Travel Australia

Classic Railway Stations: Walkaway, Western Australia

The Walkaway Railway Station is one the State's earliest Government-built railway complexes and the terminus for Western Australia's. Designed by George Temple Poole and built in 1886, Walkaway Station was originally the same pattern as the Claremont Railway Station in suburban Perth, also designed by Poole and built in 1886. Prior to alterations and additions, the two stations were almost identical. Both structures derive from the Federations Arts and Craft style of architecture. Thestation was constructed when the town was linked by rail to Geraldton in 1887. In 1894 the link between Midland and Walkaway was completed thus establishing a complete rail route from Perth through to Geraldton. September 2014.



The buildings are part of a railway precinct, which includes the station, platform, goods shed, track levers, ramp, wishing well, weighbridge, cabin and loading ramp. Conservation works a decade ago involved repairs to roof sheeting and plumbing, stonework, brick quoining, joinery and stormwater damage. Now a museum, the complex has an excellent display of regional transport, natural resources, weapons and military relics.



Walkaway, 9 km east of the historic village of Greenough on the Greenough Plains, is a charming, tiny settlement with a railway station, store, hall, school and church. The story is told that Walkaway received its name when an Aborigine reported that one of the early European settlers, disappointed in his wheat crop, had 'waggaway'. Known as Wagawa for many years the name was finally Anglicised to Walkaway. The Aboriginal name for the bend in the Greenough River was 'Wagga Wah'.