| Historical notes: | Narrabri Railway Station is located on the Mungindi line, branching from the Great Northern Railway at the major rail centre of Werris Creek, and heading north to the remote town of Mungindi, on the Queensland border. Today the line is utilised for almost its entire length for grain transport, and for coal from the Preston and Gunnedah collieries (nswrail.net).
In 1832, explorer John Oxley surveyed the Liverpool Plains area that was to later include the town of Narrabri. The first squatting run in the region of Narrabri was the 'Nurrabry', taken up in 1834. A town site was first recommended in 1848 at what had become a road junction to the south and west. A hotel was licensed in 1858 and the town was proclaimed in 1860. A post office and police station were established but a major flood devastated the township in 1864. An early sign of the town's importance was the transfer of court services from Wee Waa and the building of a courthouse in 1864-65. A coach service commenced in 1865 and the first public school opened in 1868 (Narrabri.net website).
After the Robertson Land Act of 1861 the area was slowly opened up to smaller selectors and wheat-growing began in 1873. Consequently, the population climbed from 313 in 1871 to 1,977 in 1891. Bridges over Narrabri Creek were built in 1877 and the Namoi in 1879. The railway arrived at Narrabri West in 1882 and a settlement began to develop around it. Narrabri was declared a municipality in 1883 (Narrabri.net website).
The single line from Narrabri Junction to Moree opened on 1 April 1897. The construction contract for the Narrabri Junction to Moree section was awarded to W Finlayson, H Smith & J Timms on 10 July 1895. The station was officially opened on 9 Apr 1897 (Forsyth, 2009).
Although no details of the original station building exist, plans of the 1901 Refreshments Room show the timber building as having a corrugated iron roof, a cantilevered awning with timber curtain boarding, and internally comprising of a refreshments room, attendants room, kitchen, pantry, and detached lavatory. In 1908 the main station building was rebuilt for £826. The new building was of brick with fibro cement roofing, and featured a bracketed awning, terracotta capping, and stone detailing. The building internally comprised of a ladies room and lavatory, general waiting room, telegraph and booking offices, and a parcels store. The building also featured an in-set rear verandah.
The space between the new building and the Refreshments Room was bridged by the extension of the roof and the addition of corrugated iron walls, within which the signal levels were installed.
In 1912 a Station Master’s residence was constructed on Bowen St, north of the main station complex.
By 1923, changes had occurred to the Refreshments Room, including the demolition of the previous kitchen and attendants room, and the addition of a timber mangers office, sitting room, and bedroom, a storeroom, scullery, bathroom facilities, and a new kitchen and pantry. A separate building was also constructed, containing three bedrooms and a latticed veranda. A decade later, the station precinct included a trolley shed, a goods shed and platform, a weighbridge, wheat silo, carriage shed, a detached toilet block and out-of shed on the passenger platform, along with a Resident Engineer’s Office.
In 1946 further changes occurred to the main station building, namely the extension and partial closing in of the rear verandah to create a parcels office and an open public space, with a ramped approach. Plans of the extension also suggest that the telegraph office had by this period been converted into a Station Master’s office. The station building was extended again in c.1970 with new bathroom facilities and stores.
Most of the RRR facilities were demolished in 1988, and the remaining weatherboard building reduced back to its original configuration. |