TRACKING POWER AND MONEY IN SYDNEY THE CASE OF ARTARMON STATION AND THE NORTH SHORE RAILWAY (This study is dedicated to Kerry and Bob McKillop, who have a life-long active involvement in the conservation of the natural, cultural and built heritage within the Willoughby City Council area and elsewhere.) STUART SHARP 28th July, 2016 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER NO. CHAPTER NAME PAGE NO. 1 Application of the Methodology and Definitions of 5 Terms 2 The Duck’s Guts – the Top Ten Messages 6 3 The relationship between power, wealth and 11 topography 4 Impact of railway developments elsewhere in the 22 Colony for the North Shore railway 5 The power players approve the railway - 1880 to the 27 1885 election 6 Between the approval and the opening of the railway 33 line - 1885 to 1890 7 Early signs of muddled management of the railways 43 8 Opening of the North Shore railway in 1890 48 9 Between the opening of the line and the opening of 59 Artarmon station 1890-1898 10 The opening of Artarmon railway station 1898 70 11 The second site of Artarmon railway station 1900 75 12 The promise of a new platform building 1909 82 13 Delivery of the 1909 promised building in1916 89 14 What about the new Artarmon subway booking 94 office? 15 The physical features of the 1916 building, when 96 constructed 2 CHAPTER NO. CHAPTER NAME PAGE NO. 16 The materials of the 1916 building 103 17 Symbolism of the 1916 building 103 18 The family of buildings to which the 1916 building 110 belongs 19 Artarmon station as a branch line junction 116 20 Why was the building erected during World War One? 118 21 The absence of goods siding at Artarmon – Impact 120 Analysis 22 The epoch of new infrastructure 1920s 127 23 The beautiful railway garden 1928 to 1947 142 24 The end of improvements to the North Shore railway 146 25 The Time of Almost Nothingness 1940-1959 152 26 The Gradual Development of the Concept of an 157 Urban Rail System 1960-80 27 Why did Governments loose interest the Sydney rail 171 network 1930-1980? The Application of Contextual Analyses 28 First alterations to Artarmon station building in 66 199 years 1980-87 29 Management changes manifested by new station 204 signage 1988 30 The Artarmon Station Sparkle Debut 1989-2005 209 31 The Death of the Sparkle and the Start of the Loss of 221 the Customer Focus 2005-2010 32 The End of the Customer Focus 2011-2016 229 33 Artarmon Station Today - Why Study It? 230 34 Stations of the Station – A Self-Guided Tour Around 242 3 CHAPTER NO. CHAPTER NAME PAGE NO. the Artarmon Station Site Acknowledgements 252 Methodology 253 Appendices 267 4 1 APPLICATION OF THE METHODOLOGY THE APPLIED METHODOLOGY The word, methodology, has a number of meanings but in this study it includes the selection of the subject to be examined, the methods used to examine the subject, the collection and interpretation of evidence and, lastly, the way the evidence is presented to the audience. Methodology is one of the trickiest aspects associated with the production of a work of history but this historical enquiry tries very hard to apply a methodology that is practical and, more importantly, is capable of application. The methodology is expressed at the rear of the text and contains seven components and 44 general aspects spread across the seven components. On the left-hand side of each page under the component heading, the relevant general aspects for that component are listed and on the right-hand side of each page is the responses in relation to the history of the North Shore railway and Artarmon railway station. The components and the general aspects are applied in three stages – the first stage relates to matters considered before commencement of the project; the second stage relates to the collection of evidence and the last stage refers to matters to be considered during the documentation of the end product. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS Only a few words need definitions. The first word is power, which means the personal attribute of an individual to dominate other people in the pursuit of an objective. It is different from authority as authority is based on the attributes of a particular position, whereas power has nothing to do with the position but the person. The second word that requires definition is money. This is used to denote the expenditure of money taken from individuals lawfully by and for use by the New South Wales Government. “Railways” is a word used to describe the bureaucracy that managed and manages the State railway system, whatever was or is the name of the official organisation. The expression, Artarmon station, refers to all the physical assets inside the Railway boundary fence between the pedestrian subways located at each end of the station. It includes the platform, the platform buildings, the stepway, the subway leading to the platform, the entrances to the platform subway, signage and landscaping. 5 2 THE DUCK’S GUTS - THE TOP TEN (OR SO) MESSAGES MESSAGE NO. 1 – THE BUILDING CENTENARY The year, 2016, is the centenary of the construction of the present, brick platform building at Artarmon station. The 1916 building has survived! Other examples of the same design family in the Sydney area have not been so lucky and examples have been destroyed since 1990 at Chatswood, Epping, Newtown, St Peters, Asquith, Burwood, Lidcombe, Meadowbank, Yagoona and Waterfall. Railway heritage is important. MESSAGE NO. 2 – THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH MONEY Elevated, leafy areas attract people with power and money. The North Shore region of Sydney has been an area where wealthy and powerful people have lived and this continues to be the case. Their ability to influence politicians and bureaucrats has been reflected in the priority allocated to the region for a long list of transport improvements. The list contains 33 projects that were publicly funded for the private benefit of North Shore residents and these are listed in Table 3.1. MESSAGE NO. 3 – ARTARMON STATION HAS BEEN THE ONLY EXAMPLE OF THE RELOCATION OF A MASONRY PLATFORM BUILDING In the 118 years of the existence Artarmon station, the dominant message revealed by the building fabric and extant documents is a reluctance to expend public money on the facility. There is one period that was the exception, namely the years 1982 to 1995, when large amounts of money were expended to create a positive message that both the customer and staff were important. What’s the evidence about the paucity of funds? Two timber platform buildings of small to moderate size and the use of a second-hand structure in 1916 that stands today represent good evidence. When the subway opened in 1900, it served the western side of the line only and it was only after sustained, local protest that it was extended to the eastern side four years later. It took the Chief Railway Commissioner seven years to deliver his 1909 promise for a new station building. The almost complete omission of any capital improvements between the years 1916 and 1982 certainly indicates other, non-urban policies and priorities. Between the years 1928 and 1941, beautiful gardens were a feature of the station and this effort was driven by the local community but stopped when the community lost leadership. It is a 6 demonstration of the importance of leaders, primarily by Charles Wickham, and showed what could be achieved if a community could work together. Importantly, the gardens were funded primarily by private donations. It was a demonstration of the exercise of local power. After 1995, there was a series of technical changes to the way all railway stations operate, manifested by the appearance of lots of electronic gadgets and the gradual disappearance of staff. Even in 2015, the provision of lifts to access the station is a display about spending as little money as possible in the name of customer care and ruining totally the ambience of the station. Just like the 1899 subway, the lift bridge serves only west side of the station. Why? No official explanation has been presented to the residents but there are two possible explanations – one is that it was the lowest cost option and the other is that the eastern side has been marked for future high-rise and/or air right development. What is amazing about the story of the lifts is that the local Member of Parliament was also the Minister for Transport at the time and what she approved to be built in her own electorate is proof of the present government attitude towards rail users and her electors. She was in a position of power to approve a much better solution and she chose not to act to implement a better outcome. MESSAGE NO. 4 – CAPITAL EXPENDITURE IS LINKED TO THE WAY GOVERNMENTS VIEW THE NSW ECONOMY The pattern of improvements to Artarmon station is not related to the nature of the political party forming the State government. Rather, change to and stability of station developments has been linked to the perception by governments of the way they see railway operations as supporting the State economy. Up until the 1970s, governments viewed the primary role of the New South Wales Railways as supporting primary industries. It is interesting to note that the massive expenditure in the suburban rail system in the 1920s, involving electrification and the City Railway, were done at a time when the urban manufacturing sector was growing rapidly and in fact reached a peak before the 1929 economic crash.