Chidlow to Wooroloo Chidlow’s Well was described by WA’s Governor Broome as “a point in the wilderness” in 1884 when he justified refusing an invitation to open the newly-laid railway. You will probably get a sense of this wilderness as you travel through this section, parts of which are a declared reserve. Pipeline You won’t see much of the pipeline on this section for a reason in addition to the fact Kep Track follows the gentle gradient of the former railway rather than the up-and-downhill distance-saving route of the pipeline. [more] Railway Line Work on the third section of the Eastern Railway from Chidlow’s Well to York started even before the section to Chidlow was opened. If you’re doing the Kep “uphill” you will appreciate how the terrain delayed construction. [more] Settlement Like travellers of old, you’ll be going from one reliable source of water to another. The settlements of both Chidlow and Wooroloo grew up because of the availability of water. Often water holes led to the development of “watering-holes”. [more]
Pipeline You won’t see much of the pipeline on this section for a reason in addition to the fact Kep Track follows the gentle gradient of the former railway rather than the up-and-downhill distance-saving route of the pipeline. Where is the pipe? The original pipeline was underground, buried in a trench excavated by manual labour. Horse-drawn ploughs loosened material to be removed but sometimes explosives were necessary. The standard depth for the trench was about 3 feet 3 inches but sometimes the contour of the ground required deeper excavations for proper alignment of the pipes. Although recent practice has been to keep the pipe above ground, it is buried through Chidlow.
In 1929 a quarter of the water (307 million gallons) leaving Mundaring was lost due to leakage largely thanks to the policy of burying the pipeline. Joints leaked and pipes sitting in damp saline soil rusted. The Wall Street Crash that same year marked the start of the Great Depression in the industrialized world. Reconstruction work on the pipeline became an unemployment relief project.
Railway line Work on the third section of the Eastern Railway from Chidlow’s Well to York started even before the section to Chidlow was opened. If you’re doing the Kep “uphill” you will appreciate how the terrain delayed construction. Upwards and onwards After two years of digging, blasting and carting, the railway line finally made it to Chidlow’s Well in 1884, arriving in York in 1886. But the pressure was on to extend it further and further east, particularly after gold discoveries in the Yilgarn in 1888. The man appointed general manager of the railways in 1891 was none other than CY O’Connor. He achieved much in this area but the demands of the railway line had to give way to the demands of the pipeline.
Engineer-in-Chief CY O’Connor also had to find an alternate route over the Darling Range with easier grades. Gold discoveries in the 1890s led to an explosion in traffic on the Eastern Railway but the train engines and rail network were inadequate. More passengers and goods had to be carried further east but the existing track was too steep for heavier trains. Off the train No wonder at the conclusion of his report to parliament on the working of government railways for the years 1892 – 95, dated 13 August 1895, CY O’Connor requested ‘… In view, therefore, of the large and rapidly increasing volume of construction works, to which my attention is more immediately due, it would be a great relief if I was permitted to be entirely free from any responsibility as regards the organisation and working of the opened railways.’
Settlements Like travellers of old, you’ll be going from one reliable source of water to another. The settlements of both Chidlow and Wooroloo grew up because of the availability of water. Often water holes led to the development of “watering-holes”. Chidlow Strictly speaking Chidlow should have been “Chidlow’s Wells”, rather than “Chidlow’s Well” in the singular. One of the wells was under where the old hall stands which you might need to visit for the toilets behind it. A monument in the shape of a well, commemorating the town’s beginnings, can be seen across the road from the Kep Track on the site of the old school . The other type of watering-hole is represented in the town. Pop inside Chidlow Tavern to see photographs relating to the goldfields pipeline.
A sculpture at the site of Wooroloo’s old railway station commemorates the pipeline. It reflects what water has done for people who live beyond the outskirts of the city and how it links them. Ironically, many smallholdings in the area are not on scheme water, hence water tanks alongside homes. The sculpture is situated in a park which has toilets.
There would have been a settlement between Chidlow and Wooroloo if all had gone according to plan when a mill site lease expired in 1903. A town site area was set aside but nobody bought the blocks. Later railway deviations hemmed in the townsite making the area even less appealing and a permanent settlement never eventuated. You might make out the various railway formations in the rural and bush landscape. |
