Fremantle Railway Workshops

{{Short description|Former railway workshops 1886 to 1904 Fremantle, Western Australia}}

{{Use Australian English|date=March 2017}}

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Fremantle Railway Workshops were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways from 1886 until 1904 when the workshops were moved to Midland Junction where the Midland Railway Workshops operated until 1994.

The workshops were created in 1886, and expanded in 1896.{{Citation | title=Fremantle Harbour and Railway yards taken from 'Mannings Folly' on corner of Short and Pakenham Streets | date=1900 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192713295 | access-date=9 March 2017 }}

Industrial unrest at the workshops was common.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232968422 |title=THE FREMANTLE RAILWAY WORKSHOPS' STRIKE. |newspaper=The Goldfields Morning Chronicle |issue=209 |location=Western Australia |date=13 February 1897 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9391484 |title=WEST AUSTRALIA. |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=LXIX |issue=8412 |location=Tasmania|date=13 February 1897 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The proximity of the Fremantle Harbour and the Fremantle town was a convenience for the workers and also the community businesses.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23843792 |title=FREMANTLE RAILWAY WORKSHOPS. |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=16 |issue=4,533 |date=14 September 1900 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33070234 |title=THE FREMANTLE RAILWAY WORKSHOPS. |newspaper=Western Mail |volume=VII |issue=355 |location=Western Australia |date=1 October 1892 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=30 |via=National Library of Australia}} By accounts from the era, local pride in having the workshops was strong, and in most cases the workers lived locally.[https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20120514140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/24883/20120515-0000/john.curtin.edu.au/fremantle/carpenter4.html ]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33152927 |title=LOCOMOTIVE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL PICNIC. |newspaper=Western Mail |volume=XIII |issue=638 |location=Western Australia |date=18 March 1898 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=30 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Fremantle workshops were located west of the Fremantle railway stationHutchison, David (2004) The Railway Workshops in Fremantle pp 75 – 87 in Fremantle Studies Volume 3, {{Citation | author1=Fremantle History Society | title=Fremantle studies : journal of the Fremantle History Society | date=1999 | publisher=The Society | issn=1443-0800 }} and were considered to be in an area that would not accommodate the needs of the railway system.Editorial on the decision by Parliament to remove the railway workshops from Fremantle to Midland The West Australian, 6 September 1895, p.4,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3767192 |title=RAILWAY WORKSHOPS AT FREMANTLE |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=2 |issue=102 |date=1 May 1886 |access-date=9 March 2017 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The move in 1904 was a major change for the labour force, and some did not move to Midland for the new location.