November 1897, however it was officially handed
over to the WA Government until the 15th of June 1898.
At it's height, 4 passenger trains ran daily between Kalgoorlie and Kanowna, I have also read that trains may have serviced Kanowna on the hour,
when the line first opened, to accommodate the amount of prospectors leaving Kalgoorlie to give Kanowna a go.
Kanowna also had woodline branches radiating from it and so quite a bit of woodline traffic also made use of the government railway between
Kanowna and Kalgoorlie.
Rail traffic between Kalgoorlie and Kanowna was slowly declining over the next 2 decades due to the price of gold dropping and the amount of
gold being found in the Kanowna area. Eventually on the 14th of May 1922 rail services ceased and by November 1931 the branch line from
Kalgoorlie to Kanowna, was being dismantled.
Eventually Kanowna's townsite dissappeared by the late 1950's and today when you visit the area of the town all you will find is, the Station platform,
although it's in a bad way, the goods platform is also still there, plus a mound of dirt opposite from the station platform is from the site of the old goods
shed. On the station platform, there are quite a few piles of stone and some of the stone is still stuck together, with morter between them, these stones
would have made up the station building on the platform. I'd say the station building at some time was pushed over, for some reason. In total there are
three piles of stones on the station platform.
It is very easy to see the railway bed, coming into town, as it's about 2 or 3 feet above the normal level of the ground, the same can be said about
the Station yard, it's quite easy to imagine where all the tracks were and it's easy after looking at a photo of how the station yard once was to see it
all as it would have once been. Apart from the station platform and goods platform, strangely nothing else remains in the town site of Kanowna.
Location : 20kms North east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Station History : Gold was first discovered in the Kanowna area in October 1893 and by December 1894 the town of Kanowna was gazetted.
Kanowna's population quickly grew to around 12,000 people and at one stage it was seen as the next Kalgoorlie, as Kalgoorlie had been for
Coolgardie only a year or so before.
So many prospectors and their families were packing up from Kalgoorlie to head out to Kanowna, that eventually the WA Government contactred
out, for a railway line to be built from Kalgoorlie to Kanowna and this line reached Kanowna, by November 1897, however it was officially handed
over to the WA Government until the 15th of June 1898.
At it's height, 4 passenger trains ran daily between Kalgoorlie and Kanowna, I have also read that trains may have serviced Kanowna on the hour,
when the line first opened, to accommodate the amount of prospectors leaving Kalgoorlie to give Kanowna a go.
Kanowna also had woodline branches radiating from it and so quite a bit of woodline traffic also made use of the government railway between
Kanowna and Kalgoorlie.
Rail traffic between Kalgoorlie and Kanowna was slowly declining over the next 2 decades due to the price of gold dropping and the amount of
gold being found in the Kanowna area. Eventually on the 14th of May 1922 rail services ceased and by November 1931 the branch line from
Kalgoorlie to Kanowna, was being dismantled.
Eventually Kanowna's townsite dissappeared by the late 1950's and today when you visit the area of the town all you will find is, the Station platform,
although it's in a bad way, the goods platform is also still there, plus a mound of dirt opposite from the station platform is from the site of the old goods
shed. On the station platform, there are quite a few piles of stone and some of the stone is still stuck together, with morter between them, these stones
would have made up the station building on the platform. I'd say the station building at some time was pushed over, for some reason. In total there are
three piles of stones on the station platform.
It is very easy to see the railway bed, coming into town, as it's about 2 or 3 feet above the normal level of the ground, the same can be said about
the Station yard, it's quite easy to imagine where all the tracks were and it's easy after looking at a photo of how the station yard once was to see it
all as it would have once been. Apart from the station platform and goods platform, strangely nothing else remains in the town site of Kanowna.
Kanowna Station, Yard, Circa early 1900's
Kanowna Station Yard, 4th of September 2003
Kanowna Station, 4th of September 2003
Kanowna Station Signs (left) and Kanowna Station Goods Platform (right), 4th of September 2003
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