Midland workshop research right on track

Memories of the workers from the Midland Workshops over the last century will be preserved for future generations of Western Australians through the work of researchers at Murdoch University.

With support from the Australian Research Council, researchers and students from Curtin and Murdoch Universities have been interviewing former employees at the Westrail Midland Workshops for a study of labour history.

 
Tea billies for lunch 1940

Murdoch Radio and Television Lecturer Mia Lindgren said the audio material would be used to compile oral history radio features for release to community radio, and eventual archiving at the Battye Library.

About 150 of these interviews will be compiled into a radio documentary with ABC Radio National this year and a DVD ‘Midland Workshops Life’ will be developed with 12 interviews to be shown and sold in the Midland Workshop interpretation centre.

“The workshops are a fascinating place as it played such a significant role in the lives of thousands of Western Australians. It was often the first place to hire migrants and women, and its productive times mirrored the fortunes of the State over the last century,” said Ms Lindgren.

Murdoch Senior Lecturer Chris Smyth has also reproduced the stories captured in this oral history project in another medium.

Working with Nic Ellis, a photographer from The West Australian, Chris Smyth has produced a book, Midland Railway Workshops, about the history of the workers.

“At the peak of its production, the Workshops employed more than 3000 workers and nearly 600 apprentices, training the industrial skills of the WA workforce,” Smyth said.

“It was the heartland of the workers, and although it was a tough workplace, people felt very strongly about its closure in 1994. Midland Railway Workshops tells the stories of the people who were connected to this extraordinary Western Australian icon.”

WA Premier Dr Geoff Gallop MLA launched the book, with Midland Redevelopment Authority Chairman and railway historian Professor Fred Affleck at the Workshops in late 2004.

Work on the Midland Workshop research has been completed through support from an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant with 10 industry partners.

Midland Railway Workshops was shortlisted for the History category at the WA Premier’s Book Awards in May.

Labour historian Lenore Layman, of Murdoch University, has also contributed to a forthcoming book on the history of the workshop to be published by UWA Press.