This prompted the Australian Wheat Board to design and build the first large bulk storages in Western Australia.
They were referred to as bulkheads originally, then commonly known as Emergency Wheat Storage Sheds.
Twenty-two emergency stores were built18 in Western Australia and four in Victoria.
Photo:denisbin/Flickr
The Murtoa Stick Shed was built over four months between September 1941 and January 1942.
Concrete was manually poured around the footings.
To reduce the use of nails, galvanised hoop-iron was used in most of its structural joints.
Over this timber structure, 150 tons of iron roof was put covering an area 16,000 square meter.
The roof angle was sloped to reflect the same angle a pile of wheat forms naturally.
The shed had a capacity to hold 3.5 million bushels or about 92,500 tonnes of wheat.
A conveyor at ground level took wheat back to the elevator for transport elsewhere.
Photo:Culture Victoria
Photo:Adrian Tritschler/Flickr
