Family Life in WA - What was it like?

I pick ‘em up and lay ‘em down
I turn those sleepers around
We got lots of miles to go
But we can never leave…
We have broken a world record
In blood, sweat and tears
We salute those who’ve passed on
But their memories are here”

Railway Kebele, Northern Xposure, 2008

The railway projects kept many workers in Western Australia. Some married locally and others earned enough to relocate their families to the west. The Stephen and Pitt families were two of the first Torres Strait Islander families to live in Western Australia. For those stationed inland, life in the extreme Pilbara or Goldfields regions was far removed from the tropical environs of Zenadth Kes. 

On holidays like Christmas and Easter if dad was working sometimes we would travel with dad to work and stay at the Redmont railway camps...I'll always remember that."

Sonya Stephen

Track laying required workers to be away from home and family for extended periods of time. Children of railway workers would often visit their fathers at the railway camps during holidays such as Christmas and Easter. The wives of track layers helped each other while their husbands were out on the railway projects, creating a strong sense of community among ‘railway families’.