Railways and Tramways of Australia

Adelaide celebration

 

South Australia’s first steam-powered railway was officially opened between Adelaide and Port Adelaide on 19 April 1856.

 

Early plans for private companies to construct a railway in Adelaide did not eventuate, so in 1851 the Government issued funds for construction. A gauge of 5 feet 3 inches (1600 mm) was selected. Renowned British engineers William Cubitt and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were appointed as consulting engineers, while Benjamin Herschel Babbage was appointed engineer in Adelaide.

 

The distance between Adelaide and Port Adelaide was around seven and a half miles (12 km), and the line was mostly over flat terrain. There was a timber bridge over the Torrens River. Three locomotives and a number of carriages were obtained from England.

 

Adelaide’s first station was on the same site as the current station on North Terrace. It included waiting rooms, passenger booking office, parcels office and clerical office. The yard had a carriage shed, stone goods shed and two turntables. Port Adelaide station was located on the site of today’s National Railway Museum. Stations were also built at Bowden, Woodville and Alberton.

 

For the opening ceremony of the railway a special train conveyed South Australian Governor Sir Richard MacDonnell, invited guests and passengers from Adelaide to Port Adelaide. A sumptuous champagne luncheon was held, along with speeches, toasts and musical performances. The train returned to Adelaide after the celebration. Regular public services commenced on 21 April.

 

Following the railway’s opening, six trains operated each day, with the exception of Sundays when there were two trains. Over time the number of services increased.

 

Railways in South Australia eventually extended to the borders with Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

 

The lunch celebration at Port Adelaide in 1856 was the beginning of a state-wide network.

 

Bibliography

WH Callaghan, ‘The Adelaide, city and port railway: a short history of South Australia’s first steam-powered railway’, Australian Railway History, no.

     822, April 2006, pp 123–37, 143–9.

GH Eardley, ‘The broad gauge railways of South Australia 1857–1959’, Australasian Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, no. 84, October 1944, pp 42–5.

AA Strempel, ‘The centenary of the Adelaide–Port Adelaide railway’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 224, June 1956, pp 69–83.

M Thompson, “Rails through swamp and sand”: a history of the Port Adelaide railway, Port Dock Station Railway Museum, Adelaide, 1988.