Australia's First - The Goolwa to Port Elliot Railway

            For some years before Sir Henry Fox Young became Governor of South Australia in August 1848, there had been growing interest in some convenient method of transporting goods from Goolwa to Adelaide and to the greater world.

            The Murray River provided an obvious passage for the transportation of wool and other produce to the coast and, initially, the mouth of the Murray appeared to be the ideal place for a harbour.

            Unfortunately, shifting sandbanks and dangerous currents made the Murray Mouth always perilous to navigate and often impossible. The drowning of Judge Jeffcott and Captain Blenkinsop in these waters in 1837 had done nothing to enhance the reputation of the Mouth as a suitable second overseas port, even though the occasional ship was able to sail this hazardous passage of water.

            The Governor was eager to advance the prosperity of the Province.  When he travelled the Murray in a paddle steamer, he became enthusiastic about the prospect of transporting produce from all points on the river to the coast, despite the known dangers of the Murray Mouth.

            Merchants in Adelaide opposed the whole idea, for they feared that a rival port would threaten their trade; a trade which in 1851 was not flourishing -- warehouses were filled with goods for which there was little market. When gold was discovered at Bathurst, later that year, everything changed. Now there was great demand for South Australian flour and other commodities in Victoria, and the shipping was more than Port Adelaide could cope with. Interest in a second port was renewed, even though solid opposition remained.

            Alexander Tolmer, never a man of small ideas, proposed the building of a breakwater at the Murray Mouth. This, he claimed, would solve all problems and ensure a safe harbour at the mouth of the river.  Esteemed as a brave man who cut a dashing figure as Police Commissioner, Tolmer’s theories about coastal engineering were never taken seriously.

The use of canals and rivers for transportation was familiar to most Englishmen, and initially Governor Young  was in favour of digging a canal from Goolwa to Freeman's Nob. However, when he learned of the cost this would entail, he decided upon Australia's first railway between the same two points, and he renamed Freeman Nob 'Port Elliot’ in honour of his friend the Governor of Bermuda.

              His decision caused considerable consternation. Businessmen in Adelaide who were in favour of the scheme questioned why the Governor had not chosen the  more sheltered waters of Victor Harbor, rather than the shallow exposed waters of Port Elliot. They considered the waters between the Bluff and Granite Island would make a far safer anchorage.

              The Governor appears not to have shared his thoughts with anyone, but it is most likely that cost helped him in his decision. To have continued the rail line on to Victor would have increased the cost enormously. This does not make his decision any wiser.

             The Governor had incurred some ill feeling among  the members of Adelaide Society, for he had no great taste for social activities. He preferred to spend time with his young wife and growing family. This in no way interfered with his dedication to the progress of the State and the South Coast in particular.

              When George Stevenson, the editor of the South Australian Gazette, (who was never noted for his restraint), learned that the Governor  had purchased an estate near Encounter Bay, he wrote an editorial in  the South Australian Gazette headed ‘The Governor’s Private Railway’, even though the estate was in the Inman Valley, and ten miles away from Victor Harbor!

              The Governor’s plans for the railway were approved by the  Colonial Office in June, 1851; the estimated coast was 21,109 pounds; he was authorised  to proceed with the building of the railway. Work commenced as soon as approval was given.

              This was a considerable project, because the railway lines, the axles, wheels and turntables - everything required for the creation of a railway - even the cotton waste, had to be ordered from England.  The railway lines eventually used were second-hand, having served to transport stores during the Crimean War. Recycling is not a modern concept.

It was decided that the gauge for the railway would be five foot, three inches, because at that time both Victoria and New South Wales had decided on this gauge for their proposed railway.

Work commenced in 1851 at Port Elliot, but not without difficulties. Not only was there no local engineering base in South Australia, the Province was short of sawyers to produce the necessary sleepers on which the railway would be laid. The sleepers eventually used were eight-foot lengths of unhewn local eucalypts. They were about seven inches in diameter, and were grooved to accommodate the rails which were screwed to the sleepers with four-and-a-half-inch screws.

              There were no platelayers to be found anywhere, and so a few carpenters were engaged to supervise gangs of labourers. They were, in fact, building a tramway; the carriages were to be horse-drawn.

Most of the proposed route was through level country. It was only at the terminals that blasting was required. Here Mr Buxton Forbes Laurie, a young chemist, who had experience with explosives, came into his own. Buxton Forbes Laurie was an interesting character. He appears to have been popular every where, and even his wife adored him! Obviously a talented man, he became Superintendent of the Railway on his thirtieth birthday. The next day he was made a Justice of the Peace, and the day after that he became a Magistrate - a man of remarkable talents. He was already one of the great landowners in the district. Now his use of explosives was so successful that the resultant stone from the blasting was sufficient to ballast the entire line and the Port Elliot jetty.

In the same year the foundations were laid for large storage sheds at each terminal. These buildings were completed within twelve months. The shed at Port Elliott was a handsome three storied building which remained until 1896. The railway ran to the end of the hundred yard long jetty. Unfortunately, even at the end of this jetty the water was only six feet deep, which meant the goods from the railway had to be transported by way of lighters to the ships which stood further off shore.

At Goolwa the line ran at right angles to the wharf, and the trucks had to be swivelled on a turntable to run alongside vessels. From the wharf, the railway ran past the present Post Office, where the verandah served as the passenger station. The railway curved past the Corio Hotel and eventually took the track the railway still follows today, towards Middleton and Port Elliot.

            The railway was never officially opened, but by May 1, 1854, the line was fully operational. Goods and passengers were accommodated in eleven wagons and one carriage. Mr Buxton Forbes Laurie had already been Superintendent of the Railway since January 1. His salary was two hundred and fifty pounds a year.

In Australia, this was the first public railway on which carriages travelled on iron rails. It was probably the first in the Southern hemisphere. Certainly Adelaide had to wait until 1865 before the Adelaide to Port Adelaide railway line was operational.

          The rolling stock consisted of eleven wagons and one passenger carriage. One of the elegant little carriages can be seen today near the Goolwa Post Office.

          One of the passengers in this vehicle described it - “A quaint, bone-shaking affair it was. A journey in that strange vehicle was an ordeal in endurance...” The writer goes on to suggest that anyone, setting out from Goolwa dressed in black, would arrive in Port Elliot looking  as though they “had slept for a week in a flour mill”. Apparently, on a good day, the journey from Goolwa to Port Elliot could be completed in fifty minutes.

            On the completion of the Goolwa to Port Elliot railway a celebratory dinner was held on March 28, 1855. Mr Buxton Forbes Laurie was Master of Ceremonies, and Mr Nation sang a song which was much appreciated. The company drank to the health of the Governor “with every demonstration of respect.”

              On April 10 and 11, 1855 a violent storm  damaged the breakwater and destroyed  twenty yards of the rails. In May another storm tore away sixty yards of rails and undermined the breakwater.  Even worse storms followed. Then the new Governor, Sir Richard McDonnell, curtailed expenditure on public works

 In spite of these disasters, the Goolwa to Port Elliot railway continued to serve the district until more violent storms seriously damaged the Port Elliot Jetty and ships were wrecked. Those who had argued against Governor Young’s choice of a harbour were proved to be correct in their judgement, and Port Elliot ceased to be an ocean port in December, 1864, when the tram- line extension to Victor Harbor was completed.

1524 words.                                                                             Vivienne A Causby.

REFERENCES.

VICTOR HARBOR by Michael Page

BUXTON FORBES LAURIE OF SOUTHCOTE by Nick Vine Hail.

SOUTH COAST STORY by J.C.Tolley.

PARADISE OF DISSENT by Douglas Pike.

Published in SAND WRITERS    Summer 1999/2000

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