Episode description
What are some of the great Queensland Railway lines that never were? What we might today think of as a big, connected network across the state, actually began as a number of scattered railway lines that stretched inland from the coast. They were very much their own identity.
In this episode, we chat with Ken Fairbairn, Driver of the Gulflander and Officer in Charge of the Normanton Railway, an isolated section of track in North Queensland that very much reflects that 'patchwork' approach started in the 1860's.
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Podcast transcript
Introduction
Annette: Hi, I'm Annette and I'm so glad you've joined us again for the third episode of the Queensland Rail History podcast. Our podcast is all about discovering the rich story of the Queensland Railways across our state, how they evolved, and the hard-working people who created them. Our first two podcasts covered the story of the beginnings of the railway, what was described as a pony railway that has lasted nearly 160 years. Our second podcast looked at the story of the construction work on the Cairns-Kuranda Railway and what made it the tourist icon it is today. This time around, in episode three, we delve into what was the Queensland Railways and how what we might today think of as a big connected story or network really began as a number of lines that stretched inland from the coast.
“Much of Queensland still had no decent roads. So local approaches, local issues, they really determined where the railway would go."
In our episode today, we will meet and talk with the Officer in Charge of the Normanton Railway.
“We jokingly call the railway from nowhere to nowhere. To me, it's more or less the railway from somewhere to somewhere else."
We'll also look at why so many places wanted a railway in the 19th and early 20th century and why some places in Queensland did eventually get a railway, or didn't.
“Be that as it may, we, in common with the whole community, hail with pleasure the inauguration of the railway into Queensland."
“An old woman in our carriage was very proud of this little bit of railroad."
We're glad to have you with us again today. And with me is our beloved historian, Mr Hallam. Greg, how are you going?
Greg: Oh, g'day Annette, and as always, it's a pleasure to be in company with you.
Quick refresh of Queensland Railways history
Annette: Our first podcast looked at how the railway was built and designed for Queensland. So, can we just have a quick refresh about how we came to have this sprinkling of Queensland railways?
Greg: Of course, Annette. The first railway contract extended from Ipswich to Grandchester. That was followed by four sections that brought the line up the range to Toowoomba. Now, as part of the original railway plan from Toowoomba, from the Southern and Western Railway, it was originally going to go from Toowoomba to Dalby and Toowoomba down to Warwick. So the railway opened to Grandchester back in July of 1865 and then was extended to Toowoomba in 1867, Dalby in 1868 and then Warwick in 1871. Now, completion of the original scheme in the 1860s was actually affected by the collapse of a British bank, the Agribank, and it caused financial issues for the colony of Queensland. I think you'd probably say in this day and age, Annette, it went broke. But for locomotives, the rolling stock, the signalling, the station buildings, the staff, the Government actually engaged Sir Charles Foxin the early 1860s as a consulting engineer. And Fox and Company, well, they provided a number of innovative, not always successful designs for the narrow gate here in Queensland. And in terms of station design, actually Annette, the plans were wildly extravagant for a young colony.
Annette: Extravagant, Greg? In what way would you mean?
Greg: Oh, Annette, I was waiting for you to ask me that one. The stations that were designed and supplied really did not fit the bill in Queensland at the time. They were prefabricated. They were made in Britain. People actually thought they looked like something that should have been in the United States, these grand terminal stations and that. But the problem was cost versus what the railway was expected to provide.
Annette: So what you could really be saying is, the original decision to build a railway was not justified because it was expected to be profitable, but as a service?
Greg: Very much so, Annette; you nailed it. The vast size of Queensland and the development of the railways meant that as railways started to dot the landscape, it meant that a big centralised organisation just wouldn't fit the bill. Now, look back to the beginning of the railway era in Queensland, 1860s. Much of Queensland still had no decent roads. So local approaches, local issues, they really determined where the railway would go. Plus, they'd have to be spread out over a very wide area, and that made it look like a very large patchwork, really. All these lines would slowly, slowly link the coast and the bush.
Annette: So, many places in Queensland wanted a railway. It's almost like everywhere wanted to be part of the railway patchwork. So why, in those early years, did somewhere like Rockhampton end up with a railway?
Rockhampton's railway
Greg: Well, the decision to build from Rockhampton was very much to please the local people. Rockhampton, in the 19th century, more so when the Mount Morgan gold mines opened up in the 1880s and into the 1890s, it was an economic powerhouse for Queensland. A lot of riches came out of there. So the wealth that came from Mount Morgan was a real bonanza in the later years, of course. And in the earlier 20th century, I think Rockhampton actually had more millionaires living there than in Melbourne. So in 1867, a very short railway was opened west from Rockhampton. It was a 30-mile, 50-kilometre-long railway. If you build a short line like that in a closely settled district, possibly that could have been heavily used. And I'm thinking about places like New South Wales and Victoria at that time.
But in central Queensland, not so in that period. In fact, bullockies, who used to bring goods hundreds of kilometres and across mountain ranges from inland Queensland, it was really just not worth the effort of unpacking everything, putting it on a train for the last 50 kilometres into Rockhampton. And you couldn't honestly ask bullockies in that period, politely, to transfer their loadings to the railway for the easiest section of the journey. So it just did not stack up and it did not add up, as you'd appreciate.
Annette: I know, they'd get all the glory after all the hard work.
Greg: That's right. And bullocky language would not be very popular to hear as a result either.
Annette: One of Queensland's patchwork railways is still very much isolated and in use today.
The Normanton railway line
Ken: On the face of it, the fact that it's still running, seems strange. You know, you've got a line going from somewhere to somewhere else with a little dinky little train whizzing back and forth. It doesn't really make much sense. But when you look into the history of it all and why it's still running, it does make sense. But stepping back at it, you go, that's a bit strange.
Annette: That's Ken Fairbairn, Officer in Charge, Stationmaster and driver of the Gulflander, a rail motor operating on the Normanton railway line.
Ken: So, the Normanton railway was initially, intended to go from the port of Normanton on the Norman River through to Cloncurry. Cloncurry is about 400 kilometres south of Normanton. And that was to service the burgeoning copper mining, zinc mining trade down that way, and gold mining and the cattle trade. So just to give them efficient access to the closest port, which is Normanton. Now that was all approved by Parliament, and Greg will know all about that. But in short, the plans were changed, because gold was discovered in Croydon and a line about a third of the length instead was built to Croydon, which is at another bearing of the compass altogether. And it was a bit of – well, we don't get into politics here, but it was a bit of a political football. But ultimately the plans were changed by the State Legislative Assembly and a line built to Croydon to provide the busy goldfields of Croydon with access to the port for trade.
Annette: Built in 1891 and now in its 130th year of operation, the Heritage Listed Normanton railway line and the Gulflander are living testament to the need for a rail in the isolated regional parts of Queensland.
So we have a very short line built to keep people happy. So how did it come to now be part of the route for the Spirit of the Outback in this day and age?
Greg: Well, the railway really had little impact until it was extended or after it opened in 1867 and stopped there at Westwood. Now, there was no extension for seven years until the decision was made to build west, and that was described as being towards the setting sun. And it was made by the Queensland Government. Now, the Rockhampton Chamber of Commerce was extremely influential at this time, and they actually used their influence to push for the line to be built into the pastoral hinterland of central Queensland. And the line was going to be pushed west definitely, it actually took another 25 years to eventually reach the end of the line and that was for many years, and that was being Longreach.
Annette: It's starting to appear to me that these railways were built almost in isolation, nothing really to pull them together?
The Great Northern Railway
Greg: Well, not entirely. Even with those first 30 miles, 50 kilometres of the Rockhampton railway, it was originally grandly called the Great Northern Railway, was being built. It's recognised that the railway systems would eventually connect but the question of cost and providing that level of service, that really put the mocker on an idea of a grand development. The patchwork system, the needle and thread would really need to go a long way, and more importantly, be done with not huge amounts of resources or money, that is capital.
Annette: Greg, I think we were talking last episode how 130 years ago it was minerals and not merinos that kicked the railway development off in far-flung parts of Queensland. What were some of the other things that provided the push for places hundreds and thousands of kilometres away from us here today to have their own railway?
Mining: The next big thing
Greg: Mining was the next big thing, Annette. With the growing population and financial stakes of Queensland – and there was more money in the coffers as a result – there were cheaper methods of construction that were brought about – and we'll talk about that another time – and there were no major and natural obstacles; and I'm thinking about the Cairns-Herberton Railway that we spoke about in podcast number two. So, comparable to building the main range railway even up here to Toowoomba, the colony was able to afford several mining railways and they could build separate railways in the ports to the mining fields. So these included Maryborough to Gympie; there was Townsville to Charters Towers, and that opened in 1882; and Bundaberg to Mount Perry, and that was completed throughout 1884.
Annette: So the Queensland Government paid for all of this? None of the mines contributed? Were taxes used to pay for it? Or is this all loan money?
Greg: No, it was actually all Queensland Government funded and it was all through loans indeed. That was part of the thing that the railway had to start earning money to pay back the interest on the loans. So it was definitely – it was a Government enterprise from the word go.
Annette: Were sheep forgotten after all then?
Greg: Not really, not our merino friends. At the same time, work was in progress on what we called the trunk railways, the main railways, the line stretching out into the west and eventually outback, they continued on as well. So for graziers to the west to Charleville, the line got out there in 1888. From Rockhampton west to Barcaldine, it was in 1886 and it eventually reached Longreach in 1892. Now, the railway to Charters Towers with its branch down to the Ravenswood goldfield, that opened in 1884 and they quickly extended that into grazing country to the west from Charters Towers. That opened to Hughenden in 1887.
Funding the railways
Annette: It seems to me that a lot of railways were being built. Was that because something else was going on at that stage?
Greg: Well, Annette, the 1880s were boom years for rail construction in the 19th century throughout Queensland – throughout Australia, actually. The newly elected Griffith government – yes, before you ask, the University and also the suburb down in Brisbane, they were named after the Premier of Queensland, Sir Samuel Griffith – he actually secured a £10 million loan in 1884. And I think that's about $10 billion in today's values.
Annette: Greg, you know what I'm going to say here. I thought we didn't try and convert money into today's dollars.
Greg: All right, Annette. I did try to use a reputed good formula for this and whether it works out or not, I just really don't know. The intention of the huge loan, though, was to build railways pretty much for everyone. So there were branch lines, which were those agricultural and development lines that run off the main lines. They were greatly expanded. The loan money also provided more mining railways. There was Maryborough to the Burrum coalfields in 1883, out to Kilkivan in 1886, Corinda to Woolloongabba in central Brisbane so the coal mine owners could tap the steamer coaling trade for steamships; that went through in 1884. There was also Cooktown to Laura. Now, that opened in 1888, but it never reached the Maytown goldfields, which was the capital of the Palmer goldfields, as they called it. There was Cairns to Mareeba that was, as we've spoken in our previous podcast, in the 1880s. And there was even the Cooktown railway, and the Cooktown railway was another isolated railway. They were actually the two longest surviving examples of these lines out in the scrub or the isolated railway lines that apparently or seemingly led to nowhere. And the Cooktown railway closed in 1961, but believe it or not, there are still traces of it today up from Cooktown out to Laura.
Cooktown railway closure
Annette: Greg, I was just wondering if you could let me know why the Cooktown railway closed.
Greg: A matter of economics. Again, it was just the one rail motor up there operating once a week out to – well, it went from Cooktown to exactly nowhere in particular. It was literally out in the wilderness. So it was basically the economics of it, because it was holding very little in the way of goods or freight, very little in the way of passengers. It provided a service up there, and basically, again, as transport started to improve, a matter of economics. We've got a train really running from a lovely part of the world to nowhere in particular. The beginning of the 1960s with other line closures and that, that was one of the ones that did close. But it was even more isolated when you think about it, than the Normanton-Croydon Railway. That was completed in 1891, although it had originally been intended to go through to Cloncurry.
Normanton railway
Ken: The Gulflander, the train itself, the stations, Normanton and Croydon, and in between, they're all mostly original, especially Normanton Railway Station.
Annette: That's Officer in Charge of the Normanton railway, Ken Fairbairn.
Ken: You've got to step back sometimes and look at it and go, “Oh, wow, there's not a lot of other places around the traps where you can be employed in such an environment, and not only working within an office that's like Normanton Railway Station, with its mostly original furniture, exposed stud work and corrugated iron, all set to decorative effect. And then the train, the rail motor itself, its basic design hasn't changed. It's really stepping back into the past, but actually doing a real job in a modern era. That's what makes it unique, in my view. As Greg's mentioned, it was built, like many of the other railways in Queensland, as isolated sections, and most of them were eventually linked up.
However, the Normanton railway was never linked up to any other. And I think the basic answer for that lies in economics. But you had the line west from Cairns, that went all the way up to Forsayth, and the line west of Townsville, all the way up to Mount Isa. So those areas to the east of Normanton and Croydon had a link by rail to a much better port, and that's Cairns or Townsville. And so, there was never any real justification in terms of economics to connect Croydon, through to Forsayth, which is the end of the Etheridge line. And so it never happened. But it just kept running; the railway line kept running. It was more or less utilised because it was here, even though the gold at Croydon had run out. And then thankfully, tourism kicked in in the 1970s and very deliberate efforts made by many, including especially, of course, Queensland Rail and other stakeholders in terms of developing it up as a viable tourist product.
Annette: That far-flung railway must have been a pretty enormous task.
Greg: Oh, yes. As the railway network continued to grow in Queensland, so did the amount of traffic that continued to rise. Now, actually in 1878, the decision had been taken to formalise the names of the various railway systems in Queensland. The railway from Brisbane to Warwick and out to Dalby, past here in Toowoomba, and any future extension, it was to be called the Southern and Western Railway. And I still refer to it as that today.
Annette: That's a very original name, Southern and Western.
Management of the railways
Greg: You'll find in this, actually, there's little administrative, shall we say, lateral thinking. The railway from Rockhampton westwards, it was called the Central Railway; the railway from Townsville to Charters Towers, it was the Northern Railway; the railway from Maryborough to Gympie, the Maryborough Railway; and the railway from Bundaberg towards Mount Perry, the Bundaberg Railway. Now, again in the 1890s, the management structure of the railways was reviewed. There were always reviews going on and there was always enquiries as to how to make them more efficient, profitable and those sorts of things. So it actually recommended to increase decentralisation of the organisation, to push the management out, to push the decision-making out.
So in 1914 actually, the railways were divided into what became known as the big three divisions. And a lot of people out there with a railway background will probably remember these very well. There was the Southern Division which was based on Brisbane; the Central Division that was based on Rocky; and the Northern Division which was based on Townsville. But in 1918 there was a split in the south and there was created what was called the South Western Division, based here on Toowoomba. And there was the South Eastern Division which was centred on Mayne; and that was from 1918.
Brisbane's railways
Annette: So, I can see that the people on the land were going to benefit by the railways at this time. But for those of us living in Brisbane, say those of us who live on the south side of Brisbane, were we ignored?
Greg: No, definitely not. You would not be ignored. Townspeople did also see a big push for their own railways at this time, and mostly in the south east. There was a seaside line that was opened from Brisbane to Sandgate in 1882. And if this was considered unfair to the south side of Brisbane, Brisbane to Cleveland and Southport had their own railways built as well from South Brisbane. And in 1889 the Southport line was built and it was built in conjunction with a railway line to Nerang as well. Now, Rockhampton does come flying back into the railway picture at this point. As we know, it couldn't be neglected, and a separate seaside line was built from North Rockhampton to Emu Park in 1888. And even Bowen, up in far north – in northern Queensland, it got a railway as its own consolation prize and it opened in 1890 and extended a bit in 1891.
So during the 80s – that's the 1880s, not the 1980s, thank you very much – it became obvious that railways would eventually tap most of the colony. So the idea of a north coastline that would go north along the coastline was really born in the 1880s and the 1890s as well. Now, initially stitching together those railways that linked inland or through the mining area, the larger pastoral areas of the western north. Now, the first section of what was still today the north coastline, it was built in sections north from Brisbane at Northgate, which is actually a portmanteau word of Northern line and Sandgate. I checked that out for you earlier on there, Annette, so yes, Northgate. And then we had south from Gympie, that linked up finally in 1891, just over 130 years ago now. And it connected Brisbane, Gympie, Maryborough and Bundaberg, which also had their own separate railway systems and separated by a river that brought them all together. Now that included lines from Maryborough to Gympie and north to the Burrum coalfields. And the extension which was from Howard, which is on the Burrum coalfields to Bundaberg, it opened in 1888. And really, that was effectively built as part of this first projected north coastline.
The railway to Stanthorpe
Annette: We have all this railway action going on north and even west. Was anything happening here in this part of the world?
Greg: Yep, certainly was. The railway to Stanthorpe was extended south to the border in 1887, but not an inch further, and not to the town of Tenterfield, which New South Wales actually considered more sensible than establishing an entire new border township at a place called Wallangarra.
Annette: So our railway stops at Wallangarra. What was special about Stanthorpe Station though?
Greg: Stanthorpe? Well, Stanthorpe was when the line was extended south from Warwick. And the railway got down to Warwick in about 1871, to a place called Mill Hill, and didn't actually get into Warwick central today, I suppose you'd call it, until the mid-1880s. That was because of the big bridge that had to be built across the Condamine River. What was the pull for Stanthorpe was actually – well, Stanthorpe is like Grandchester, play on the name Bigges Camp, but Stanthorpe is short for Stannum Thorpe, or tin town. And that's the reason that Stanthorpe was so important, was the amount of tin that was found there in the 1880s, and it was one of those mineral lines that was built. So the extension from Warwick down to Stanthorpe was basically built because of the tin mining industry. There was a lot of money in tin in the late 19th century.
What's interesting – and I forgot to mention this for you too earlier, Annette – but south, actually when they were building the line down to Wallangarra in the mid to late 1880s, south of Stanthorpe, there was a couple of cuttings there that they found – they felt they hit silver, silver lodes as they called it. So they were actually digging out the railway cuttings and they came across silver as well. So it was a fairly rich mineral country down there, but it was tin, and that's what – a tin railway – that's what provided the reason for the introduction – well, bringing the railway to Stanthorpe.
The other thing was, there was the stationmaster who was there for many years, Passmore. He was a customs officer. That was in the colonial era before Federation, and even after. And as railway stationmaster, he also served as a customs officer. And as customs officer, he used to basically look after customs between the colonies and even the states, on goods. That era when basically, between states there was tariffs and things like that as well. So he was the customs officer. The experience most people have in this day and age is probably at Brisbane, at airports and places like that. But you go back 120 years or thereabouts, guess what, customs officer was the stationmaster, who used to check all the goods coming in and out of the colonies or the states in the early part of Federation.
Annette: So he was there saying, “No, you can't have our wool, send it up to Brisbane."
Greg: I think in that case, it might have been even more other mundane goods other than our merino friends or something like that anyway. But customs and duties probably on everything from spirits to you just don't know, whatever was deemed to have a customs excise on it, that would be paid.
Trains to the boarder
The link to Sydney opened in 1888, meaning people could travel all the way from Brisbane to Sydney and then even on to Melbourne, although they had to change trains at the borders, because of the different track gauges, of course.
Annette: Greg, I'm just wondering what that would have looked like. Would they have literally had one station with a Queensland train and a New South Wales train, like butting heads almost?
Greg: Annette, it was a regular feature in the papers of the day, illustrations and basically different track gauges and literally trains pulling up at platforms, not being able to go any further. So there was certainly a lot of chaos for some, but generally there was a considerable form of, shall we say, restrained chaos or something like that, as passengers go from one train to the next, and goods and luggage, anything like that would be transferred as well. So if you travelled from, say, Toowoomba here, down to Wallan-garra, or Wallangarra, that would be one train on the Queensland railways; then you'd change to the New South Wales Government railways there at Jennings, which was actually the New South Wales name for the part of Wallangarra Railway Station, eventually getting down to the border at Albury, where you'd change trains again to the 5 foot 3 gauge of Victoria and then continue your journey on from there as well.
I must admit, though, there was a bit of – even though we're changing trains in the middle of the night and that could be uncomfortable – there was always the railway refreshment rooms at places like Toowoomba where you'd get about 20 to 25 minutes to get a three-course meal, and as a result, changing trains always meant at least you had an opportunity to get a feed along the way.
Annette: I tell you what, I've seen some of those menu options for the feed. I'm there.
Greg: And a good thing too.
Annette: So the Southern Line stopped at the border and not the home of Tenterfield saddler. But did anything else stop the railways at being built at this time?
The 1890s Depression
Greg: Yep. Lack of money and a financial crisis. The 1890s Depression, that was a really bad depression that actually lasted probably until – when you look at it historically, the beginning of the Great War, the First World War in 1914. It put a big dent and stopped the rail building program building and it left the colony with one centralising system that linked Brisbane with New South Wales through the border, Charleville, the south coast, so going down to places like Nerang, as we mentioned, and Southport; northwards to Bundaberg and Mount Perry, and that finally, when the railway bridge over the Burnett opened in 1891. Now, the railway from Brisbane to Gladstone, from Bundaberg, however, it came to a screaming halt for a lack of funds. If you wanted to go between the two parts that had been built, south from Gladstone and north from Bundy, you had to go by a horse and coach, or a Cobb & Co coach, I think it was, to provide the missing gap. And so the main routes were from Brisbane really, to Charleville, Wallangarra, as we mentioned, Bundaberg, Rockhampton to Longreach and Townsville out to Hughenden.
The beginning of the 20th century
Annette: We spoke about the role of the railway contractors in the beginning of the railways from the 1860s, at the start of our podcast today. At the beginning of the 20th century, what was happening then?
Greg: Yes, that's interesting. The contract system of railway construction ended with the building really, of the – or the completion of the Gladstone-Rockhampton line, which finally happened in 1903. Now, construction by day labourers, it was called, had already begun, and this meant basically that the Railway Department had a large construction force that was employed on totally different terms to their own permanent employees. So you were literally that; you're a day labourer, you're employed for that day on the railway works. So you turn up and get your pay, and come back the next day and continue on. So it was a workforce, very fluid as they say, in camps, but they were not like permanent employees of the Queensland Railways.
Annette: So that leaves a lot of people with instability, not knowing if they're going to get paid at the end of the week, whether they have five days this week, one day next week, what if there's bad weather, how are they going to –
Greg: It would seem like that, but surprisingly, they actually – as I said, they lived in camps – and just a little aside for you – in the later years of – I'm talking about say 1910 to about 1920, the railway camps, a lot of them were run by the YMCA. So they'd have cooks and everything, and they were organised by the YMCA. But a lot of the day labourers, they would come for the work, but they would – they'd be more or less assured of work the next day. It was just the way it was structured and everything like that. One other thing with the YMCA was very important, teetotal organisation, no alcohol in the camps, and as you can imagine, that was very different to the image I think we have of railway construction going on, and the shanties and things like that that went with it as well.
Annette: We have talked a fair bit about those watering holes that were used by our navvies.
Greg: Well, that's exactly right, and there's lots of them around, and still many a railway hotel throughout Australia where there's no railway today, Annette. But anyway, so 120 years ago, or thereabouts, by 1903, the state actually had two main railway systems. So the lines connected to Brisbane; there was the Great Northern Railway from Townsville; there was also those isolated lines at Mackay, Bowen, Cairns, Cooktown and Normanton, dear old Normanton again. So, at that stage it added up to about seven different systems.
The border fence
Annette: Queensland and New South Wales separated in 1859. Now, we know we have different gauges. Did we do anything else to protect our border?
Greg: Yes, the railway was actually used as almost like a border fence, and that was actually the case in the early part of the 20th century. So as New South Wales built – more railway lines came close to the Queensland and New South Wales border, places like Boggabilla and that, coming up from Inverell and there, Queensland began building what they called the border fence, and it was a line due west from Warwick. Now, in the interest of better competing with New South Wales, that was cutting off the wool trade going down the Darling and places like that. So the first section to Thane opened in 1904, and the last bit got to Dirranbandi in 1913. Although, again, the plans were made to continue extending westward and cutting off any traffic going into New South Wales.
Annette: So that was all about capturing our farmers and our minerals staying inside Queensland and not going down through New South Wales ports?
Greg: I think the merino has come back into this again, trying to stop the wool trade going down the Darling River and those places, Annette, yes.
Annette: How would this border fence have looked? What was the real purpose of that?
Greg: Okay, it's a bit different to the border fences that you see around today, on the Queensland-New South Wales border and places and that and rabbit-proof fences and those things. It was actually more or less a concept that was built with railway lines. Now, what had happened – and this is previous to the coming of the railways, and if the listeners or our podcastees ever go out to Cunnamulla, they've opened recently out there a wonderful audio-visual sound and light show out there, the Cunnamulla Station. They tell the story very well. And prior to the coming of the railway to places like Cunnamulla in the 1890s and those areas, the wool trade – and I mean, we're talking about wool being incredibly lucrative in that era.
For the graziers and that out in far western Queensland, it was much easier to ship it south, because what happened was it'd go on bullock teams or go on horse drays or whatever, and it'd actually end up going into New South Wales and surprisingly, it'd go down the Darling River and places like that down the Murray because there was a thriving riverboat trade. And so the wool, which, as I said, lots of money there, would be crossing the border into New South Wales and then eventually making its way down the Darling and then down into New South Wales, eventually Sydney through Bourke and places like that. It might even go further down, further down the Darling River, eventually down the Murray.
Now Queensland, as you can imagine, Annette, not very happy losing an extremely lucrative trade like that. So that's where the concept came of building, basically cutting off, cutting the trade off at the pass or cutting the wool off at the pass, I suppose you'd say, or the railway passing line, or the loop in this case. And so the lines were built to the west and that's why we get that border fence idea. So you go out to places like Thallon, out to Dirranbandi – and that's why I said there were plans to continue going basically west and stopping anything going into New South Wales. New South Wales had built up smartly towards the border, so they had lines coming up from places like Moree and then Inverell and those areas. And you can imagine, it's all like little tentacles coming up towards the Queensland border, these branch lines and that. Places like Boggabilla near Goondiwindi. And again, guess what had happened? Anything go across the border, get on a train, down to Sydney.
Annette: So it was all about the Sydney ports getting the business from our farmers.
Greg: Even better than that, Sydney, full stop. New South Wales, full stop. Yes, if any of the podcastees and that ever go down to Newstead, down to the Newstead Wharf area and, you know, that area that's all been redeveloped, see the fantastic, great big, huge old wool stores down there. That tells the story because guess what? Anything from western Queensland and wool, that's where it'd end up and then get shipped off around the world from there and come down by train.
Annette: We're a fabric episode today.
Driver of the Gulflander, Ken Fairbairn: Introduction
Ken: Almost every hour is different here. It's good for someone like me, who's easily distracted.
Annette: Driver of the Gulflander, Ken Fairbairn, shares about his numerous roles working on the Normanton Railway.
Ken: So, yeah, I'll be driving the train one minute, the Gulflander, and then I'll hop off and have to attend to some stationmaster duties, administration, bookings, ticket sales, general management, things like that. And then the next hour I'll be in the workshop. So my trade is fitter and turner. So basically it means I'm charged with responsibility to tend to the maintenance on the mechanical side of the train. I love it because it's so varied. The duties can change hour to hour. And I just – I really love working with old gear and being immersed in the history side of things. It's sort of been my whole life; I grew up that way; in my veins, I guess. It's hard to imagine being anywhere else, to be honest. I've spoken to people who've been in this role before. It's the best and the worst job because when the time comes that you do wind up and go and do something else, which I hope never happens, what else do you do? Because you've done the best job ever been possible. Know what I mean?
Episode summary
Annette: We're starting to get close to the end of our story for today. Could you, if you can, have a bit of a roll call about all those places we spoke about and what, at the start, did get their railway?
Greg: Alrighty. Reminds me of that song, I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere. But it really was a case of extending the rail tentacles into Queensland. Now, in 30 years of construction, most of it was in that period of 1902 to 1920, the branches mushroomed, or rather grew. Now, they went to all these places. So here we go: Dayboro; Canungra; Yarraman; Mount Edwards; Mulgowie; Haden; Cooyar; Cecil Plains; Bell; Jindowie and Glenmorgan; Wandoun and Injune; Millmerran; Goomburra, Maryvale; Amiens and Texas; Kilcoy; Brooloo; Kingaroy; Tarong; Nanango; Proston and Windorah; Dallarnil; Gayndah; Monto via both Gayndah and Many Peaks; and to Morganville.
Annette: Now, Greg, I know you don't want me to ask this, but how many of those lines are still open today?
Greg: The railways were built as a developmental thing at that time, and it was basically the idea that no farmer should be more than half a day's travel away from a siding, to get their produce. Not many of those have survived into the early 21st century, and it is that question of economics and also the fact that roads improved and basically, transport systems changed. So it went from basically a farmer trying to get their produce to a local railway siding, to a completely different transport network today. So not many have survived into the 21st century, but there's certainly a lot of railway memories out there.
Annette: Yes, and I imagine there's a lot of little things, a tribute to the network; there'd be some tunnels and things out there that we could still go visit today.
Greg: Certainly can. One not too far from here, Cooyar. Out on the old Cooyar line, there's the Muntapa tunnel, and that was built, and that's evidence exactly of those sorts of things. Or the rail trails you'll find around the place, South Burnett, Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, they're all the reminders there as well.
So. in central Queensland, there were lines built up to Yeppoon. There was to Theodore; Lawgi, Blackall, out from Jericho. And then in the north, the line was extended, from the Mackay Railway to Netherdale; Congaree and Owens Creek. And further in the north, there was Mareeba down to Ravenshoe. There was also an extension of a place called Millaa Millaa on the Cairns Railway, and also to a place called Malanda as well. So that was on the Cairns Railway, which is based on Cairns, as we mentioned before. So many of these were to open up land for agriculture. When you see how that map grew and developed in that short period of 30 years, it literally was astonishing.
Quilting the patchwork railway together
Annette: It really does seem like this was a patchwork approach to building a railway. Was there never a grand vision or plan for quilting it all together?
Greg: Yes, there was actually.
Annette: There's a train coming in.
Greg: Yes, speaking of that, a track machine just went past us here at Toowoomba Station. What would you say? And a big recognition to the network people out there today. So good to see. Yeah, well, there it was. There was actually an idea about a grand vision, and in December of 1910 – it was actually on Christmas Eve 1910, believe it or not – the first and only grand railway plan since the 1860s was finally presented to the Queensland Parliament. Now, Parliament approved construction of a railway that would link Rockhampton to Cairns, to link the major towns of Queensland along the east coast. And there was also a thing called the Great Central Railway. Now, the north coast line was originally seen as providing better passenger travel, as freight was still handled by sea at that time.
The line was finally completed through to Cairns, and finally between Brisbane and Cairns in December of 1924. That was actually on about December the 10th. And December was originally – December the 10th was originally Queensland Day. That was the official day that was recognised for many years when Queensland separated from New South Wales. There's a connection there that was done deliberately. And there was even a plan for a railway that never was. That was, as mentioned, the Great Western Railway. Now, that was improved in 1910 and developed out of an inland railway idea of the 1880s. And that was going to build a transcontinental land grant railway where if the private people built the railway, they'd be given land by the Government as an incentive. And it would have run from Roma here in southern Queensland up to a place called Point Parker, Port Parker on the Gulf of Carpentaria. That's not too far over from Normanton.
Annette: It's just interesting to me. So our first line started in 1865. And then there was no grand approach until 1910. So we have 50 years of building railways, where there is no plan whatsoever.
Greg: Yep, that's correct. Again, it was that thing about the patchwork system. Every place, it was built for the local needs and that. To stitch it all together, to get the quilting all together took a long time. And I think with the north coast line and the Great Western Act, the Government approved about 2,000 kilometres of railway construction in one fell swoop on Christmas Eve. And it was actually described as a big Christmas present for Queensland in 1910. But that Great Western line still fascinates in this day and age. It would have been built in the far outback of Queensland. Places like Jundah or Stonehenge out from Warwick and that, they would have actually seen a railway station built there.
And the impetus for this was because of what was called the great drought at the beginning of the 20th century. That was so they could get livestock out of central and western Queensland in time of drought, get them out for agistment, move them to other areas of the country or to a state that actually had greenery. So that was why that line really came about. There was even talk in the early 20th century of building a railway from Bourke through to Darwin and western Queensland. But work on the Great Western Railway practically ended in 1917. They started about 1910, 1911. The Great War came along and other things. And so it effectively ended in 1917.
Now, none of the main part of the Great Western Railway was built. That's the part out – we're talking right out in the Mulga between Tobermory and Camooweal. And there were places that actually got feeder lines built. And that was places like Yaraka. That's how railway people call it, Yaraka. The locals call it Yara-ka. There was the Dajarra; there was Quilpie. And they had railways open to these far-flung places. And it was quite literally something that never quite got there. And the north coast line or the Sunshine Route it was called, well, really today it's the backbone or backboard to the connection of the railway in Queensland. The line has the – it's had the famous trains running out like the Sunshine Express. There was the Sunlander. And of course we have the Spirit of Queensland operating on it today.
Annette: So Greg, the line that was never built, what work did the railways do out there? Is there any remaining remnants?
Greg: Certainly is. The line to Yaraka, it closed, and it's part of – there's a sealed road out there today. It closed in fairly recent times; we're talking in the early 21st century. The line's still open out to Quilpie, out from Charleville or Westgate. So it's still very much there as well. What's more interesting, if you go to some of those places that the line was never built, and that's – it would have been a line from Tobermory to Camooweal in far western Queensland – there's survey markers out there showing where the railway should have gone. And even in Camooweal, there's a – if you check the old survey maps – in 2009 I was actually out at Camooweal and I had the old survey maps out and I was working out where the railway terminus would have been built.
It was more or less in the back paddocks of the Camooweal pub. It hadn't ever come to be, but up near the Northern Territory border. So yes, there were elements built and it's, I guess when I've been out working out that way over the years, I like to look into the west and the shimmering mirage and the haze and say, well, it seems appropriate for a railway that never was.
Annette: Railways to the setting sun, to the sea, to the north. Railways for goldfields and railways in isolation. It really is a patchwork of a story, isn't it?
Greg: I always think of these far-flung railways. I always think of these places that are out in the scrub or even beyond there. But the stories that went with them were pretty remarkable, and I always think and remember a story that was told to me years ago. It was by a driver who's sadly no longer with us, from Bundaberg. And going back in the railway, you had to do your classification. You had to go to far-flung places in Queensland to do your classification as a driver or something like that, or a fireman. And he had the experience of going out to central Queensland. I think it was out to Jericho and then having to work down in places like Blackall and Yaraka or Yara-ka. We're talking pretty wild railway country out there.
So all those places that were out there that had finally become part of the railway patchwork, part of that railway quilt work, finally the railway linked these places, how they were created, these places. But to him, to give an idea, one story that stuck with him for years and years and years of basically these places flung out there, out in the scrub. But he was told by one old driver the first time he went out to Yaraka, out there, or Yara-ka, “Sonny, if you go and stand on the stop blocks, those buffer stops at the end of the line there, and stand on your tiptoes and look hard, you'll probably see the lights of Alice Springs in the distance, you know." Well, of course, Alice Springs is still many hundred kilometres away from there. But as he said, it gave him an idea basically of these places out in the scrub, out in the mulga and that. And he said there was always something still to go beyond there, but the railway stopped there.
Conclusion
And really, I guess the railway story stopped there as well too. Even though there were railways and places that never got the railways, who wanted it, through fair means and foul, never got the railway; there are places that got the railways we spoke about earlier on, that no longer have the railway, but I think in the sense of history there, Annette, and the sense of story, it's still very much a large part of that patchwork. There might be missing squares in the quilt. The needle and thread mightn't have got all the way there, but they're still there and they're still part of that whole fabric of the story. And to me, I think that's a really good analogy. It was a large patchwork, a huge quilt, covered Queensland. We've still got a lot of material around there today. And those who do their patchwork and things like that, I think they understand the amount of time that went to stitch it all together.
Annette: Which actually, Greg, I was just thinking, I've looked at quilting and as someone who likes to sew, there is no way I would walk in and go, “All right, I'm going to make a quilt and just randomly make a patch, and then just randomly make a patch, and randomly make a patch and then at the end try and link it together." I can't believe that we did that as a railway.
Greg: Well, that's the story of the Queensland Railways. And as I said, that's – maybe in time – we can tell another time about that anyway, Annette. But there you go.
“The Normanton to Croydon Railway is a living example of the patchwork network that the railways started building in the 1860s. Definitely a patchwork example because it's still fully isolated and it still serves a function. You know, the tourist economy is of utmost importance, especially now. And, you know, we still run a little bit of mail out to the cattle stations, believe it or not. Mail by train is a long tradition. It's just, I guess, valued by the locals that it's here. And, you know, everyone's very proud of the fact that it's still here. And I'm sure they were proud of the fact that it was built back and opened in 1891. We jokingly call it the railway from nowhere to nowhere. To me, it's more or less the railway from somewhere to somewhere else. And I guess that comes from the fact that it doesn't connect to any other part of the network. You can't go any further west of Normanton or further east of Croydon. And as I like to say, we exist in splendid isolation."
Questions and answers
What's the history of Beenleigh Stations? And if possible, on how Holmview Stations was a terminus?
Annette: Thank you for sending in your questions for Greg to answer. If you're enjoying the podcast or have a topic request regarding our railways history, please message us. Rail Town Productions has asked on Instagram stories: what's the history of Beenleigh Stations? And if possible, on how Holmview Stations was a terminus?
Greg: That's a very good one. Probably the best way to answer that one would be to track down a copy of Destination South Brisbane. It was a book published in 1978, admittedly by the ARHS Queensland division. The authors were John Kerr and John Armstrong. And it's a very good history of the south side of Brisbane, just on the eve of the opening of the Merivale Bridge in 1978. There's some wonderful stuff in there about – chapters about the railway line to Beanleigh and Holmview, and of course all the other lines on the south side, to places such as Canungra and that anyway. So that would be the place to go to for that sort of research, I recommend.
Annette: No, that's okay. So you said it's from where, sorry?
Greg: It was published by the Australian Railway Historical Society and it centres on the railways on the south side of Brisbane, Destination South Brisbane.
Annette: That's cool. You just gave me the acronyms and I'm like, oh.
Greg: No worries at all.
Were the electric trains the same, like the same routes?
Annette: Okay. Foxy in Soxy on Instagram stories has asked: were the electric trains the same, like the same routes?
Greg: Oh, probably if we're looking in the Brisbane suburban system, yes. What was there previously, which was pretty much the current suburban lines, bar the 1980 additions to Cleveland and places like that, but basically all the pre-existing lines that were there were electrified. And that's pretty much been the case in Australia ever since Melbourne electrified, and Sydney. Previous lines that were there were basically – suburban lines were electrified as well, progressively extended. Here in Queensland, of course, there was the Cleveland line. It was the first of the new lines that were built specifically in the electrification era. That's been followed on since then for the lines down to – that went down to Helensvale, Nerang, and most of the other new lines, and Springfield and places like that as well.
Annette: Okay. So where does our electric train stop?
Greg: It depends, actually. If you're looking at a network situation or – well, the electrification started in 1979, really finished in 1988 in Brisbane. That was pretty much all the suburban system. And that was extended up to Gympie and places like that. So to the west, Rosewood, to the south down to Varsity Lakes and those areas. Cleveland, of course, Annette. Shorncliff; we now have Redcliffe and up the north coastline, we've got the electric tilts that run all the way through to Rockhampton as well. And then, of course, you've got an electrified network in central Queensland, which is Aurizon these days. So it depends; where do you draw the line?
How long has QR been operating for and what was the first station in Brisbane?
Annette: Okay. Tula Keenan has asked: how long has QR been operating for and what was the first station in Brisbane?
Greg: Okay, that's an interesting one. We'll split a few hairs on this one. Queensland Rail, as we are now since 2010, is the Government operating company, which is primarily passenger and infrastructure. But Queensland Railways, as we've discussed in our first podcast, actually goes back to 1865 or 1863, if you like to be a bit pedantic about the legislation. And first station in Brisbane, well, that's an interesting one. But I suppose you could say in Brisbane itself, it'd be the old Roma Street Terminal, which was called for many years Platform 3. The building's still there and was undergoing conservation work back in 2015. So that line came in from Ipswich. So Ipswich through to what's today Roma Street. So I suppose one way of saying Brisbane Station, the station, is the original Roma Street Station that's there anyway. That's about 1875.
And the other thing, our wonderful producer here, Josh, we were able to share with him some very fascinating imagery, moving footage. It's from the National Filament Sound Archives for Australia, and was part of a major digitisation project. But there's a very short clip there that was put together by the Lumiere Company. The Lumiere, for the film buffs out there, that movie Hugo actually tells the story about George's Lumiere and that. But the Lumiere Company were brought to Queensland, I think it was in about 1898. And they actually were brought in by the Queensland Government and they travelled around just with the then wonderful technology of movie cameras – cinématographie, cinématographe, hon hon hon – and so they were actually travelled around Queensland.
One of the treasures they've got, and this was, I guess you'd say, re-found in the early 1990s – and I think it was in the old Department of Primary Industries library vault. And it's some of the oldest moving vision in the world at that stage that was identified. And it actually shows the train arriving at the Roma Street railway station. I think it's about 1898. Probably only about 15 seconds long, but it's quite remarkable. When it came out back in the early 1990s and was shown to a cultural heritage conference, it caused a lot of excitement, for people like myself even more so. And we spent a little bit of time trying to identify what sort of locomotive was that brought the steam train in. And people hopping off there. So National Film and Sound Archives for Australia, try Roma Street and Steam Train. And it's been digitised. And it's a remarkable historical document. And yes, something Queensland can be proud of. Some of the oldest moving vision in the world was here in Queensland. And yes, it was an early marketing operation by the Queensland Government.
Why were the 1800s rail motors named blue lagoons?
Annette: Okay, so we have one more question here from LJ Savage 16 or LJ Robertson: why were the 1800s rail motors named blue lagoons?
Greg: Oh, that's an interesting one. The 1800 class rail motors, they were the precursors to the 2000 class silver bullets that I imagine quite a few people out there know of and remember. The silver bullets, as they were called then, the 2000 class motors were introduced in 1956. But the blue lagoons, the 1800 class rail motors or rail cars, they were introduced in about 1952, I think it was. They were called blue lagoons because they had a very distinctive blue colour scheme on them. I think blue lagoon was a reference to a movie that might have been out at that stage as well. So yes, so they were called blue lagoons and they were an early modern diesel rail car that really replaced the famous red rattlers of the Queensland railways that people have probably seen around on the Normanton-Croydon Railway, for instance, dating from the 1920s and 30s. But blue lagoon, I think it was a reference to a movie that was out at that stage.
The next episode
Annette: Thank you. Greg, can you give us a teaser for next month's episode?
Greg: Our next episode will be about insurmountable odds surmounted and we're going to look at the engineering challenges, bridges, concrete, and about homespun solutions to engineering problems, and how it actually became very much a unique identifier of Queensland.
Annette: So we're going to be moving away from all imported to local.
Greg: Oh, we talk about the local side of things indeed, Annette, but unfortunately or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, we had an importation of an idea and it grew to become something distinctively Queensland, and actually exported to the world.
Annette: Thank you so much for listening to the Queensland Rail History podcast. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you're ever interested in experiencing the Gulflander, head to the
Queensland Rail Travel website.