Saturday 14 August 1880, page 33
[By our Special Reporter.]
IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN DISTRICTS.
The railway now being made from Narracoorte to the Tatiara country is only forty-four miles in length, (but its history would fill a volume if written in detail} and the future extension, though only a few miles long, will, I am afraid, be found not much less difficult to decide upon.
A railway to the Tatiara is absolutely essential to the successful cultivation of the country there, fertile and vast though it be.
In the absence of a line one-half the value of every bushel of wheat grown has been swallowed up in the cost of conveyance to market, and yet for eight years the settlers in the Tatiara have had to wait for the commencement of the line, which was promised them first in 1873, when all they asked for was a grant of £10,000 to macadamize the worst portions of the boggy road to Kingston.
In 1875 the Railway Commissioner recommended the construction of a railway from Baker's Range to Cockatoo Lake, and this line was included in the historically "broad and comprehensive policy" of Mr. Boucaut.
It was also taken up by the Colton Government and, petition after petition was sent to Parliament praying for railway extension to the Tatiara country.
It was urged with a good deal of truth that the farmers there were being ruined by having to pay £3 10s. per ton or Is. lOd. per bushel for the carriage of their produce to the seaboard, and that if a line were made to the Tatiara it would be likely to receive the produce not only of our own Tatiara, but of an area of 6 square miles of good arable land beyond the Victorian Border.
It was also pointed out that it could be made a portion of the overland line to Melbourne, so long talked of, and so distant still.
Mr. Ward, as a member of the Colton Government in 1877, introduced a Bill for the construction of railways from Narracoorte to Border Town, and from Narracoorte to Jesse. But "officially" he lived not to see either scheme carried out, as the Colton Government were soon afterwards ousted from office and Mr. Boncaut and his colleagues ruled in their stead.
And then it was on November 20,1877 that Mr. Boucaut "discovered" that the reports of the Engineer-in-Chief and the Surveyor-General did not justify the line. It was rather late to make the "discovery" when the line had been talked of so long and when some part of it had been adopted by his Government two years before.
This celebrated report of the Surveyor-General was to the effect that the land was sour Bay of Biscay country, end not adapted for agricultural purposes. But for once the Surveyor-General was in error (as to the capabilities of the land), and the Tatiara people became more than ever determined to have the railway.
To their surprise, however, next session (1878) their line was quietly stopped by the Government and the one to Jesse (which was not generally approved in the district) was pressed on.
Mr. Hardy, one of the members for the Albert district, moved an amendment in favour of tho Tatiara line, and Mr. Colton supported him. Mr. Hawker, the Commissioner of Public Works, vehemently opposed the amendment, and added insult to injury by describing the Tatiara as "a mere oasis in the desert, having a population of 24!" But Mr. Hardy straggled manfully against the Ministry and defeated them, carrying his amendment on the very day that Parliament was prorogued, and while the Governor was actually waiting to relieve hon. members from their legislative labours.
It is one thing, however, to defeat a Government, and quite another to induce them to carry out your ideas. It was so in this case. Nothing was done during the recess, except that Mr. Hawker and the Surveyor-General visited the country, and the former then found reason to alter his previous opinion, and he had the manliness to say he had done so.
A combination of the two railway schemes was now decided on, and in the session of 1878 Mr. Hawker (as Commissioner of Public Works) introduced a Bill to provide for a railway from Narracoorte to Hynam, Binnum, and Frances, running parallel to the Border for some distance, thus tapping the West Wimmera district of Victoria, as well as serving the country through which it weuld pass.
Mr. Henning moved an amendment in favour of the line being extended fifteen miles farther northward, towards Tatiara, so as to pass through the scrub, and touch the southern boundary of the good land; and the Government haviDg virtually accepted the suggestion, the Bill was amended and passed by the Assembly on October 23,1878.
But its illfortune pursued it to the Legislative Council, where it was opposed by the Hon. R. O. Baker (who leased a run just over the Border), and rejected by a majority of two votes.
The people of Tatiara were instantly up in arms, and an indignation meeting was held, while the Press throughout the colony wrote sympathizing with them in their ill-treatment.
But the longwished-for day came at last. Early last session the Government introduced the Bill, which passed the Assembly almost without opposition, and was agreed to by the Legislative Council by a majority of nine votes.
This memorable day for the district was July 1. 1879, since which time it has just taken a year to get the plans and specifications ready to call for tenders.
However, now that Millar Brothers have taken the contract for the earthworks and have begun their task, the Tatiara farmers may hope by November, 1881, to hear the whistle of the locomotive in their quiet and now isolated district.
But the Tatiara Railway warfare is by no means over. The present line is only to go to a point at the south-eastern extremity of the Tatiara country, and in fact outside the Hundred of Tatiara.
The terminus under the present contract is to be in the 10,000-acre block of land dedicated to the use of the Adelaide University. But few people believe it will remain there. Indeed, the Government have already proposed that the line should be extended eight miles due north to section No. 345 in the Hundred of Tatiara.
This extension, however, is stoutly opposed by the Border Town people, who very naturally object to be snuffed out by the railway which was meant to make their district great. Their hope, no doubt, is that if the line now atop at University Block, it will some day be extended to Border Town, which is only twelve miles distant in a north-westerly direction; whereas they feel sure that if the railway be now taken to Section 345 it will never be brought in a line due west to the township.
This would be too much like going along two sides of a triangle to get from end to end of the base line. The people of Border Town are not alone in their opposition to the northern extension. They are supported by the bulk of the farmers in the Hundred of Tatiara, and all in the Hundred of Wirrega.
On July 1 a petition was presented to the House of Assembly from 152 persons in the Tatiara, praying that the terminus remain at University Block, and pointing out that "fourteen-fifteenths of the Tatiara country lies to the westward of the proposed extension, that there are not more than four or five miles of good land north of the proposed extension, and that University Block would be just as convenient for the bulk of the Victorian selectors, who would use the line as Section 345."
On the other hand, a rival petition was presented in favour of the Government scheme, but it was not nearly as numerously signed.
I understand that the Government have given way to some extent, and have determined that for the present the terminus shall be at University Block. This certainly is much better than taking it so far away from the bulk of our Tatiara settlers, and as close to the edge of the Great Desert, as it would be at Section 345.
I think the Government would do well to extend the line to Border Town before the making of a road is forced upon them; but of course that is a question which needs to be considered in connection with the Victorian traffic yet to be developed.
Every disinterested person who examines the country, as I did, must, I think, agree, firstly, that it is far better to stop at University Block than to go eight miles nearer the Great Desert: and secondly, that the Government or the Road Board should stoutly refuse to spend any money on a macadamized road from Border Town to University Block until the direction of the future extension has been determined.
I know that one argument in favour of Section 345 is that it is near the place where the intercolonial railways are to meet in the good time coming; but so far as I can see the eleven miles extension on to Border Town would be an advantage even in this respect, as it could be used hereafter as part of the overland line — always, of course, assuming that the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge of the present line were altered so as to fit in with the broad gauge of the intercolonial railway.
The Narracoorte and Tatiara Railway route as finally adopted must be a puzzle to any one who merely looks at the map of South Australia; and it is a sore point with many of the Tatiara farmers, who indignantly exclaim: "The Government deny us a railway for eight years, and when it is wrung from them they place it within a couple of miles of the Border, so as to be as far as possible from us." As Captain Corcoran would say, "Very true; so they do."
But there is a reason, and a good one for what at first looks like an absurdity. Many people think the Tatiara line will never pay expenses. My opinion is that it will - but only because it will take a very large amount of produce from the Victorian side of the Border. It may look stupid to make railways to serve Victorian settlers, but surely no patriotic South Australian should object to their helping us to pay for our railways when they are made.
From very careful enquiries made at the termini and along the route I believe that more Victorian wheat than South Australian will pass over the line.
The area of good agricultural land in the West Wimmera District, within twenty miles of the stations on the Tatiara Railway, is so much greater than the whole of our Tatiara that it is there we must look hopefully for the produce which will prevent us having another white elephant among our railways.
The Tatiara line is singular in another respect, namely, that nearly the whole of it passes through purchased runs or scrub.
This looks bad, but is not as bad as it looks, though the agricultural country opened up along the route is infinitesimal so far as this side of the Border is concerned. The hope of its paying is, therefore, practically confined to the Tatiars country around the terminus, and to the land beyond the Border.
The line is an extension of the Kingston and Narracoorte line, and, after leaving the latter town, it runs nearly due east for twelve miles - in order to tap the Victorian country around Apsley - and then it turns sharply to the north, and pursues an almost straight course parallel to the Border, and only a short distance from it. In one case it is only about a mile from the boundary line of the two colonies.
The country for the first two or three miles out of Narracoorte is fit for agriculture, but very little is cultivated. Then the fine properties of the sons of the late Mr. Adam Smith—Hynam and Binnum are crossed, and here on 37,000 acres and 15,000 acres of purchased land nothing but sheep are to be seen.
It is tbe same on the Kybybolite Station (Mrs. Jas. Affleck's), where there are 24,000 or 25,000 acres of alienated land. Beyond these runs, in the Hundred of Binnum and around the township of Frances there are several farmers cultivating the ground and getting very fair returns, hut the wheat traffic from our own side of the Border here can never be large.
A few miles beyond Frances the line enters the Twenty-mile Scrub, which continues until University Block is reached and the Tatiara country entered.
There tbe terminus is to be for the present - forty-four miles from Narracoorte and ninetyseven from the port of Kingston.
There are to be four stations on the line - one at Hynam, the second halfway between Kybybolite and Binnum, tbe third at Frances, and the terminus at University Block, two miles west of the Border.
The Victorian Government have surveyed a line from Horsham to Dimboola, and I am informed, too, that a flying survey has been made from Dimboola to our Border, which is about seventy miles to the westward. But the line to Dimboola is not yet authorized, and the extension looks very far off.
Messrs. C. & E. Millar, the contractors for the Rivoli Bay and Mount Gambicr line, have undertaken to lay the permanent way of the Tatiara line for £74,743, the Government supplying the rails (41 lb. steel), the rolling - stock, and the stations.
The contractors, it is said, will employ 400 or 500 men. Their work is to be completed in time for the next harvest.
In the meantime the Narracoorte and Tatiara people are looking for more lively times, and the latter are anticipating with good reason a degree of prosperity which their fertile but isolated country deserves but has never yet been within " cooey" of.
Concerning the probable traffic on the Tatiara Railway it is impossible to speak with any degree of certainty, bnt from careful enquiries I made in the Tatiara country, along the route, at Narracoorte, and from settlers over the Border, I am inclined to think that the line will not be long before it pays expenses.
At the same time I think a very considerable discount should be taken off the following estimate of probable receipts, as supplied to the Government and attested by the leading farmers in the Tatiara:
| Arable land, about 150,000 acres; 30,000 in crop, yield 300,000 bushels, deduct 6O,000 for seed and flour, leaving 240,000 bushels. Say 6,480 tons, 100 miles, at 3d. per mile (½d.?) | £8,100 |
| Passenger traffic to Narracoorte and Kingston, 40 per week at 2d. per mile; average distance 75 miles | 1,352 |
| Return traffic, goods, materials | 2,000 |
| Probable traffic from Binnum and across Border there | 2,000 |
| Saving in mails 500 | |
| Total (within the colony) .. .. | £13,952 |
| Victorian produce which must necessarily use the line, a like amount | £13,952 |
| Grand total | £27,904 |
This is a " grand total" no doubt, but a few ugly facts rob it of some of its grandeur. The land is there I believe, but several thousands of acres have already passed back into the hands of the squatters, and against the "estimated" 800,000 bushels we have the "actual" official returns of only 44,632 bushels grown in the Tatiara in 1879-80.
Of course there will be a vast increase when the line is made, and when the cost of carriage is reduced from £3 10s. to about £1 per ton; but it seems to me that those who framed the estimates have taken much too rosy a view of each item.
Take two lines for example. They are the only two on which any check can be had. I am told by one of the very best authorities in the Narracoorte district that not more than 5,000 or 6,000 bushels of wheat (certainly not 10,000) came from the Tatiara last season, the rest grown there being either gristed for flour or reserved for seed, and yet the estimate was 210,000 bushels!
The other example is in reference to the saving on mails, and is only a small item. The saving is put down at £500, when, as a matter of fact, the subsidy for the present mail service is under £300, and a considerable portion of this will still be required for the mails to Morambro, Lochaber, Padthaway, and Mundella, which are many miles distant from the railway.
Some people profess to believe that the Tatiara Railway will not carry much Victorian produce, and that therefore it is a mistake. Such persons must indeed be blind to the evidence before them, and the fact that at the present time a large quantity of wool now comes to Kingston from stations beyond the Border, despite the enormous disadvantages of a bad road and of long delays, which will to some extent be obviated when the Kingston Jetty is completed.
I have been informod that at least half the Victorian squatters within twenty miles of the Border send their wool via Larepede Bay and it is probable that nearly 2,000 bales out of the 14,000 shipped there are from stations in Victoria.
And if the squatters, to whom quick dispatch is so important, send without a railway, how much more will the farmers who have settled on these lands do so when the railway is finished?
Within twenty miles of the Victorian side of the boundary line many hundreds of free selectors have lately squatted down on the runs and had them parcelled out, from Apsley, opposite Narracoorte, to Lockart, which lies to the eastward of Border Town, and in the heart of the Victorian Tatiara.
In fact I am told that, with the exception of the Twentymile Scrub and the land purchased previously by the squatters, nearly the whole of this West Wimmera district of Victoria is now in the hands of the farmers, and will he gradually brought under cultivation; and almost all the produce grown in the western half of it is likely to find its way to the Tatiara line.
A good deal of wheat already comes to Narracoorte from over the Border, one firm (Messrs. Fullarton and Blackwell) having last season received nearly 4,000 bushels.
But even if the line does not pay for a few years, will it not have been of great service to the community, and especially to that section of the people who took up land in the Tatiara on the understanding that a road or a railway would be provided?
Will it not enable tens of thousands of acres of rich land to be put to the best possible use, instead of reverting to the use of sheep?
Will it not he a great source of saving to the squatters who still hold land alongside it, near the terminus, and over the Border?
Will it not be an immense gain to the travelling public in taking them off the vilest road in the colony, and enabling them to accomplish the journey from Narracoorte to Border Town in about three hours instead of twelve? And will it not be a means of helping the Narracoorte and Kingston line to pay its way? I believe it will, and, though I cannot take the sanguine view that the Tatiara farmers do, I certainly think that if ever mortals deserved a railway, and that railway deeerved success, they are the Tatiara people and their long-fought-for line.