In a previous post we did a road trip from Dandenong to Garfield along
the Gippsland Road - so this month I thought we will take the same journey on
the railway, on the Gippsland line. The Gippsland line was the first railway line to straddle the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, the second one was the Great Southern line, which you can read about here.
The Gippsland line, from Melbourne to Sale, was opened in stages - Morwell to Sale - June 1, 1877; Oakleigh to Bunyip - October 8, 1877; Moe to Morwell - December 1, 1877; Bunyip to Moe - March 1, 1878 and the last stretch from South Yarra to Oakleigh on April 2, 1879 (1).
Interesting to note that the line from Dandenong to Bunyip was
finished by 1877 and all the railway stations we pass today (except one) were
in place by around 1885, about 130 years ago. Given that the population of the
area (the old Shire of Berwick) in the mid 1880s was around 6,300 and the population
of the same area today is about 200,000 and given that the only new station in
all that time (apart from the short lived industry specific General Motors
Holden stop) is the Cardinia Road Station and, thirdly, given that the majority
of the stations are now unmanned and have minimal shelter structures it seems that there has been a remarkable
lack of government money spent on public transport infrastructure in the area
in the last 130 years. There was however some money spent on the line in the
1950s as it was duplicated from Dandenong to Morwell and also electrified due
to the need to transport briquettes from Yallourn to Melbourne (2).
The railway line from Oakleigh to Bunyip opened, as we said, in October 1877
and originally the only stations between Dandenong and Bunyip were Berwick and
Pakenham. According to some newspaper reports the official opening seems to have been October 5 even though most
sources say that it is October 8, so that may have been the first day of
passenger services (3).
Railway Timetable
South Bourke & Mornington Journal June 1, 1881 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70049456
When the line opened it did not actually get you into Melbourne as the section from South Yarra to Oakleigh didn’t open until April 1879. As a journalist in the South
Bourke and Mornington Journal of October 10, 1877 wrote after his trip on
the railway line It is not necessary to dwell on the mistake
now so lamentably obvious, which was committed in beginning the line at a point
10 miles from Melbourne - only to be reached by means of horse drawn wagons and
carts - but practical men outside of the service of the Government, which, of
course is prudently reticent on the subject, estimate that as much money has
been wasted in the cartage of materials for the first section and part of the
second as would have built a large part of the now needed section from
Melbourne to Oakleigh (4).
The information about the date of the Railway Station openings comes from an interesting website Vicsig http://vicsig.net/ which calls itself the ‘Premier Victorian Rail resource’.
We will start at the Dandenong Railway Station. This station became a junction
station on October 1, 1888 when the Great Southern line, which eventually went
to Yarram, opened as far as Tooradin.
The next station along
the line was opened on November 18, 1956 to serve the General Motors Holden Factory
which at one stage employed 3,000 people. The Station closed July 2002 and you can still
see remnants of it as the train passes by.
The
Hallam Station opened on December 1, 1880 as Hallam’s Road and changed its name
to Hallam in May 1904. Hallam was a ‘flag station’ when it opened and only
stopped when there were passengers to discharge or a flag was displayed to indicate that there
were passengers to be picked up. As
early as May 1883 the local residents were asking the Railways for increased
platform accommodation (according to a newspaper report) and if you have ever
been past the station in the morning peak hour you would know that the platform
accommodation is still inadequate.
The
Narre Warren Station opened on March 10, 1882. A local influential resident,
Sidney Webb agitated for the railway station and after it was completed he
agitated for a road to be put from the Princes Highway to the railway station,
the road was not surprisingly called Webb Street. The
original Narre Warren settlement, well north of the Highway was renamed Narre
Warren North after the new town developed around the station.
Woodcut of Berwick Railway Station, 1877
Source: Early days of Berwick and its surrounding districts (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society)
Berwick
opened October 8, 1877, one of the original stations. Beaconsfield opened
December 1, 1879. The Officer Railway Station began as Officer's Wood Siding,
constructed to despatch timber from land owned by the Officer family to
Melbourne. It was renamed Officer in February 1899. Sir Robert Officer was at
one time the Health Officer for Hobart and a member of the Legislative Council
and in the early 1840s he moved some of his interests to the main land. It was
his son, William, who had their Mt Misery property, near Beaconsfield, and
after the railway line was opened he used to rail his sheep from his other
property at Deniliquin to Officer in times of drought.
Cardinia
Road station opened on April 22, 2012. The next stop, Pakenham was an original
station. The town that developed around the station was known as Pakenham East,
initially in opposition to the ‘old’ town of Pakenham which had developed
around the La Trobe Inn (also known as Bourke’s Hotel) on the Gippsland Road,
near the Toomuc Creek. Eventually Pakenham
East over took not only the original town of Pakenham, but its name as well although
it was still referred to as Pakenham East well into the 1960s.
Nar Nar Goon.
There were various reports in the papers saying that the residents of
Nar Nar Goon had petitioned the Minister of Railways for a siding and platform
in August 1878, they tried again a year later in August 1879 but were told
there was no money and even if there was the Railway Department considered a
station at Nar Nar Goon unnecessary. The Station opened April 1, 1881.
Tynong - like Nar Nar Goon there are newspaper reports that
Tynong residents agitated for a railway station after the line was opened, and Vicsig website has the opening date at February 12, 1880. However, in August 1880 it was reported that a deputation introduced by Mr Mason, M.L.A., and Mr. Buchanan, M.L.C., waited upon the Commissioner of Railways, and asking that a siding should be constructed at the intersection of Kelly-road with the Gippsland line, near Tynong (5), so the Vicsig date seems to be a but early. Either way, there was a station at Tynong by April 1881 (6).
The Garfield
station developed from a timber siding in the same way that Officer did. The
Cannibal Creek Siding opened in December 17, 1884 to accommodate the Cannibal Creek
Saw Mill Company and it was renamed Garfield in March 28, 1887.
Garfield Railway Station, c. 1910
Image from the book North of the Line: a pictorial record published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.
Bunyip was opened October 1877 as one of the original
stations and the extension of the line from Bunyip to Moe opened March 1, 1878.
Just before you get to the Bunyip Railway Station there is an electricity
substation which has been heritage listed, which I must say was a surprise to me.
The Heritage citation says that it is one of 19 sub and tie stations
constructed between 1952 and 1954 from Nar Nar Goon to Traralgon for the
electrification of the main Gippsland line. It is listed as it is historically significant as it serves as an important reminder of the electrification of the first main
line in Australia. It is technically significant as it serves as an important
reminder of the electrification of the first main line in Australia and the
system of electric locomotives associated with the transportation of briquettes
and the industrial growth in the Latrobe Valley and it is socially significant
as it represents an important tangible link with the transportation of brown
coal and the associated coal and briquette industry located at Latrobe Valley
which was central to the economy and economic development of the State of
Victoria particularly in the 1950s. (7).
(1) These dates are from Victorian Railways to '62 by Leo J. Harrigan (Victorian Railways, 1962)
(2) Duplication dates from Vicsig - Dandenong to Narre Warren - November 18, 1956; Narre Warren to Berwick - February 25, 1962; Berwick to Officer - May 13, 1956; Officer to Pakenham - February 27, 1955; Pakenham to Nar Nar Goon - October 10, 1954; Nar Nar Goon to Tynong - June 28, 1953 and Tynong to Bunyip - August 19, 1956.
The line between Dandenong and Warragul was Electrified July 21, 1954.
(3) South Bourke and Mornington Journal October 10, 1877, see here
(4) South Bourke and Mornington Journal October 10, 1877, see here
(5) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, August 18, 1880, see here.
(6) The Argus, April 13, 1881, see here.
(7) Victorian Heritage Register http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70049456
