Last weekend I visited an exhibition in Perth, housed in the Midland Atelier, part of the old ‘railways’ workshops in Midland, an ex-industrial hub about 30 minutes outside of Perth.
I was familiar with the railway yards, and the Pattern Workshop that adjoins the exhibition space which contained the exhibition, as I had been given access to photograph the pattern workshop, (which was already in use as a woodworking studio) back when I was still living in Perth, in 2006.
When I did my postgraduate diploma at Curtin in 2006, I was given a project that dictated that I work to a clients’ brief. I made contact with Form to find out if they would be willing to act as my client, which they were, and they gave me the choice of two briefs, which I found equally interesting. In the end I adapted one of my other projects so that I might pursue both.
The first was an invitation to go onsite to see the Pattern Workshop in Midland, and to make work based around it. The workshop on the ground floor still housed many machines, and what seemed to be all of the patterns – that is, the timber models of parts made to create the molds for casting – in its upper stories.
The building, the patterns for practically everything every produced in conjunction with running the railways, the tools, the signage and even the filing system all seemed to be intact, as if work was ready to continue but the workers never came back. I can only guess at what the end was really like, as the Pattern Workshop alone spoke of many thousands of hours of human toil. It also spoke of the huge amount of personnel that must have been needed to keep the whole ‘railways’ yard operational.
I have always been grateful to the powers at Form for allowing me the opportunity to experience such a place.
