One man's passion for his hometown transformed into a gruelling three-and-a-half year project to build a miniature model version, which now sits pride of place in the town.
The detailed replica of the Wheatbelt town of Narrogin, 200 kilometres south-east of Perth, takes pride of place in the community’s visitor centre — depicting the town from the 1960s.
Morrie Russell spent more than three years crafting the model, 17.5 metres in area, in painstaking detail – racking up too many hours for him to even count.
"I wrote a letter to the council, I said, ‘we should do something really unique to Narrogin’," Mr Russell said.
"Let’s give people an idea of what the town was like, how it was built, why it was built here."
So began the task of capturing the busy main street, classic cars and stretches of rail of Narrogin in a bygone era, sculpting and painting wooden blocks into homes and businesses.
Mr Russell, who lived and worked in Narrogin in the 1970s, and returned when he retired, crafted much of the replica from his own memory of the town, with many community members pitching in with advice.
His work also saw him digging through records to find out as much as he could about the layout of Narrogin in the 1960s.
"It’s not hard building a model, I find that easy, it was all the research," Mr Russell said.
"Finding out what this building looked like, or whether that thing was there at the time, that isn’t necessarily easy."
In parts, there is some improvisation.
"Some people come in [to the visitor centre] and say, ‘we used to live here when we were kids, and that house wasn’t like that," Mr Russell said.
"Well, it probably wasn’t, to be fair."
Nonetheless, after years spent reproducing the details of Narrogin, Mr Russell has found the town has burrowed into his consciousness.
"Driving through town, it filters through sometimes," he said.
"Everywhere you look you can see what you’ve been working on. There it is – you’re driving it.
"It’s a strange feeling, a surreal sort of sensation."
Moment in time
The replica highlights how things have changed over the last 60 years for Australia’s regional towns.
"Some things are better, some things are worse," Mr Russell said.
"I’d say shopping is not quite as good as it was — we even had David Jones in those early days.
"It’s still an excellent place to live, no traffic jams, no traffic lights, it’s why I returned when I retired."
One thing instantly noticeable about the model is that almost half the space is dedicated to its railways.
Narrogin was once a railway hub, connected to six towns and linking Perth to WA’s south, until the railway network was removed in the final decades of the century.
"The railways were always operating, 24-hours a day – you’d be trying to sleep and you would just hear bang, bang, bang," Mr Russell recalled.
"We rarely see a train now of any sort, which is sad."
Today, the model sits in the Narrogin Heritage Railway Station, showing visitors the essence of Narrogin.
Mr Russell said the effort has been well appreciated by the community.
"When I built it, I was expecting some adverse comments, but no, no one has had any problems at all," he said.
"Thankfully I’ve got a very understanding wife too."