Today, we’ll be looking at the era in the late 1880s and into the early 20th century, when many towns close to the South Coast (now known as the Gold Coast) all wanted their own railway to their own’slice of paradise’. When taking the train to your favourite holiday spot on the beach, or the bay was all part of the adventure.
We’ll also chat with special guest, Deni, Assistant Station Master at Varsity Lakes station and hear about how the Gold Coast line was renewed as a modern, world class railway in the 21st century.
Listen to the episode
Podcast transcript
Introduction
Annette: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Queensland Rail History podcast. I’m Annette, and as always, it’s great to have you along with us today as we dive back into the Queensland Rail history vaults. Today, we’ll be looking at an era in the late 1880s and into the earlier 20th century, when many towns all wanted a railway leading to their very own slice of paradise; when taking the train to your favourite holiday spot on the beach or by the bay was all part of the adventure.
Greg: So literally, the railway line was a stone’s throw, or a fishing line, perhaps, throw, from the coast. Places like Coolangatta, Tugun, Tweed Heads was always a very popular place – it didn’t stop, and they’d run multiple trains heading down to those locations, so those trains would be packed.
Annette: And we’ll be joined by a member of our frontline, who sees every day what it’s like working on the Gold Coast line.
Female 1: When you think Gold Coast, you think beaches, hot sunny days, and that’s literally a lot of our customers. They’re all coming up in their beach gear and their surfboards and their fishing rods.
Annette: Oh wow!
Female 1: I’d love to live my days like that.
Annette: Yes, definitely.
Male 1: Be that as it may, we, in common with the whole community, hail with pleasure the inauguration of the railway in Queensland.
Female 2: An old woman in our carriage was very proud of this little bit of railroad.
To the seaside for a holiday by train
Annette: Greg, you know we all love a summer holiday.
Greg: We do.
Annette: Yes. Can you tell me about Queensland Rail and where we used to offer holidays?
Greg: Oh well, Queensland Rail still offers lots of holidays. Queensland Railways in the 19th century were very good at actually picking destinations for holidays. And the most popular of those for many years, of course, were by the seaside. And I think today, Annette, we’ll just have a look in particular at one seaside railway that was built in the 19th century, that went to the South Coast. And of course in the late 20th century and early 21st century, that line has been rebuilt, of course. And I think today we’ll talk about what we call the Gold Coast Railway today, but back in the 19th century was the South Coast Railway.
Annette: I just have to say, in our previous podcast, we talked about the North Coast line. And that goes all the way to Cairns.
Greg: That’s right.
Annette: And now we’re talking about the South Coast line, and it goes from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.
Greg: Well, that’s right. Or the South Coast, as it was better known in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Annette. There is a slight difference. The North Coast line took a very long time to construct between Brisbane and Cairns. The South Coast, which really relates to Brisbane as aligned to its south coast and its seaside resorts, as they were in the 19th century, it was seen as the South Coast. North Coast and South Coast, but guess what, they all run pretty close to the – basically to the sea, in one way or another, Annette.
So what was the coast holiday so popular in the nineteenth century?
Okay. So let’s start off with the story of the South Coast line. So now, in the 1880s, the popularity of Southport as a seaside holiday destination surged. It was a very, very popular place for the people of Brisbane to get away to in summer. It actually became the principal seaside resort in Queensland. And that was solely based on population. There was the construction of major schools, banks, guest houses were very important. Holiday lets in that era didn’t really exist; you went to a guest house, which was a very, very nice B&B. There were lots of hotels being built. And Southport just grew as a result. It really became that seaside destination in the 19th century. It also helped a lot of the time for these places to be fashionable.
It was especially when the Governor of Queensland and their entourage, the retinue, family and that, used to go and stay at these places as well. And Southport, the Governor of Queensland used to stay there. Also used to stay at Sandgate. And of course, used to stay in Toowoomba at places like Gabbinbar, and also Harlaxton House up here as well. But Southport, that was the seaside resort for the fashionable of Brisbane.
Annette: I just love that the two favourite seaside destinations of the Governor, Queensland Rail had stations.
Greg: Oh, precisely. It is an interesting thing. And you know, where goes the Governor, there go also a lot of the people who wish to be seen as fashionable. The thing was, Annette, it wasn’t like get away for a weekend or an overnight stay, things like this. This was a very serious business. It would actually involve relocating the household and the family and the retinue for up to three months. That was Brisbane having a fairly humid and torrid summer and everything like that, they’d relocate for a couple of weeks in some cases, or two months, to Southport or somewhere like that. Or they’d come up to the nice cooler places like Toowoomba, even Maleny, to get away from the heat and humidity of Brisbane. We’re talking pulling the sticks up and going somewhere and then having a lovely holiday. And an extended break with that too, Annette, an extended break.
Annette: I can’t imagine pulling up sticks for two to three months. How awesome.
Building a railway south of Yeerongpilly
Greg: Well, that’s exactly right. In this day and age we think about that sort of thing with long service leave. Well, there you go. I think it would be great. I can imagine you travelling around with 14 trunks of clothes and things like that, and taking all your servants with you as well, Annette, anyway, for sure. Plus the animals, of course.
But we’ll backtrack a little bit. So, we’ll go back to the nitty-gritty of the railways. And so, in 1885 a rail line was built from Loganlea to Yeerongpilly. And it was extended down to – well, it was agricultural land, or the agricultural areas of the Albert River Valley. It also went down to Logan, to the Logan River Valley and that. That was to tap into a lot of agriculture, sugar cane, things like that that were being grown down there. So, even though it went to places like Beenleigh, there was always a push to get closer to places like Southport and that. People could go there by boat, and they used to go down by coach and things like that. But for mass transport, and more importantly, for travelling that distance, making sure a larger number of people could travel, the train was seen as the obvious answer. They’d been doing that in Britain for at least 30 or 40 years beforehand, the same approach.
They did a survey, and in 1885, the Queensland Parliament, they approved the construction of a railway line beyond what became Beenleigh. The line that was approved was basically divided into – it was a dividing line. You can use that one, a divided line, yes, okay. Anyhow, so it was actually to run from Beenleigh, it would go down to – and it would run down to Nerang at one point, which was agricultural. But there’d be actually a junction before you got anywhere near Nerang, a place that eventually became Ernest Junction. From there, the line would go to Southport. So that was a junction point for it.
Annette: Sorry, just quickly, so the trains that ran then, were they joint trains? Were they goods and passenger again?
From Southport Junction to Nerang
Greg: Mm-hmm. Well, to places like Nerang and things like that, they were goods – mixed trains, carrying passengers as well. But when places like Southport eventually took off, it just became a passenger line, excursion trains as they became, because there’d be really large numbers of people travelling and that. Now, the line to Southport officially opened on the 25th of January of 1889 and all the official dignitaries and things like that, they travelled from Brisbane to Southport. There were a couple of hundred people to welcome the arrival of the train, as they did in those days. And then in July of 1890, the branch line to Nerang was opened, but it was done – there was nowhere as much fanfare or anything like that. I think Southport was more glamorous, dare I say, than Nerang.
And the Southport Junction Station, which was that divide I mentioned before, it had the two separate branch lines. There was Southport that ran to the east of that junction point; and Nerang, which was to the south, ran to the south. And that eventually became Ernest Junction Railway Station. So, although it got to Nerang, there was a push to continue further south. That was the interesting thing. It always seemed a thing. It’s not so much get a little further north each year, get further south each year. I think that seemed to be the attitude here anyway.
So there were a lot of representations made to Parliament, and it was actually that the line be extended to Coolangatta and then eventually to Tweed Heads. And what’s interesting is, Tweed Heads is not in Queensland. It’s over the border, as you know, in New South Wales. So, that’s just interesting in itself. You see that tie, that part of northern New South Wales back to Queensland. But there was a real strong push to take the line and take it south and over the border.
Annette: So, did we put in our gauge?
Greg: Oh, Annette, you’re getting ahead of the story here.
The Queensland Railway line that also ran into New South Wales
Annette: I’m sorry, it’s just what my brain went; I’m like, “Oh, we’ve built into New South Wales. Did they let us keep our gauge?”
Greg: Annette, you have become so wise in the ways of history over the past couple of years. I am proud of you, anyway. But yes, I’ll get to that part of the story just a twee bit longer if you can trust me anyway. So, they actually had a coach service. And we’re not talking the diesel-powered variety on roads. It was the Cobb & Co variety, the horse and coach. Now, a coach service had actually been going south from Nerang to what were becoming increasingly popular beach destinations. That was Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, as we mentioned before.
The interesting thing was, although in the 21st century we’re solely focused on the beachside resorts and things like that, going to the beach and everything like that, the pull was in the other direction. It was actually for the agricultural communities and land. They wanted the rail connection as well, for all the produce that they produced and everything like that, and be able to rail it back to ports and back to Brisbane. So it wasn’t so much – the emphasis wasn’t in that south of Nerang, and that was not so much, okay, we’ve got Coolangatta, it’s a lovely place to go and visit. Hang on, we’ve got farmers inland here, thank you very much. They’d be more interested in that.
So, the point was, for any line south from Nerang going down to Tweed Heads, it’d benefit the farming communities along the way. So, it took a while. The line opened through to Southport and Nerang in 1889, 1890. It took another 10 years or more before they approved the rail extension from Nerang down to Tweed Heads. That opened in September of 1903. And again, it’s just interesting, Annette, the railway opening was reported in the Telegraph paper. It said “the railway to Tweed Heads will be opened today, without ceremony”. The trains started running, but there was no brass bands, there was nothing to await it.
And what was interesting, you mentioned before going across to Tweed Heads, it was only about – in the old currency, it was only about half a mile extension across the border. And actually, it’s marked; the location today in Tweed Heads, actually where the station was, it’s marked. A few years ago now, I think they actually – when they were doing some excavations, they found part of one of the old road crossings there, which you can see and everything like that. There’s actually – coming in, there’s a railway cutting, I think, as part of a bike trail down there as well. That line closed in 1961, it’s still there, the ghost is still there, Annette, anyhow.
But, interestingly enough, they said, if the line went over to Tweed Heads, there was some hope eventually – it was on the Queensland gauge, the 1067mm – maybe, maybe, maybe it’ll keep going, keep going a bit further south, a bit further south, and eventually, it’ll join up with the New South Wales network, maybe at [unclear] 00:11:40 eventually. Didn’t happen.
Annette: Did we actually ever link up with any of their network?
Greg: No, we didn’t. Tied to Brisbane, I think was the case anyway, Annette. The New South Wales Government Railways, they built northwards and they came up through Lismore, but eventually to Murwillumbah, but they never came further north to Tweed Heads. There’s actually a tunnel on that section south down towards Tugun and those areas. It was built to wider dimensions than normal in Queensland, in case a standard gauge railway line was extended up from New South Wales, from Murwillumbah or those areas; but it never went further south. Politics. State rivalries and that.
I think the other thing was the thing with the Tweed Heads line and that part of New South Wales was actually tied to Brisbane. I think that might have been part of the reason too. Although aligned to Murwillumbah, you’re catching a train in Murwillumbah, you tend to be only going in one direction and that’s towards Sydney. But it was never extended further south. Yes, it was interesting. Queensland had a stationmaster at Tweed Heads and it was a Queensland Railway stationmaster at Tweed Heads as well.
Annette: Oh, you knew I was going to ask that question, didn’t you?
Greg: I’m prescient, aren’t I? There you go.
Podcast interviewee Deni, Assistant Station Master, Queensland Rail
Annette: Speaking of stationmasters, who better to chat with for today’s podcast than Deni. Deni is an Assistant Stationmaster and is currently working as part of the Robina Stations Group. I recently headed down to the end of the Gold Coast Line to meet with her for a chat.
Deni, thanks so much for joining us today on the Queensland Rail History podcast. Can you tell me a little bit about where we are today?
Deni: Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. We are at my home station today, Varsity Lakes, down in the Gold Coast Line. So Varsity Lakes, it’s the end of the line. It’s as far south as you can go. I love this station. It’s really beautiful. It’s big and open, as you can see. I work with a really great team and I find we all gel really well here together. We’re quite diverse. We have an array of staff here, not just in this station, but within the Robina Group as well. So it’s really nice to work with people that put their best foot forward every day. I’m Aboriginal; we have another staff member, Russian-Canadian; we have someone from Sri Lanka; we have an Italian; we have someone from Hawaii. So, yes.
Annette: Wow!
Deni: We’re a pretty diverse team here.
Annette: Yes, that’s an incredibly diverse team. That’s amazing.
Deni: The whole group is a wonderful group to work with as well. So it’s nice to be able to come to a place where you feel work is home in a way, I guess.
Annette: Deni, can you tell me about your career so far at Queensland Rail, and how long you’ve been with us?
Deni: Yes. I started in September 2019 as a porter, working in CBD and the South, so Gold Coast, Beenleigh and Manly lines. Then I was a permanent porter in 2021 at Nerang Station. And I took a break from station customer service into our People and Culture section; I worked in the HR Department. And then I rejoined the Robina Group as Assistant Stationmaster last year down at Varsity Lakes. Yes, it was a nice change. It was good to see how it all works in the background.
Annette: Okay. So, what do you prefer? Did you prefer HR or stations?
Deni: I’m a big people person, so probably stations. There’s more involvement with the customers. Mind you, HR was much the same; it was just dealing with internal customers instead.
Annette: I get that.
Deni: I liked working in HR; I enjoyed it all. It was progression for me. So I went from a porter to same level admin duties in town, and this was a step up from that. I like to progress, and I’d worked at Varsity numerous times before this role, so I knew the team was great and I knew it’s a beautiful station to work at.
Annette: So Deni, can you tell me about your day-to-day, what you do as normal in your role?
Deni: Pretty much customer service and making sure our customers get to their destination on time and safely; that’s my role, and I try to do it all with a smile and try and make sure our customers leave with a smile on their face too.
Annette: Being a terminus station, Varsity Lakes seems to have a constant flurry of students, returning travellers and daily commuters heading to work. My interview with Deni was paused a couple of times so Deni could assist a few customers in need of help.
Deni: Hello.
Customer 1: Hi. So, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I was nearly all the way into town and I got told my son’s sick, so I caught the train on the way back out –
Deni: Oh, is your son okay?
Customer 1: Two and a half hours – yes, he’s all right. I had to come back.
Deni: Yes. So, just tap out. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Annette: Been there. It’s only an hour for me. I’ve got all the way to town and got that phone call, and literally just gone and jumped back on another train. It’s a fun one.
Deni: It happens a lot.
Annette: So, what do you love about the Gold Coast line?
Deni: It’s the Gold Coast. When you think Gold Coast, you think beaches, you think hot sunny days and that’s literally a lot of our customers; they’re all coming up in their beach gear and their surfboards and their fishing rods.
Annette: Oh wow!
Deni: You get to spend the day at the beach fishing and swimming. I’d love to live my days like that.
Annette: Yes, definitely.
That beach culture that Deni loves about the Gold Coast was only just catching on back in the early 1900s, with the rise of travellers heading to the leisurely seaside by train.
Enjoying the surf but travelling on a steam train
Greg: Well, I can tell you one thing. By the time the line was extended to Tweed Heads, surf bathing was becoming increasingly popular.
Annette: Okay, surf bathing, are we just talking about swimming in the surf?
Greg: Actually, yes. We are talking – no surfboards at this stage, thank you very much; they hadn’t quite made it here – surf bathing, although probably not going out too far out of your depth or anything like that. And mind you, as I said the surfing – the bathing costumes were nothing like we’ve got today. Speedos? What’s a Speedo? Speedo, didn’t even have those on steam locomotives or anything like that. We’re talking woollen gear and everything like. But it was actually – surf bathing was seen as a very, very healthy pastime and that’s why people used to go to the seaside; it was this benefit of getting into the sea, getting away from the stress and all the problems of Brisbane and everything like that. They used to talk about, it was necessary to get away to places like the seaside and that from Brisbane, because it was so stressful in living in Brisbane, and work and everything like that. And to maintain your equilibrium, you needed to get away to places like this as well.
Annette: So, the 1900s version of work-life balance.
Greg: Precisely. They were wise back then too, as we believe ourselves today, Annette, so that’s right. So surf bathing became more popular, and what was interesting, the younger holiday goers – it always seems to be this, the beach side thing, the younger you are, the more they push the trends, as we called them many decades ago – they were choosing more exciting and challenging surf beaches, and that’s interesting. So, dealing in the surf and things like that – early 20th century, coming into 1910, 1920s and that – the surf, swimming, they actually started to increase in popularity. And places like Southport, which was still water and boating activities and things like that, it started to decrease.
So the emphasis was towards the south end of the Gold Coast. That rail extension, Coolangatta, it really started to take off at that point, because the line, although it went from Nerang, it swung inland. So, you know, places like Mudgeeraba, and then you’d see other places down there, south of Nerang. But it didn’t really start to swing towards the coast until it got to places like Kirra and Tugun and Coolangatta. And then it came –
Annette: All the beautiful surf beaches.
Greg: You’re right, Annette. And so literally, the railway line was a stone’s throw, or a fishing line perhaps throw from the coast. That’s how close it came at those places. Because there was nothing there. There was no housing or anything like that. It was really undeveloped for people.
Annette: I know, I was just thinking that’s prime real estate. How did we get a railway line over prime real estate?
A very popular way to get to the surf in the early twentieth century
Greg: Well, that would be good. And in our show notes and things like that, we’ll actually have some lovely photographs we can show you, showing how the railway went down there. And actually, part of the Pacific Highway in those areas there, that went on in the ‘50s and ‘60s, a lot of the main roads down there were actually built on what was the railway formation after the line closed. So, it was very close indeed. It became very much a fashionable seaside destination. Coolangatta, it got thousands of visitors. Now, this day and age, so what? A couple of thousand visitors turning up here on a weekend and that, at a place like Brisbane, that’s a lot of people. It’s a large amount of population to be turning up.
1903, after the line opened, you had about 7,000 passengers. They arrived at Tweed Heads alone. Ten years later, it’s double. Actually, you’re up to about 17,000. So it’s more than double, up to two and a half times. So the guest houses and hotels they rapidly established at Coolangatta, and over the border in Tweed Heads. Some of those places that we associate so well today, Rainbow Beach and things like that, they’re actually guest house names. Greenmount. Greenmount was actually the name of a guest house down there, a big guest house. And these were the places people would go to.
So, you pack up everything. You go down for a weekend, you go down for your week or two or something like that. And you catch – you go down on the train. You put all your luggage on board, or trunks, and you’re relayed to the guest house. They were very nice places. You had your rooms. You used to enjoy your meals in a dining room. And you could have picnics packed for you, and hampers. You could go horse riding. Some of the things they used to enjoy was reel fishing. There are lovely photographs that we’ll show from tourist guides from the early part of the 20th century as well, that show you what they actually look like. Because they developed special tourist brochures, Queensland Railways, to promote these places to go visiting. Although some of the pastimes, in this day and age, they’re not quite boogie boards and things like that. But, yes, as I said, it was a different way of having their enjoyable time at the beach anyway, Annette.
Annette: It sounds like it was only for wealthy people though, Greg.
Greg: No.
Annette: To be able to go for, what, two weeks to three months, Joe Bloggs wouldn’t be able to afford that.
When the Gold Coast wasn’t the Gold Coast, but just small railway halts
Greg: Well, actually, Joe Bloggs could. That was the beauty of it, because there was accommodation available. Don’t forget, people used to go camping in tents and things like that. They used to take their tents down and relocate. But the interesting thing was the railway, when it came, actually also was a leveller. Because people – not the wealthy, but ordinary people, dare I say– people could afford, working people, they could afford to go to these places. Australians had – their lifestyle in that period, of course, was a very, very – it was a very healthy and wealthy lifestyle, but people were able to afford to actually have a holiday. That was important. They could actually have money for it. And the ability to take a train down there, regular trains, special trains, excursion trains. The advertising always said ‘reasonably priced for an excursion’, or something like that. And that’s how they got away with it, Annette. So, yes, it was remarkable.
It didn’t stop. Places like Coolangatta, then down at Tugun. Tweed Heads was always a very popular place, and being the end of the line, a train from South Brisbane – because trains could only run from South Brisbane – it’d be about a three or four hour run down to places like Tweed Heads and things like that, or Coolangatta. And they’d run multiple trains in busy times of the year, like Christmas, Easter and that. There’d be quite a number of departures, up to six or seven trains heading from places like South Brisbane, heading down to those locations. So, those trains would be packed. And it was incredibly popular. So, for really, what, over 120 years now, that part of what’s today the Gold Coast, the South Coast, it always had some form of tourism business attached to it. It was absolutely remarkable. It was always booming and busy.
So, the other thing was that even during the Depression, it was still very popular. Those areas were popular. You could take a train down there, which was very important. And the areas progressively grew. And the other thing was the Second World War. With the arrival of the Second World War, places like Southport had almost like a – Southport was settled into being very much – I suppose you’d say the residential. It was the residential area. It was almost like – what would you say – almost like the government area. It’s the residential area, it’s where people have – it was a bit more staid, I suppose you’d say. People had their homes and things like that.
During the Second World War, there was another – the tourism aspect of the Gold Coast, or what became the Gold Coast – the South coast, it was still strong. And the thing that helped it was when the Americans were here during the Second World War. It was really remarkable.
Annette: Yes, they were impressed with us. I guess they don’t have the great coasts readily available, like we do in Australia.
A popular place in the Second World War
Greg: Well, that’s exactly right. I certainly don’t want to say anything disparaging to our listeners here from the United States, or anything like that. However, it was very popular. And I think that might have been even with the Americans and that, brought in almost a bit of their beach culture as well. That had actually become – parts of that from places like their West Coast and that started coming in the East Coast. But there was this sort of seaside beach culture that was creeping in. And during the Second World War, the South Coast line actually gave a lot of transportation to American troops who were on rest and recreation leave, R&R as they called it. And they actually had camps.
So there were military camps under canvas and also barracks and that, that were established at Coolangatta. So that was for the Americans, so they could go down there and they could have rest and recreation. They could go to the coast as well too. So, they could go to Coolangatta and do whatever the Americans did down there as well too. And surfboards would have been coming in around about then, I’m sure, anyway, Annette.
Annette: Definitely, with all of the Americans here, I imagine they would have been bringing that culture with them too.
Greg: That’s exactly right, yes. But, yes, there was a lot of passenger traffic that was handled. Southport always had – the trains that used to run down there was the Southport Express. We spoke about that when we did our podcast about the Woolloongabba. That special train, the Southport Express was literally that. There were a couple of divisions of that. The train would run to Southport so people could go there on holidays. It was a longer – it was a longer trip down the other end of the coast, Coolangatta and Tweed Heads. But they still used to get excursion trains. It was still very popular.
Podcast interviewee Deni, Assistant Station Master, Queensland Rail
Annette: Whether by train or car, it’s still quite a journey between Brisbane and the Gold Coast today. As I chatted with Deni at Varsity Lakes, I found those beautiful daily interactions with her regular customers that make the early starts worthwhile.
Deni: Having worked at Nerang for quite some time, I’d built connections and relationships with our frequent customers. And then I left, and I didn’t get to tell a lot of them that I left to go to HR. So I didn’t see them. And then, when I rejoined the group, seeing them back around when you work at other stations – because not many of them frequent Varsity – and they go, “Oh, I haven’t seen you in so long.” It’s nice to just be able to build that relationship and that connection back up, and to be somebody that has made a difference in their life to remember you. Everyday folk that enjoy a chat, nice to just engage in conversation and just listen to them, because a lot of people just want to be listened to. That’s what I do. I offer my ears.
Annette: It’s funny, isn’t it? Because we’re such – in our own little worlds, but we still need that connection.
Deni: Yes, definitely.
Annette: Even if it is just with someone at the station, passing. Hi, how are you today, and to be asked.
Deni: And I think a lot of people forget how much of a difference that can make to someone. Just a quick hello, even a smile, changes someone’s day. Well, because it’s the end of the line and the closest to New South Wales from the airport, a lot of people fly into Brisbane and then they come down here and their families are waiting for them, there’s a lot of reunions happening here.
Annette: Oh, that seems lovely, getting to see the big hugs and everything. See, there’s your positive moments every day, if that happens. Do you have a favourite customer?
Deni: You make connections and you build on your relationships with your frequent customers. And whilst there are a few standouts, I don’t have a favourite, because everyone gets treated the same by me. But there is this one lovely, lovely lady that comes through here quite a lot. And she has beautiful dreadlocks, and I tell her every time I see her. And so now it’s a thing. Every time we see each other, we give each other a compliment. And it just – it really just sparks up your day and lets you continue on being happy and making positive differences in people’s lives. Yes, just something small and friendly like that.
Annette: Yes, it makes such a big difference.
Deni: Hello.
Customer 2: Which platform to City, Brisbane City?
Deni: It’s down on Platform One now. It’s leaving in about one minute.
Customer 2: Thank you.
Annette: So with that, do you have a favourite shift to actually work?
Deni: I like the early morning shifts. So, that’s starting at 0400.
Annette: Wow, that’s early. And you live half an hour away. So if you’re starting work at 4:00 am, realistically, you’re getting up at 3:00 at least.
Deni: I’m actually up at 2:00. It gives me time to actually wake up, have a coffee, get ready. And then it gives me time to get here, in case there’s roadworks coming down, because you just never know. And that can add ten minutes on your journey. It gives me time to get milk for coffees at work too.
Annette: Interested to know, were you up at 2:00 am this morning?
Deni: Yes.
Annette: Wowee! I’d be asleep by now already. I’d be like, “No, I’m done for the day, I’m out.”
Deni: It’s really good to have that rotation of shift work because there’s some things that you can’t do outside of Monday to Friday that you get time to do because of your rotational shift work. So it’s nice to be able to have the afternoons to yourself. Even though you’ve got to go to sleep early to get up at 2:00, it’s worth it.
Keeping your cool in Coolangatta
Greg: Coolangatta, just to give you an idea, between 1921 to the Depression in 1930, it had its own stationmaster. It was a busy little place. But when the Depression came, as I said, with a lot of the economies that were being practiced, the stationmaster was dispensed with. So the stationmaster at Tweed Heads, actually, he took over the control of Coolangatta, the next station back. And Tweed Heads was – it was a very – it was a busy station, because you’ve got to remember, not only people going south, but people coming north and wanting to go to Brisbane as well. So it was a really busy place there. What happened was, Tweed Heads grew, Coolangatta went the other way. So, nowhere near as busy.
So there was a goods shed; they used to handle goods. Now, you think, goods from a place like Coolangatta. Well, there was general produce, all sorts of things. They still used to bring in things from farms and things like that to Coolangatta. So we’re not just talking about getting fish and chips there or something like that. It was agricultural communities and things like that required servicing. That goods shed disappeared in 1950. So that then tapered off in the business.
Annette: So we’ve had the passengers decline. Now we’ve had the goods decline. I can see a pattern here.
The 1950s and the 1960s and the rise of the motor car
Greg: Oh, Annette. And that’s the sad part of it all because, well, as the passengers declined, and especially south of Nerang, because – what happened was, the roads were improving, especially after the Second World War, there was a lot of road building had gone on, associated with the Second World War. That’s also to the South Coast. Post-war, especially 1950 onwards, people were able to start affording their own motor cars. And there were buses and things like that. You compare a journey in a car on the road and things like that to a couple of hours on a steam powered train, a steam locomotive up front. So, a couple of hours, it could be three, four or more hours to get down there. So people were saying, well, if I can get my own FJ Holden or something like that, get a Ford Falcon or whatever later on, that gave me the ease to travel. So there was a definite declining of patronage.
And that started to reflect. Remembering that line was built at the beginning of the 20th century, and to Southport was the 1880s. So that’s the infrastructure you were looking at; that was very much what the line was. It was built in that period. Well, actually, in 1959 at Coolangatta, local businessmen, they actually said, look, why don’t we remove the station to make way for more shops? Because at that stage Coolangatta was starting to develop much more as we understand it today, that tourist seaside area and that. And the other thing is, Tweed Heads said, no, thank you; we don’t want you to move the station because that means we’ll lose our station as well too. No, thank you.
But it was that really residential development that transformed that South Coast in the ‘50s and the ‘60s. And that’s when the name Surfers Paradise started to come around, in the 1960s. And interestingly enough, from the 1950s onwards, the South Coast, especially towards the late ‘60s, started to be called – tourist-wise and calling itself the Gold Coast. And so, you mentioned earlier on about South Coast – Gold Coast, South Coast. You can see it happening, yes, Annette. You can see it out there. Anyhow, so it became the Gold Coast.
Closure of the South Coast railway beyond Nerang
The line was being built, as I said, from Nerang south. It served the agricultural communities inland. We mentioned places like Mudgeeraba and all those, and those places inland. But what it didn’t serve was all the new developing surfside players. So it’s not –you’re thinking about – okay, you’ve got Kirra, you’ve got Tugun, you’ve got Coolangatta, Tweed Heads on the south side part of it there. But what about heading back up, towards –heading up the coast as we understand it today? It was too far inland for that there, Annette, anyway. So it was a considerable distance inland from those surf beaches and the holiday centres. Rail travel to the south coast declined and then came the decision by the Queensland Government in 1961. They were going to close the railway line from Nerang south to Tweed Heads, and that was to be on the 1st of July of 1961.
Annette: Oh, sad days, sad days.
Greg: Yes, lots of people say that to us in this day and age, but I guess you’ve got to look back. Now, we’re looking back over 60 years now. We’re looking 65 years getting to it. People back then, the South Coast Railway, it is an antiquated railway. You’re running passenger stock that dates back to the early 20th century, steam locomotives that dated back to the beginning of the 20th century. And although providing very fast service – they introduced rail motors and things like that to Southport as well – against the car – and that was the era, there was a lot of mass car ownership and things like roads, there was a lot of money going into the roads and highways and things like that. That was it. So there was a falling off in patronage, there was a falling off in demand. And you’ve just got to go back. Remember the era that that railway was built in, late 19th, early 20th centuries. And that was it. So, road competition and things like that, it really got too much for the railway.
Annette: It’s definitely in ebbs and flows all over the network. We see this pattern where we’ve gone out and we’ve built this rail line because there’s nothing else available. And then it slowly dwindles down to the point that we go, it’s not needed anymore; it’s time to close.
Greg: That’s right.
Annette: And then, time and time again, we see ourselves going back up and opening our line again.
Greg: Exactly. Well, yes, and that’s very true, actually. Well, they made the decision, Nerang to Tweed Heads, as I said, 1st of July 1961, it closes. Actually, there wasn’t a huge amount of outcry against that at that stage. In fact, the real estate agents at Coolangatta, they were very happy with the closure of the railway line. It opened up a lot of valuable real estate for them.
Annette: Prime real estate. That’s what I said. Our line just along all that prime real estate.
Greg: Precisely so. Beginning of the 20th century, okay, it’s seaside scrub and everything like that. By 1960s and that, half a century on, completely different.
Closing the line from Beenleigh to Southport
Annette: So, we closed the line down to Nerang. Did it close any further up and did it make a stir this time?
Greg: Yes, it did. The line then was going to be closed south from close to Nerang, but then the decision was made to close from Beenleigh south, which included Southport. That caused a lot of community outrage as well, because a lot of people still used to take the train to Southport and things like that. Still a very popular destination for people to go down to. It was actually that longer trip down to the southern end of the coast. That was a much, much longer trip. But definitely Southport, there was a lot more people very upset about that. And there was a lot of community protest, but again, we’re talking about an era, it’s the early 1960s here, and literally, the car was king. There’s no two ways about it. Every Australian family wanted to have their own car. It gave them so much more flexibility to get around and things like that.
The decision was made, basically, to also – with the closure of the line, money was going to be allocated to upgrade the road to a Pacific Highway. So, that’s where the money was going to go. The other thing too is, I remember seeing years ago, I looked at a – there was a cartoon in the Courier Mail. And at that stage, in 1964, they said not to worry too much, because in 10 years people will be commuting from the south coast area to Brisbane by helicopter.
Annette: Yes, okay. We all did that, didn’t we? That was before I was even born.
Greg: I know. That was the thing, large scale movement by helicopter. So that was the solution to a lot of the transit problems and things like that. But it was literally, car was king. There’s no two ways about it. So that’s what happened with the railway.
Podcast interviewee Deni, Assistant Station Master, Queensland Rail
Annette: Do you have any childhood memories of trains, growing up?
Deni: When I was much younger, I went up to visit my grandma and we went on the Valley Rattler, I think it’s called.
Annette: Ah, the Mary Valley Rattler?
Deni: Yes. So we spent the day on that and we had so much fun and we just explored all the little towns, and it was – yes, so that’s become a cool childhood memory of me and my grandma. And my dad, my sister and I would all go out west every Easter, and we’d pass a lot of cotton fields, and through the cotton fields there’d always be the coal trains. And we’d always have competitions to see who could count all the carriages. None of us ever got it.
Annette: Yes, it’s funny what parents do to keep kids amused on road trips. So, what inspired or sparked your interest in coming to work for Queensland Rail?
Deni: Well, I knew it was mainly around safety and customer service, and I had been told there was a lot of progression with Queensland Rail. So, I wanted to join a business that would allow me to offer my customer service, because that’s what I believe I excel in, but also give me the opportunity to progress from porter, which I have.
Annette: Fantastic. What did you do before you joined us?
Deni: I was a hairdresser.
Annette: You were a hairdresser?
Deni: Yes.
Annette: Ah. That explains the bubbly smile and happy persona now. I get it.
Deni: I would like to stay in the station customer service realm. But I don’t really have a limit on how far I’d like to see I could go. I just want to keep going.
Annette: And when you get further up in the station customer service roles, do you still get to do the customer service, or are you more management of staff?
Deni: When you hit a certain point, you stop dealing with customers to a degree, because you are more in the management roles. But that’s more at your group stationmaster level. So, that’s one, two, three above me.
Annette: Oh, okay. So, you’ve got a few progressions before you hit that.
Deni: Yes. Who knows? I might go straight into GSM. You never know. There’s a running joke in the station that I’m going to be the next CEO.
Annette: Oh, so you’re motivated. You’re on it.
Deni: I am. I try to be.
Annette: Hey, look, the best people learn from the bottom up.
Deni: That’s it.
Annette: Yes. If you know the business inside and out, you can go.
Deni: Yes. So, my current GSM, she’s in an acting higher grade role at the moment. She’s usually on my link at Robina as an ASM1. But yes, I look towards her for a lot of stuff. She’s a really good mentor.
Annette: Thinking about your role here at Queensland Rail, what does connection mean to you?
Deni: We are a transport business. So, connections from one location to another. It’s connections between customers and staff. There’s a lot of connections going on. But I think connecting communities is what comes to mind for me when I think of connections within Queensland Rail.
Annette: Yes. Well, we saw a beautiful moment before where two passengers got off the train with their suitcases and were greeted at the fare gates by somebody with big hugs. That must be a highlight, just seeing the emotional connections between people too.
Deni: Yes, definitely. There’s a lot of that that happens down here because, like I said, we’re the end of the line. So we’ve got all of our New South Wales patrons coming up to pick their family or friends or whoever flies in to the Brisbane airport. They all jump on the train and go from end to end and they end up down here, meeting their family or friends. And there’s always massive reunions down here. There’s always lots of tears as well, when mums are dropping their kids off to go on their first overseas holiday.
Annette: Yes. That’s a bit too close to home right now.
Deni: It’s funny, because I went on my first big trip – obviously, I didn’t see that because I was already gone – but it’s funny to see the other side of it, not being the kid that’s running away, but being with a parent that’s having to say goodbye.
Annette: Yes. Thanks so much for speaking with me today, Deni. It’s been great to talk to you and to experience some of Varsity Lake Station and what goes on here.
Deni: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you for having me. It’s a good opportunity to share the fun and all the little stories that come out of working in stations. So, thank you.
Annette: It’s really interesting to know, like I said, we have all these ebbs and flows and different reasons to see people coming back to rail travel.
A new railway with the approach of a new century
Greg: The Gold Coast grew and continued to grow, and became more and more popular as a destination. And basically, you know, the thing to have a rail connection back to that part of South East Queensland, it was incredibly strong. And there was the oil shocks in the early 1970s, during the oil crisis and things like that. That’s when the price of oil rose so much. That’s when they started to commission these transport studies into the effectiveness or the viability or the economic benefits of actually reconstructing a railway line down to the Gold Coast.
So, in the 1970s, the next big thing, I guess you’d say, was that re-establishing the railway line to the Gold Coast. It was in 1978. And that was when the Merivale Bridge opened to connect the south side of Brisbane to the north side effectively, through the Merivale Bridge to South Brisbane and Roma Street. So, that actually tied what was the two separate networks, two systems, suburban systems based on Brisbane, into one.
Annette: And that’s when the south side started to get some nicer trains instead of our hand-me-downs that we’ve covered in a previous episode.
Greg: Yes, very true there, Annette, very true. However, it was also – there were actually studies being commissioned about extending the line south from Beenleigh again. And 1970s and that, Beenleigh and those areas, they were still large agricultural areas.
Annette: Rural and farms, yes.
Greg: Exactly, yes. So, the Merivale Bridge was opened in 1978 and that started the modernisation. The next big thing was electrification followed south to Kuraby. That was for the first Commonwealth Games in 1982. And in 1988, a new station was built at Beenleigh, and that replaced the old station that dated back from the late 19th century. And that actually – with all that, the electric trains were then extended down to Beenleigh. And it started to pick up by the late ‘80s. There was so much population growing to the south, growing, you know, at Logan, down the Albert and especially around the Gold Coast.
They actually started to seriously look – there were a lot of studies and there was a commission into re-establishing a railway line to the Gold Coast. But again, the one from the 1980s was not the one from a century before. It was going to be something completely different. The first extension south from Beenleigh was going down to Helensvale, a 28 kilometre extension. The most expensive part and the most difficult part was land resumptions. Because you think of the amount of residential and urban development that had gone on since the lines closed down there in ‘61 and ‘64, it was an incredible amount.
Annette: Prime real estate, people didn’t want to give it up.
A high-speed railway back to the coast
Greg: Well, basically, yes. And it makes sense. So, they had to go through the entire thing, resuming land as well, too, for the railway. They also, at the same time, they started construction of that line towards Helensvale in the early 1990s. But they also surveyed a line to a new terminus that would be established at an entirely new town, an entirely new location called Robina. And again, inland and things like that, but there’s an obvious reason for that, as you know, because it had become so built up in that area. The new Gold Coast line, it was going to be constructed for a higher speed railway than had been constructed previously, previous lines.
Annette: What does that mean, constructed for a higher speed railway?
Greg: Okay, that means speeds capable up to 140 kilometres an hour, which is, compared – when parts of the Brisbane suburban network was what, about 80, 90, 100 kilometres an hour in places – but it’s specifically, it’s a high-speed railway that you can also get stations there with more parking capacity. And basically, it is entirely dedicated to carrying people. It’s nothing to do with goods like the railway lines of a previous century. It’s dedicated only to commuter traffic.
Building a modern railway back to the coast
Annette: So, to make it higher speed as well, did we have to make it straighter?
Greg: Exactly. And that was one of the things, you think about surveying a line and the entire thing was basically looking – it went inland because obviously that’s where a lot of the residential and urban development of that part of the world was going on at that stage. It still does, it’s inland from the coast and everything like that. The construction of that link cost $375 million in the 1990s. There was also a 17-kilometre extension plan beyond Helensvale onto Nerang and Robina, and they actually even started planning at that stage for the extension to Varsity Lakes and Reedy Creek; they were also surveyed. So we’re looking back 30 years now, about 30 years. They were looking – they were thinking ahead even at that stage, extending the lines and that. Funnily enough, the line opened to Helensvale on the 26th of February 1996. Guess what, no fanfare. So it seems to be a story that develops here, and the line opened without fanfare. I hope they didn’t want any. It just opened. It was just the attitude.
Annette: It feels a bit crazy to me. We’ve put in all this effort. We’ve spent $375 million. Why would they not have fanfare going, here’s your line back. You can now commute again from Helensvale to Brisbane.
Opening the new Gold Coast railway
Greg: I think it was just that thing – it’s a railway line that’s opened and it’s here for you, basically. So I think it was just a different way of doing things. It was also – it wasn’t a single track as the – single line as it was in the original line down to Tweed Heads and things like that. It was double track. So it was a duplicated line. So handling more passenger trains, of course, and everything like that. Higher speed as well. And it’s a dedicated line to commuters. They also incorporated very large park-and-ride facilities. That was incorporating bus transfers as well too. It’s a commuter line. And that was to actually tie in with the rest of the Gold Coast. And the line was extended down to Helensvale, and then progressively it was extended down to Nerang. It opened there on the 16th of November 1997, and then went down to Robina and opened there on the 1st of June of 1998. So just over a quarter of a century ago now. So, it’s history, yes.
Annette: Yes, during my lifetime, this one. I like it.
Greg: Thank you very much. The Ormeau to Coomera duplication, it opened on the 11th of September of 2006. And then that extension to Varsity Lakes, it opened in 2009. So progressively it’s going further and further south.
Annette: There’s a pattern there again.
Greg: Precisely. Exactly. You build it south, but it’s happening. And the final section of the line to be duplicated was between Coomera and Helensvale stations. That work was completed in late 2017. And that new track was operational in 2018. Just five years ago now, anyway, Annette.
Annette: So what happened to the Reedy Creek extension?
Greg: Well, I guess that’s going to be yet to come. But I think the interesting thing is the line being progressively seen going further south and south. It’s been surveyed. I guess the other thing too that was interesting when they opened places like Helensvale and that, the G-Link, the tram on the Gold Coast, that hadn’t quite been thought of or anything like that. But I think the interesting thing is that rail line, the extension back, now missing over 30 years, shows how much things have changed utterly down there. You look at it now, people who used to catch a train there in the early 20th century, or even up until the 1960s, seeing the Gold Coast as it is now, comprehending it, or trying to understand how much it had grown and why. Why is it so popular? That’d be the hard thing to take.
Annette: It’s still like that today. Every time I go down there, I look around, I’m like, “I don’t remember that. I don’t remember that. I don’t remember that.”
Greg: That’s right.
Annette: And then you’ll be like, “Oh, familiar.”
Greg: Yes, exactly. But in a lot of ways, when the line was opened down there in the 1990s, it was described as being like a backbone for transport in the Gold Coast and that region as well, which is very important. And I imagine if the Olympics, as they come closer and closer, again, that entire development and the importance of that part is like a transport spine, I think they call it, or a transport backbone. It’s going to be – it’s going to be a very important thing as well.
Annette: So, was there anything special done for the Commonwealth Games when it come through in 2018?
Greg: Well, there was ongoing duplications and also the line upgrades. Again, for – this is Commonwealth Games number two, of course. Yes, indeed. It was exactly the same thing, because of the mass transit that was going to be experienced in that. Actually, if we backtrack back to the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane back in ‘82, that was the first real test for Brisbane also about mass transit and running electric trains down to Kuraby. But when you think about Cooper’s Plains and places like that, with the bus transfers and that, that was really – we’re talking 40 years ago, admittedly, 41 years ago. Seeing the railways dedicated to that high capacity passenger carrying load.
And then you’ve got the bus transfers and things like that. So that entire process in ‘82 was pointing the way, and then things grew out of that come Expo in 1988. It represented a huge change in the way that trains were done in Brisbane. It was all leading towards that. That line south from Brisbane down to the South Coast had been through so much of the changes of that part of the world. South East Queensland, where it’s developed and where it’s gone. It’s interesting, the railway came, then it went, and guess what, it’s come back again a century on.
Conclusion
Annette: Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode on the Bayside and the railways to the coast of times past. And also a special thanks to our guest, Deni, Assistant Stationmaster Second Class, at Varsity Lakes Station. It has been great to hear about her career to date, her current role, and what it’s like working on the end of the line at the Gold Coast. If you have any questions about our rail history, please email Greg. He’d love to hear from you: history@qr.com.au. If you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, please leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you what you love about the podcast, what you’d like us to feature on a future episode. You’ve been listening to the Queensland Rail History podcast, hosted by our historian, Greg Hallam, and myself, Annette, with a new episode every month.