Main street on the 'wrong side' of town (Morawa, WA)—1975 and 1982
1975 (circa)
This is the main street of Morawa in Western Australia (WA), circa 1975.
It was obviously not a very busy day.
The main street of Morawa is Winfield Street.
However, if what my father told me is true then it wasn’t supposed to be. The main street started out being the road on the east side of the railway line which was/is Solomon Terrace. This is why the hotel and the railway station are on the east side of town. Because of this my father often referred to the Winfield Street side of the town as the ‘wrong’ side of town and the east side of the railway line as the ‘right’ side.
The story goes that when the Main Roads Department ended up surveying the main road through to Mullewa they went down the west side of town, partially due—apparently—to the issue of coming through the troublesome salt lakes between Koolanooka and Morawa, By taking a router on the west of the line they were able to navigate a better path through the lakes—according to my dad’s account of what happened.
I have no idea if this story is true or not.
1982
Following is another shot taken from almost the same location about seven year later in 1982. While I am not sure of the year of the first picture, this picture is dated so it was taken in 1982.
As this shot was taken on a heavily overcast day and is from a slide scan that is 40 years old, a lot of colour and detail has been lost. Hence, I have done some work to digitally enhanced this picture to try and give it better colour. It has also been enlarged to 4,500 x 2,000 pixels, as well as being digitally sharpened to try and bring out more detail. Being 4,500 x 2,000 px this picture will fill the width of a 4K screen when viewed at full size. It could be printed at 80cm wide with a resolution of 150 dpi. Just saying. For anyone interested.
This picture shows Morawa looking from south to north.
Going from left to right, the businesses/buildings are (as best I best I can remember):
Kate’s—which was previously Lawson’s Electrical Store.
The next shop, tucked in there after Kate’s, is what was the Butcher; but I am not sure what it was at the date of this picture.
Coyne’s general store—which looks like it might have been abandoned at the date of this picture.
The old Elders GM building. Not sure what was in there at this date.
McIlwaine’s Newsagency (previously the Dalgety store).
The Bank of New South Wales (Westpac).
The IGA store.
Not sure of the ‘Electrical Appliances’ store on the corner. I don’t think Lawson’s had it at this stage, but I don’t know who did.
The Post Office (on the opposite corner)—which is set back a little further from the road.
The Rural & Industries Bank of WA (Bankwest).
The Chemist.
Thornton’s Morawa Drapery / Mensland—which, back in my day, used to be further north next to Deason’s Grocery Store. This is the old Ross Bros store, for those that might remember Pat and Sandy Ross.
Next, jammed in there, was the original newsagency store. In the early days this was owned by Mr. James, then later by Bruce and Roma McIlwaine before they moved up to the new newsagency—see item 5.
Wesfarmers—which is now the Morawa Shire Offices.
I cannot recall if there was then a store between Wesfarmers and the old Bakery.
After the old Bakery (that made the best icy cold milkshakes when I was a kid) there used to be a small nursery.
Then the old Thorton’s Drapery Store location—Thorton’s moved to the Ross Bros. store (see item 12).
Then the last in the row of shops was Deason’s Grocery.
The new Bakery was down where that green vehicle is parked.
On the right-hand side you can see the back end of one of the old wheat bins. My dad used to call these particular wheat bins ‘half-tank wheat bins’. This is because due to the curved custom orb tin (a.k.a. corrugated iron) used to build them it kind of looked like they were made using halves of rain water tanks. Hence, half-tank wheat bins.
I was standing in front of the only cafe in Morawa to take this picture. I am not sure what it was called in 1982, but in my day it was known as the Rose Cafe.
The most important store in town, in my opinion anyway because my family owned it, is on the ‘right’ side of town and, hence, is not in this picture of the businesses on the ‘wrong’ side of town.