No 8 Pump Station, Dedari

No 8 Pump Station was last of the original steam powered pump stations to operate. When, in 1970, the boilers cooled and the engines were shut down for the last time, the workers simply walked out and the doors were closed. Today the pump station remains almost as it was that very day.

Dedari is the most intact of all the original pump stations. Inside there are the two boilers, the two engines and pumps, the economiser and a host of ancillary equipment and tools. Outside, the steel chimney still stands tall and the coal bin looks to be awaiting the next load of fuel.

On the northern side of the pump station building stands the timber framed and ironclad store and blacksmith shop which still contains the blacksmith’s forge. A number of other structures also remain including the suction tank, weighbridge, the weatherboard engineer’s office, and the brick venturi meter house which used to record the evenness of the pumping as well as the quantity of water sent on.

Although only one 1950s house remains, the line of housing allotments, terminating on the west end with a tennis court and barbecue area, can easily be seen.

No 8 pumped water to Bullabulling Tank from where it gravitated to Coolgardie. The tank was named for being nearby a watering stop that became a declared townsite.