Empty houses, Harden, New South Wales

Abstract

Photograph of a row of similar style cottages with timber walls and corrugated iron roofs. They have front verandahs, pointed roof features and outside toilets. The house on the right has a water tank. A paling and wire fence separates the allottments. A sheet of corrugated iron over one window and a sheet fallen from another attest to their abandonment. A windmill can be seen in the distance. These houses are probably a few of the many cottages that, like shops and barracks, were built near the railway station in order to accommodate the once large workforce that serviced the Harden loco depot. From the 1880s, Harden was an important railway junction and depot. In its heyday, around 1926, it employed 272 men, including fitters, to marshall and dispatch 40 trains a day. The repair workshops closed in 1967. Show more