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Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier
	The Mount Gambier railway station building in 1918.
General information
Location	Railway Terrace, Mount Gambier
Coordinates	37°49′50″S 140°46′33″E / 37.83064°S 140.77594°E
Operated by	Australian National
Line(s)	Naracoorte–Millicent; Mount Gambier-Heywood
Distance	221 kilometres from Adelaide
Platforms	2 (1 island)
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Other information
Status	Closed to rail services; repurposed as a community park
History
Opened	20 May 1879
Closed	31 December 1990 (passengers); 12 April 1995 (freight); 28 June 2006 (tourist)
Services

Mount Gambier railway station was the terminus of the Mount Gambier railway line and the junction for the Beachport and Mount Gambier-Heywood railway lines in the South Australian city of Mount Gambier. It was last used in 2006, and has since been transformed into a public community space.

History

In 1879, a narrow 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge line opened from Beachport (Rivoli Bay North) through Millicent to Mount Gambier.^[1] In 1887, the Mount Gambier railway line was constructed to Naracoorte (connecting to the Kingston-Naracoorte railway line) and Wolseley, where it joined the Adelaide-Wolseley line.

On 28 November 1917, a broad gauge line opened from Mount Gambier to Heywood near Portland. In the 1950s, the narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge.^[2]

Mount Gambier had an extensive goods yard and a locomotive depot with a roundhouse.

Ownership of the station and the railway lines was transferred to Australian National in 1978. The station closed on 31 December 1990 when the Bluebird railcar passenger service, known as the Blue Lake, ceased operating, along with every intrastate passenger services in South Australia but the lines were still used by freight. When the Adelaide-Melbourne railway line was converted to standard gauge, the Mount Gambier, Heywood and Millicent lines remained as broad gauge, consequentially becoming isolated and were closed to remaining freight services on 12 April 1995.^[3]

In the late 1990s to mid 2000s, the Limestone Coast Railway, operated tourist services on the abandoned lines from Mount Gambier to Penola, Coonawarra, Tantanoola, Millicent and Rennick with Redhen railcars. However, due to increased insurance costs, the service ceased 1 July 2006, with the last service being a train to Tantanoola on 28 June 2006.^[4]

In 2013, the old yard was lifted and covered with grass.^[5]^[6]^[7] The station building was then operated by radio station Lime FM.

In 2015, after over a year of work, the Railway Lands was completely transformed into a public community space. 20,000 square metres of turf covered the entire former-industrial site. The grand opening in November saw thousands of residents come together to utilise the area. A "back to nature" playground, wheelchair-accessible barbecues, a pond with a creek, native plants, a labyrinth, plus many more features for the community to use. Mount Gambier City Council plan to use the area for a number of annual events, but encourage local community groups to also activate the area. This, in turn, permanently disconnects the Heywood line from the Millicent and Naracoorte lines except for a two track easement through to give right of way for any future standardisation.^[8]

In 2018, the roundhouse was demolished after being damaged by fire in 2014.^[9]^[10] Timber from the roundhouse was reused at a different roundhouse in Peterborough during its restoration from 2021 to 2022.^[11]

In 2020, the station building was restored to original condition by the City of Mount Gambier Council.^[12]

Services

Mount Gambier station was served from Adelaide by an overnight mixed train until October 1985 and then by a service using Bluebird railcars until December 1990.^[13] Today, Mount Gambier is connected to the Victorian rail service via a V/Line coach service to and from Warrnambool.^[14]

References

^ "MOUNT GAMBIER AND RIVOLI BAY RAILWAY". South_Australian_Register. Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 20 May 1879. p. 6. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
^ Newland, Andrew; Quinlan, Howard (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 53, 56. ISBN 0-909650-49-7.
^ Masson, Johnny. "MOUNT GAMBIER MARSHALLING YARDS". Trove NLA. Johnny's Pages - Old SAR Shunter. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
^ Masson, John. "FINAL DAYS OF THE LIMESTONE COAST RAILWAY". Johnny's Pages : Old S.A.R. Shunter's Memories. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ Breathing Life into the Rail Lands Archived 23 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine City of Mount Gambier
^ Old Mount Gambier rail corridor demolition begins Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine The Border Watch 14 October 2013
^ Mount Gambier rail lands project takes shape ABC South East SA 4 June 2014
^ Masson, John. "MOUNT GAMBIER OLD MARSHALLING YARD". Johnny's Pages : Old S.A.R. Shunter's Memories. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
^ "Engineers assessment report for the Mount Gambier Roundhouse". Department for Infrastructure and Transport. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ "Roundhouse demolition begins". The Border Watch. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ "Timber to be donated to National Trust of SA". City of Mount Gambier. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ "Railway Station exterior returned to former glory". City of Mount Gambier. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ Masson, John. "MOUNT GAMBIER MARSHALLING YARDS IN THE 1970 and 80's". Johnny's Pages : Old S.A.R. Shunter's Memories. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ "Mount Gambier - Melbourne via Warrnambool & Geelong". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 4 December 2019.