Tag: Timber

Woop Woop – as an adjective?

I have noticed something today while researching the ghost community of Woop Woop. The name “Woop Woop” has often been used as a humorous or derogatory adjective.

If you have been following along with our project, you will already know that Woop Woop is one of the communities included in Phase 2. Woop Woop was a timber mill situated about 70Km south of Collie, and just a couple of Kms from the little town of Wilga, in the Shire of Boyup Brook. It only last for three years (1925-1928) but in that time it had six huts for single men, two houses, a boarding house, an office, and the Mill itself.

So today I have been working through a publication call The Guardian that has been published in Perth since 1937. While doing this I came across these “references” to Woop Woop – not to the place, but in a completely different context.

On 27 November, 1942, a random report about a scientific discovery related to the size of the solar system (and the universe) was concluded with a pretty obscure reference to Adolf Hitler as the bantamweight champion of Woop-Woop. 1

In February 1945, in a report decrying poor quality journalism in relation to reports on the distribution of preferences in Victoria Park. Claiming that any junior reporter would have done a better job than the senior reporters tasked with informing the public.
The report concludes with the statement “A Woop Woop editorial staff would have made a better job of a simple duty to the public”. 2

Elections once again figure in a report from January 1947, where everyone from the Federal Government all the way down to “the Woop Woop Shire Council” is looking for a handout. 3

These stories may have been meant to be humorous, but between 1937 and 1954, seven times the name “Woop Woop” was used in a way that, if I had been a local resident, would have seen me writing a letter to the editor to demand an apology. And, perhaps, in this litigious age, seeking compensation.

A LAST NOTE: The seven articles are all in The Guardian. There are probably hundreds in the 365 other Western Australian newspapers currently digitised on Trove. Have a look for yourself and see what you can find.

Sources

  1. ANOTHER SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. (1942, November 27). The Guardian (Perth, WA : 1937 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266652877 ↩︎
  2. MUDDLED JOURNALISM. (1945, February 16). The Guardian (Perth, WA : 1937 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266664598 ↩︎
  3. State Elections are ‘On’ (1947, January 31). The Guardian (Perth, WA : 1937 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266579906 ↩︎