Railway_Digest__February_2018

Mount Gambier Railway Lands precinct to represent SA at national awards
The Mount Gambier Railway Lands precinct collected three prestigious
awards at the Planning Institute Australia (PIA) South Australia Awards
for Excellence 2017 in Adelaide in late November 2017.
City of Mount Gambier representatives accepted the coveted overall
Planning Minister’s Award and also won the Plan to Place and Great Place
Awards for the planning and development of the community project.
The annual PIA Awards for Planning Excellence demonstrate leading
practice, leadership and achievement in planning. The Minister’s
Award is given to the overall winner of the South Australian Awards
for Planning Excellence, judged by the South Australian Minister for
Planning Hon John Rau. “It is an honour to win this award for our
community. Minister Rau recognised the initiative, innovation and
process involved in the Railway Lands project and its contribution
to sustainability and the enhancement of the liveability within our
community,” City of Mount Gambier Mayor Andrew Lee said.
The Plan to Place Award recognises the implementation of a plan
into a successful place. It was awarded to the City of Mount Gambier
for the evolution of the project and achievement in accomplishing
positive changes as a result of planning. “We were commended for
engaging with the community throughout the planning, design and
implementation phases of the project as well as the ongoing use of the
Railway Lands,” City of Mount Gambier Planning Officer Jess Porter said.
The Great Place award recognises a great place, street or neighbourhood.
The City of Mount Gambier was commended for its vision and ambition
in tackling a socially, physically, culturally and environmentally-challenged
site. “The Railway Lands project was deemed an exemplar of the
New arrival at the Overland Museum
characteristics of a great place, through the quality of its planning,
design and construction. Most importantly, it demonstrates how great
places help build great communities, providing new settings for new
opportunities, that will continue to enhance the local way of life for
years to come,” Mayor Lee said.
Mayor Lee highlighted the vision of both the current and previous
Council in planning the project and for the design and delivery by
Council staff including a focus on community engagement.
“We are all very proud of this achievement, this project has been
recognised as best in class not once, but three times,” he said.
The Railway Lands project will go on to represent SA in its respective
categories at the National PIA Awards for Planning Excellence to be held
in Perth on Wednesday 9 May.
The city of Mount Gambier is located in the south-eastern corner of
South Australia, approximately 450 kilometres from Adelaide (and 435
kilometres from Melbourne). Before conversion of the Adelaide-Wolsley
line to standard gauge in 1995 it was connected to Adelaide on the broad
gauge network. Limestone Coast Railway heritage rail services continued
locally following disconnection from the wider state rail network but
were discontinued in 2006. Subsequently the Mount Gambier railway
precinct became increasingly derelict.
Following extensive community consultation, City of Mount Gambier
Council commenced reactivation of the rail precinct as a community space,
beginning in 2013 with the lifting of track in the rail yard and grassing
of the area. The site was officially opened as the Railway Lands on 15
November 2015.
The Overland Museum in Kaniva, in far western Victoria, received a
special delivery on Wednesday 13 December 2017, when a former
Overland carriage – the second in the museum’s collection – was
delivered by road from the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre.
Museum owner Stewart Hicks said “‘Pekina’ was built in 1919 and
I’m intending to restore it to 1960s condition. I already own one carriage
‘Normuldi’, which I have restored to its original 1951 condition. The shed
was built over ‘Normuldi’ but I will now extend it to cover ‘Pekina’
too.”
The museum contains many items of Overland memorabilia,
including uniforms, linen, crockery and letterheads.
“I started the museum to preserve the history of the Overland
Train that has run through this area since 1887 and is still running
today” said Mr Hicks.
‘Pekina’, later known as ‘Sleeping Car No.9’, was built at the
Victorian Railways Newport Workshops for use on The Overland. After a
long and varied career, it was retired in 1990 and, around 1998, found
its way to the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre.
SA Government offers to purchase Prospect Tram Barn to preserve historic site
The South Australian Government has made a $3 million offer to
purchase the State-heritage listed Prospect Tram Barn to ensure the
historic values of the 1883 site are preserved.
Formerly the Johns Road Horse Tram Depot, the 134-year-old
building on the corner of Johns Road and Main North Road (Princess
Highway), in the inner northern Adelaide suburb of Prospect, is one of
only three tram barns remaining from Adelaide’s first public transport
network that once included 19 tram depots and a network of trams
in Adelaide and surrounding suburbs. The other two remaining tram
depots are on Hackney Road, Adelaide and Magill Road in Maylands.
“The State Government is acting on behalf of the community who
have voiced strong concerns about the sale of this historic site by the
City of Prospect”, said South Australian Minister for Sustainability,
Environment and Conservation Ian Hunter MLC. “I look forward to
hearing the community’s proposals for a way to use this site that
preserves its history and allows the public to share the space”.
In April 2017 City of Prospect Council voted unanimously to explore
sale options for the site, which has been used as a council depot. Despite its
State-heritage listing it was suggested that the site could be developed as
an arts museum or even a pub. However, the Prospect Local History Group
urged the council to resist a sale, with a spokesman telling a public meeting
too many “rare old buildings have been lost (to developers) forever”.
Kalamunda History Village locomotive set for asbestos removal
Kalamunda History Village’s 1897-built 4-6-0 Western Australian
Government Railway G class steam locomotive G118, a central part of
the Kalamunda History Village collection, was fenced off and wrapped
following the discovery of boiler lagging asbestos in October 2016.
In November 2017 the City of Kalamunda obtained a $180,000
Lotterywest grant for full remediation work on the locomotive and site.
Work is due to commence in the first half of 2018.
Kalamunda History Village is on the site of the old Upper Darling
Range Railway Station and yard built in the 1890s to service the Zig Zag
line that transported timber from Canning Mills – near Karragullen to
the main line at Midland Junction. The last train ran over the line in 1949
and it was formally closed in 1950. Kalamunda is situated approximately
25 kilometres inland from Perth in the Darling Ranges. The Kalamunda
History Village is the largest local history museum in Western Australia.
54 RAILWAY DIGEST