Railways and Tramways of Australia

15 April

Railway map of Tasmania, 1935. Image: Pinterest.

Missing link completed

A railway opened between Ulverstone and Burnie in Tasmania on 15 April 1901.

Railways in Tasmania were built and operated by various organisations. The state’s first public railway opened in 1871 between Launceston and Deloraine, then Hobart and Launceston were connected by railway in 1876. These lines were originally private operations but were later taken over by the Tasmanian Government.

On Tasmania’s west coast the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company completed a railway between Queenstown and Regatta point, near Strahan, in 1899. The Emu Bay Railway Company linked western Tasmania and the north-west of the state with the railway between Zeehan and Burnie. Tasmanian Government Railways operated a connecting line between Zeehan and Regatta Point, near Strahan.

In Tasmania’s north, the railway from Deloraine was extended to Devenport in 1885 and Ulverstone in 1890. Thus, by the end of 1900, the only missing link in the chain was between Ulverstone and Burnie.

The Ulverstone–Burnie railway was opened without ceremony. Residents gathered to see off the first train, which departed from Burnie at 6.00 am. Most of the route was along the Bass Strait coastline. The first through train from Burnie to Hobart departed at 1.00 pm. On board were General Manager of Tasmanian Government Railways Fred Back and Engineer for Existing Lines John McCormick.

With the opening of this railway, it became possible to complete a lengthy train journey between Hobart and Queenstown:

• Hobart–Burnie via Western Junction, Tasmanian Government Railways (358.4 km)

• Burnie–Zeehan, Emu Bay Railway (138.0 km)

• Zeehan–Regatta Point, Tasmanian Government Railways (47.3 km)

• Regatta Point–Queenstown, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company (34.3 km).

The total distance was 578 km.

The missing link was completed. But it was a long journey between Hobart and Tasmania’s west coast.

Bibliography

Australian railway atlas: no. 1 – Tasmania, Qual Map Company, Exeter, United Kingdom, 2004.

H Quinlan & JH Newland, Australian railway routes 1854 to 2000, Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division), Sydney, 2000.

L Rae & T Coen, 150 years of railways in Tasmania, Lou Rae and Tony Coen, Hobart, 2021.

‘The Ulverstone-Burnie railway’, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 16 April 1903, p 3.