The South Gippsland Railway line

The Koo Wee Rup Swamp is straddled by two railway lines - the Gippsland line to the north, which went to Sale, (and which I have written about here)  and the Great Southern line to South Gippsland. This is a short history of the South Gippsland line, concentrating on the Swamp area. The completion of the Gippsland line in 1879 encouraged settlement in the area as new settlers used the stations as jumping off points and would walk to new selections in the hills. 

Railway Leagues were established to push for more lines (1). The steep hills of South Gippsland and the Koo Wee Rup Swamp meant overland travel for South Gippsland was difficult. Residents from Foster had to travel to Sale and then by rail. People living around Port Albert travelled and received supplies by sea. 

Much of the following information comes from The Great Southern Railway: the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland by Keith Macrae Bowden (Australian Railway Historical Association, 1970). 

Cranbourne Railway Station
Image: The Great Southern Railway: the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland 

by Keith Macrae Bowden

The Great Southern line commenced construction  on January 2, 1887 (2) and was opened to Korumburra on June 2, 1891, and by January 13, 1892 went all the way to Port Albert (3). The initial contract was to construct the railway from Dandenong to Whitelaw's Track. Whitelaw's Track, surveyed by Government Surveyor, Oliver Whitelaw,  was cut in 1874 and went from Foster, passing Coal Creek, near  what was to become Korumburra and then met up with McDonald's Track near what is now Nyora and continued onto to Morwell (4).  The Contractor for this first section of railway, which was 50 miles in length, was Falkingham & Sons - the firm owned by Jonathan Falkingham (5). 

The section from Dandenong to Tooradin was relatively easy and was officially opened to the public on October 1, 1888, even though apparently the contractor had been carrying passengers from February 28, 1888 (6). The stations in this section were at Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde and Tooradin.

 

Lyndhurst Station
Image: The Great Southern Railway: the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland 

by Keith Macrae Bowden

The Koo Wee Rup Swamp proved to be impediment to the building of the line. The excavation of the Main Drain to drain the Swamp did not start until 1889 and was not completed until 1893, so the rail contractors were essentially working in an undrained swamp (7). Mr Bowden writes that on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp four separate bridges were necessary in every mile of embankment to allow for the escape of swamp and flood waters. Each of these bridges was one hundred yards long and contained seventy-two piles. To get timber to this site Falkingham tried bullocks but they sank almost out of sight in the mud....he was then forced to proceed very slowly, carrying his bridge timbers on his locomotive along approach embankments, and so build each bridge as he came to the site. It was impossible to build bridges in advance. The bridge crossing the main drain in the swamp had 137 eleven-foot openings, to allow for the escape of heavy flood waters (8). 

A trestle bridge over the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp
Image: The Great Southern Railway: the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland 

by Keith Macrae Bowden

Mr Bowden also writes that - A journalist on the staff of the Mornington County herald was invited by Falkingham to accompany him to Yallock [Koo Wee Rup] in the ballast train to see for himself what conditions were really like in the Swamp. They left Tooradin and 'careering over the Koo Wee Rup, which had the appearance of an inland sea', says the writer, 'water lay deep on either hand and spread far over the land, with here and there bilious tea-tree clumps imparting to the seascape an uninviting aspect.'  The Dalmore station was likened to Venice, standing as it did, surrounded by water. (9)

The Stations (10) from Tooradin on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp were -

Dalmore - originally called Peer’s Lane, then Koo Wee Rup West. Named Dalmore, after Duncan MacGregor's estate, in 1909. Peer’s Lane (now Dalmore Road) was named after a local land owner Frederick Peers (1843-1896).  

Koo Wee Rup - originally called Yallock.

Monomeith - originally called Glassock’s, after the Glasscock family, local land owners. 

Caldermeade.

Lang Lang - originally called Carrington. 

Falkingham began carrying passengers between Tooradin and Koo Wee Rup on August 19, 1889. In February 1890, the service to Lang Lang was established. Then on November 11, 1890 the line opened to Nyora and Loch. And then, as we said, it went through to Korumburra on June 2, 1891.(11).

The South Gippsland Railway line now stops at Cranbourne.  Passenger services beyond Dandenong ceased on June 9, 1981 but goods services continued to operate. (12).  For a few months, after the closure,  a daily shuttle service of eight return trips between Cranbourne and Dandenong operated, but this service ceased on October 3, 1981. (13).  In 1992, the goods trains ceased and this is when the line beyond Leongatha was taken up. The passenger service was reinstated on December 9, 1984 and continued to run until July 24, 1993. (14). Trains returned between Dandenong and Cranbourne when the line was electrified in 1995; the official opening of this electric train service to Cranbourne was on March 25, 1995.  Lyndhurst Station is no more, although it was apparently used until 2009 for cement. However, Merinda Park Station opened on March 25, 1995 in conjunction with the new electrified line and Lynbrook Station opened April 2012 (15). 

Interestingly, the line to Pakenham was electrified from Dandenong to Warragul in July 1954 and this was extended to Traralgon in 1956, due to the traffic generated by the Yallourn open cut coal mines and power stations. This was a full 40 years before Cranbourne, even though the line beyond Pakenham has now been de-electrified. (16).

Lang Lang Railway Station 1907

Image: Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 12800/P1, item H 4285

Footnotes
(1) Bowden, Keith Macrae The Great Southern Railway: the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland  (Australian Railway Historical Association, 1970), p. 7.
(2) Bowden, op. cit., p. 62.
(3) Bowden, op. cit., p. 73 and p. 105.
(4) White, Joseph The history of the Shire of Korumburra (Shire of Korumburra, 1988) p. 287. Oliver Peter Whitelaw was appointed as a Mining Surveyor in 1874. He was the son of John Whitelaw, a journalist, who published a newspaper in the mining town of Woods Point; you can read his obituary in the Gippsland Farmers' Journal of September 29, 1899, here. Oliver sadly drowned at the age of 48 in a flood at Stringer's Creek, Walhalla in August 1891. You can read an obituary in the Gippsland Farmers' Journal, August 18, 1891, here and a shorter on in The Argus, August 4, 1891, here.

Oliver Whitelaw's appointment as a Mining Surveyor

Victoria Government Gazette  http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1874/V/general/43.pdf

(5) Bowden, op. cit., p. 26.

(6) Bowden, op. cit., 65.
(7) https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-short-overview-of-drainage-of-koo-wee.html
(8) Bowden, op. cit., p. 66
(9) Bowden, op. cit, p. 69.
(10) Bowden, op. cit, p. 72.
(11) Bowden, op. cit, p. 73.
(12) Some of these dates I got about 15 years ago from a chap at the Korumburra Historical Society, I can't remember who. The June 9, 1981 date is confirmed by the Vicsig website - https://vicsig.net/  and a report in the Koo Wee Rup Sun June 1, 1981, p.1. 

(13) The Shuttle service reports in the Koo Wee Rup Sun of June 8, 1981, p. 1; September 21, 1981. p.1; October 5, 1981, p. 1. 

(14) The July 24, 1993 is confirmed by an article in The Age, July 25, 1993, p. 8.

(15) Vicsig website - https://vicsig.net/
(16) Vicsig website - https://vicsig.net/ ;  Harrigan, Leo. J Victorian Railways to '62 (Victorian Railways, 1962)