Golden Pipeline

Hines Hill is a nearby geographic feature, possibly named for a sandalwood collector who worked in the area. The railway line from Northam to Southern Cross was laid through this area in 1894 and was opened for traffic in 1895.

In March that year New Zealander John Aspinall travelled on the train on his way to the Eastern Goldfields where he hoped to find a fortune. In his diary he recorded sleep was out of the question in the crowded state of the carriages and the travellers spent their time joking about the speed of the train and the railways in general. One passenger stuttered:

I’ll t-tell you what chaps! The engine is about s-s-six horsepower and f-f-five of them are dead!

When another passenger observed the train had travelled quickly enough on another occasion, he responded:

Oh she b-busted herself that time and n-now she’s g-got to take it easy!

John Aspinall got a cup of tea at the Hines Hill siding at 3am for a shilling. The townsite, gazetted in 1910, was named after the original siding. On the edge of Lake Baandee, Hines Hill consists mainly of a tavern today and is a receival site for grain from the surrounding area.