Table Of ContentAustralian Timelines
Australia’s Railways:
HowThe Land Was Conquered
by Stephen Brooke
ISBN 978 086427 258 4
Published in electronic format by
Trocadero Publishing
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Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
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Created and produced in Australia
Copyright © 2011 S and L Brodie
The information in this eBook was
current at the time of writing
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LINKING THE NATION
Other books in this series
Australia’s Airlines:
How the Skies Were Conquered
Other Trocadero series
AUSTRALIAN TIMELINES THE NATIONAL IDENTITY
The Governors 1788–1850 Faiths, Religions, Beliefs in Modern Australia
Immigration Since 1788 Australian Origins
Volume 1: Afghanistan to Italy
Prime Ministers and Their Governments
Volume 2: Japan to Zimbabwe
The Constitution: The Document that Created the
Immigrants Who Changed Australia
Nation
AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
Exploration and Settlement in Colonial Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia: Evolving into a Influencing Australia
Nation DEFENDING AUSTRALIA
Convicts: The Story of the Penal Settlements that World War I: The Australian Experience
Created Australia
World War II: The Australian Experience
Gold: The Precious Metal that Brought Instant
The Cold War: Australia in Korea, Malaya, Vietnam
Wealth and Long-term Prosperity
The Anzac Spirit: Australia’s Military Legend
The States: Their Place in Federal Australia
THEY MADE AUSTRALIA
About the Money: Australia’s Economic History
Australia at the Time of Federation Leaders in Inventions and Innovation *
The Industrial Revolution and its Impact on ASIA-PACIFIC TIMELINES
Australia
European Colonialism in the Asia-Pacific
How Communications United Australia
Shogunate Japan: 800 Years of Military Rule
Bushrangers: Australia’s Wild Colonial Boys
Imperial China *
The Role of Women in Australian History *
ASIA-PACIFIC RELATIONS
AUSTRALIA YEAR BY YEAR
Australia’s Pacific Neighbours
1788 to 1809: From First Fleet to Rum Rebellion
Australia’s Asian Neighbours
1810 to 1845: From the Macquarie Era
Japan: The Story of the Nation
to Ending Transportation
China: The Story of the Nation
AUSTRALIAN DECADES
India: The Story of the Nation
The 1950s: Building a New Australia
Indonesia: The Story of the Nation *
The 1960s: Reshaping Australian Society
The 1970s: It’s Time for Change
* Please check www.trocadero.com.au for publication date
Map of railways 2
In the beginning 4
AUSTRALIA’S RAILWAYS are inseparably linked to the
Railway building mania,
development of the nation, from colonial days to the present.
company failures,
When the first lines were built in the 1850s even the shortest
government takeovers.
trip by road was beset by discomfort and lack of speed. Wet
Becoming big business 9 weather brought all travel to a halt as roads became impassable.
Almost the only mode of travel between capitals was by ship.
Railways spread across the
Although the first railways were private enterprises, their
country, the public takes to
lack of profit soon put them in the hands of the colonial
rail, demands for branch
governments. Australia led the world in developing government-
lines, linking the capitals.
owned rail systems. Unfortunately, colonial rivalries led to the
A new century 21 great plague of different gauges that would impede efficient
Railways for everyone, great travel for more than 100 years.
visions and fast trains, the From the 1860s to the 1890s visionaries, opportunists and
all-powerful railways, across engineering geniuses collaborated to build railway lines, bridges,
the continent. stations and infrastructure in places where such sophistication
had never been seen before. Vast, almost inconceivable, sums of
Depression and war 31
money were expended on railway lines, often to places where
The greatest train, the they would never make a profit. Any who did make a lot of
railways at war, coping with money were usually those who built the tracks. This was the
gauges, rail under stress, Victorian age, when progress was everything and the engineer
airline competition. was king.
Much of the Australian system was in place by World WarI,
Modern era dawns 37
with only Western Australia waiting to be linked by the heroic
Passenger decline, minerals
transcontinental railway in 1917. Australians travelled as they
growth, standardisation,
never had before, filling trains between cities or from one suburb
modernisation, the high-
to the next. Government railways were all-powerful; they were
speed question
huge employers of labour and one of the largest trainers of
apprentices in the land. They were so powerful they stymied
Index 48
the development of airmail for almost a decade in the 1920s.
As the car, truck and aeroplane rose to prominence after
World WarII, railways went into decline and most uneconomic
lines closed. However, railways still had their place as mass
movers of freight and minerals. This led to new investment in
standard-gauge tracks and new rolling stock.
As environmental and economic concerns grow, today’s
efficient and cost-effective railways have a major role to play in
Edited by Lynn Brodie
the continuing development of Australia.
ISBN 978 086427 258 4
Cpyright © 2011 S and L Brodie
All rights reserved
Published by Trocadero Publishing
GPO Box 1546 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia
For links to websites of interest, please go to
www.trocadero.com.au
Produced in Australia www.trocadero.com.au/railways
2
About Imperial measurements
‘ is the symbol for feet
“ is the symbol for inches
We have used these in this book
because the gauge measurements of
railway tracks were originally in feet
and inches and are still widely known
by these measurements today.
3
4
In the
Colonial governments were highly
beginning
competitive, always eager to steal a march on
one another. The only things these colonies
had in common were that they shared the
same continent and were part of the British
Empire. Their parochialism was reflected in
the way Australia’s railways were developed.
Grand plans in Sydney
ON 30JANUARY 1846 James Macarthur
— son of the corrupt military officer of the
early colonial days — convened a meeting of
potential railway investors in Sydney. From
this emerged the Great Southern and
Western Railway Company. Plans were
unveiled for lines from Sydney to Parramatta
and Richmond and Windsor.
There followed years of rhetoric and hot
ONCE BRITAIN embarked on its frenzy of air, but very little else. Innumerable surveys
railway construction from the 1830s, it was were conducted for lines from Sydney west
not long before the Australian colonies to Liverpool and Parramatta, as well as a
started thinking the same way. One of the more ambitious line to Goulburn. In 1849
greatest impediments to colonial expansion the Great Southern and Western Railway
was always the poor quality of roads. In fact, Company became the Sydney Railway
boats on rivers such as the Murray–Darling Company, reflecting a more realistic outlook
system proved the most efficient method of by investors.
transport available in the mid-19th century. In 1850 it appeared progress was being
By the 1840s there was much talk about made. MrsStewart — daughter of Governor-
railways being the answer to the tyranny of General Charles FitzRoy — was watched
distance and landscape, although the cost by 10000-plus spectators when she turned
was very high. In Britain companies were the first piece of turf for a Redfern–Lidcombe
MrsStewart, daughter of formed to build railway lines, many of them railway at Cleveland Paddocks.
Governor-General Charles hopelessly uneconomic. The same model
FitzRoy, turns the first piece
was used in Australia, for a very brief time. The gauge debacle
of turf for construction of
the railway from Redfern
AT THIS time the question of track gauge
to Lidcombe in 1850
— the distance between the two rails — was
critical. Britain had already been through a
period when railway companies constructed
lines using anything from 2’ (610mm) to 7’
(2134mm). Far-sighted planners realised
that this was a recipe for disaster. The
British Parliament standardised the national
gauge at 4’8½” (1435mm). Unfortunately,
at the same time they also allowed Ireland
to have a 5’3” (1600mm) gauge.
In 1846 the Secretary of State for the
Colonies attempted to enforce the same
standard in Australia, but the Irish
exception made this difficult. FWShields,
engineer for the Sydney Railway Company,
was Irish. He convinced the Sydney Railway
Company directors that they should adopt
the Irish ‘broad’ gauge rather than the
English ‘standard’ gauge.
5
— supported the standard gauge. He
persuaded the directors to drop the broad
5’3” gauge in favour of 4’8½”.
Victoria and South Australia were
justifiably annoyed by this development.
Both had followed New South Wales’ lead
by opting for the broad gauge. When the
senior colony changed its mind, neither was
keen to alter tracks already constructed or
change orders placed for rolling stock.
Thus came about the debacle that has
plagued the Australian railway systems ever
since. Governor-General Charles FitzRoy, an
enthusiastic promoter of railways, was in a
The gauge is the distance position to bring some order to the situation,
between the rails. This is a but failed to do so.
5’3” (1600mm) gauge
track in South Australia.
Private enterprise fails
Victoria leads the way THE GOLD rushes of the 1850s were a
mixed blessing for the Sydney Railway
TRACK GAUGES
RAILWAY FEVER erupted in Victoria as Company. Though the gold discoveries
well. With gold discoveries making the The distance between brought wealth to the colony, they did
rails. The most common
colony rich, in 1853 the Melbourne and nothing for the labour shortage. The prospect
gauges were:
Hobson’s Bay Railway Company, the Geelong of getting rich was far preferable to working
2’ 610 mm
and Melbourne Railway Company and the long, exhausting days on railway construction.
Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray 3’ 6” 1067 mm Workers deserted the project, which
River Railway Company were formed. All 4’ 8½” 1435 mm slowed almost to a halt. The situation was
boasted grand plans to link Melbourne with 5’ 3” 1600 mm only eased when the company imported 500
Port Melbourne, Geelong and beyond. experienced railway builders from Britain.
In October that year another railway Both the Sydney and the Hunter River
construction company was established at Railway companies had difficulties raising
Newcastle. The Hunter River Railway capital and were continually plagued by
Company planned a line from Newcastle to lack of cash. Delays in construction and
Maitland that could be extended further poor prospects for a reasonable return on
north and west. the investment did not help. In 1855 both
In the end Victoria came in first. The admitted defeat and sold out to the New
Melbourne and Hobson’s Bay Railway South Wales government. Never before,
Company opened the first steam railway anywhere in the world, had a government
from Flinders Street to Sandridge (Port taken on the operation of a railway.
Melbourne) on 12September 1854. When
the locomotives ordered from Britain failed
to arrive in time, a hurriedly built Australian
unit was used to head the train.
Lieutenant-Governor SirCharles Hotham
officiated at the opening. There was
considerable rejoicing because Melbourne
Governor-General Charles
had beaten Sydney. The railway, one of the
FitzRoy failed to act to avoid
most potent symbols of the Industrial the rail gauge problem
Revolution, had arrived.
FitzRoy fails to act
THE SANDRIDGE line ended any hopes of
gauge uniformity among the colonies. The
Railway construction was
Sydney Railway Company’s project was
plagued by the flood of
beset with problems. FWShields resigned
labourers who abandoned
as engineer following a salary dispute. His their work to find riches on
successor, James Wallace — a patriotic Scot the goldfields in the 1850s
6
Geelong to Williamstown began carrying
traffic. At Williamstown passengers changed
to steam ferries for the journey into the city.
The remainder of the line into Melbourne
opened in January 1859. Two years later
economic reality prevailed, forcing a sale of
the business to the Victorian government.
Ipswich wins the race
UNTIL 1859 Queensland was part of New
South Wales. When it became a colony in
The men who crewed the its own right the government, despite an
first train from Sydney to
impoverished Treasury, decided railways
Parramatta: William
Sydney–Parramatta begins were essential to progress. For the honour
Sixsmith (driver, left) and
of being the state capital there was a long-
William Webster (fireman)
FINALLY, ON 26September 1855, the running competition between Brisbane and
great day arrived for Sydney. The line from Ipswich. Brisbane won that battle, but lost
Cleveland Paddocks (Redfern) to out to Ipswich for the first railway station.
Parramatta — with stations at Newtown, Legislation authorising a line from Ipswich
Ashfield, Burwood and Homebush — was to Bigges Camp [now Grandchester] passed
ready for service. the Queensland Parliament in May 1863. In
Colonial Governor SirWilliam Denison
performed the opening ceremony before a
huge crowd. He then boarded the train for
the journey to Parramatta. The difference was
remarkable: no more suffering the atrocious
conditions of Parramatta Road, either the
crude surface or the ever-present highwaymen
who robbed travellers in remote areas.
South Australia joins in
RAILWAY ENTHUSIASM in South
Australia was no less than in the east. On
21April 1856 the first railway line of that
province opened between Adelaide and Port
Adelaide. The following year a line between
Adelaide and Gawler opened.
Back in Melbourne, the Geelong and
Melbourne Railway Company at least
progressed to the point of opening its line
before financial pressures forced a government The original Victorian line ran from
The first New South Wales Melbourne to Sandridge, later known
takeover. On 25June 1857 the track from
train leaves Redfern as Port Melbourne. The line was
Station for Parramatta on extended directly onto Station Pier to
26September 1855 facilitate loading and unloading from
ships. Today the line operates as part
of Melbourne’s tramways.
February the following year Lady Bowen,
wife of the governor, turned the first piece
of earth for the line. Compared to the New
South Wales and Victorian efforts,
construction was remarkably swift. It
opened on 31July 1865.
Queensland did its bit to add to the gauge
confusion by inventing one of its own: 3’6”
7
target of the Great Southern and Western
Railway Company. Construction of the
Picton–Mittagong section was completed in
1867, and the final stretch to Goulburn —
centre of the wool industry — opened two
years later. Trains began to replace the horse-
drawn wagons that had transported the
wool clip to Sydney’s wool stores.
Promoting suburban life
JUST AS the Geelong and Melbourne
Railway Company was being taken over by
the Victorian government, another private
Excavating in central enterprise venture was established in
Melbourne for Flinders Melbourne. In November 1860 the Melbourne
Street Station. and Essendon Railway Company was floated
(1067mm). This narrow gauge, though with a plan to construct a line from Spencer
initially economical, would prevent Street to Essendon, then a country village.
Queensland’s trains from achieving the After the gold rushes many of the newly
speed of those in other colonies. wealthy were looking for ways to increase
The 3’6” gauge was subsequently their fortunes. Their favourite method was
adopted in Tasmania, South Australia, land development. Construction of the
Western Australia, New Zealand, railway to Essendon would open up land on
Indonesia, Japan and parts of Africa. For both sides of the line as home sites for a
Queensland it was purely a financial newly affluent community.
decision. For decades it was the poorest
colony, necessitating strict economies in On to the Darling Downs
publicly funded projects.
IN QUEENSLAND the original Ipswich–
Zigzag up the mountains Bigges Camp line was extended further west
to the agricultural centre of Gatton in 1866.
John Whitton, Chief Engineer
ONCE THE line from Sydney to Parramatta The mountain range between there and
of the New South Wales
opened, railway fever really took hold in New Government Railways Toowoomba was conquered a year later.
South Wales. The government extended the Other lines developed in isolation, running
line to Blacktown — then a country village inland from the coast. It would be many
— in 1860. From there, in 1863, it went on years before a continuous line ran from
to Penrith at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Brisbane through to Cairns. Tracks were
Until then the line had traversed relatively laid westward from the main centres of
The zigzag track on the
flat country. Considerable engineering Maryborough, Rockhampton, Townsville
right made it easier for
expertise was required to cross the daunting and Cairns. First was Rockhampton–
steam locomotives to
barrier to the west. John Whitton, Chief Westwood, about 50kilometres inland.
climb the Blue Mountains.
Engineer of New South Wales Government The tracks on the left were
Railways, commissioned two zigzag lines built in the 1960s for diesel
for trains to negotiate the steep climb. Four and electric locomotives.
years later in 1867 a link between Penrith
and Wentworth Falls was completed; after
another year it reached Mount Victoria,
then Bowenfels in 1869.
Other less spectacular lines were built as
far as Liverpool by 1856 and on to
Campbelltown two years later. Another
track branched from the Parramatta–
Blacktown section of the western line to
bring Richmond and Windsor into the
system. The south-western line reached
Picton in July 1863.
As the 1860s ended the New South Wales
network reached Goulburn, the original 1846
