Railways and Tramways of Australia

Trams for the gardens

 

The Ballarat tramway system closed on 19 September 1971.

 

Tramways began in Ballarat in 1887 when the Ballaarat Tramway Company began running horse-drawn services between the city and the Botanical Gardens. Some extensions were made in the following years. A fleet of double-deck trams were manufactured by Adelaide company Duncan and Fraser. The Electricity Supply Company of Victoria took over the horse tramways and electrified them in 1905. Another change came when the State Electricity Commission of Victoria began operating Ballarat’s trams in 1934.

 

Ballarat’s tramways were making substantial financial losses during the 1960s and there were several attempts to close the system down. Nevertheless, trams continued running until the Victorian Government decided that they would be replaced by buses. Services were closed in three stages, with the last being the Sebastopol and Lydiard Street North routes on 19 September 1971.

 

Seven trams were in operation on the final day. As expected, there were heavy loadings, with people taking their last tram ride through Ballarat’s streets. Trams 39 and 40 operated the last services from Sebastopol. The area was crowded with an estimated 5000 people.

 

Speeches were made before the trams departed. The last to leave was no. 40, with one estimate of the number of passengers at over 200. Departing at 11.02 pm, it was driven by the Mayor of Sebastopol to the municipal boundary, where it was handed over to the Mayor of Ballarat. Passengers alighted at Sturt Street and the tram then proceeded to the depot. There were further speeches before no. 40 entered the shed, bringing Ballarat’s tramway system to a close.

 

The Ballarat Tramway Preservation Society began operating services in 1974. Ballarat trams still run today in the city’s Botanical Gardens.

 

View

Footage of the last trams in Ballarat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGL-0qiahBc

 

Bibliography

A Bradley, The golden city and its tramways, Ballarat Tramway Museum 2005.

‘Goodbye Ballarat trams’, Trolley Wire, no. 136, October 1971, pp 11–18.

KS Kings, ‘Ballarat tramways – the finale’, Electric Traction, vol. 26, no. 10, October 1971, pp 8–11.

KS Kings, The Ballarat tramways: an illustrated history, Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division), Melbourne, 1971.

WF Scott, Ballarat’s tramway heritage, Ballarat Tramway Preservation Society, 1993.

WF Scott, Last tram at eleven, Full Parallel Productions, Clunes, 2008.