All aboard! Historic photos marking 150 years since Queensland's first train journey show the boys as young as 12 who built the tracks... and the well-dressed women who took the first trip 

• Queensland Rail celebrates the 150-year anniversary of the train's first journey from Ipswich to Bigges Camp
• Labourers worked 10 hour days for 35 shillings a week to construct the state's first ever rail line in the 1864
• Historic black and white photographs show the men and boys as young as 12 who toiled to build the 38.5km line
• Stunning pictures also show the well-dressed members of the upper class who attended the official opening 

They had been shipped out from Britain to labour in the harsh Queensland climate in order to build the state's first ever rail line in the 1864.

Children as young as 12 joined the men working 10 hour days and getting paid 35 shillings a week to construct the railway from Ipswich to Bigges Camp (now Grandchester).

Historic black and white photographs show the labourers who toiled to build the 38.5km line, as Queensland Rail celebrates the 150-year anniversary of the track's first journey.

Stunning pictures also show the well-dressed members of the upper class who attended the official opening of the first section of the Ipswich to Grandchester railway on 31 July 1865. 

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The ceremony was attended by Governor Sir George Bowen, Lady Bowen, the Mayor of Ipswich and other politicians and officials. 

The international railway company Peto, Brassey and Betts was awarded the contract after building most of the railway network in Britain, and construction began in February 1864.

Queensland Workshops Rail Museum curator Geraldine Mate said the company brought out about 2000 workers, mainly from Europe, who had previously built railways in countries including Argentina, Canada, India, Italy, Russia, Spain.

'It was a full contract and they brought in their own foremen and engineers also shipped navvies over,' Dr Mate told Daily Mail Australia. 

'They reemployed people they'd already used in other countries, particularly Irish navvies.'

Railway worker William Morrow, who worked on the railway as a 12-year-old and stayed in the industry for 58 years, wrote in his autobiography about the day construction began.

'Although in itself a very simple matter, the spiking marked the commencement of trials and struggles of a primitive and isolated colony of vast dimensions settled by a population of some few thousands,' Mr Morrow wrote.

Mr Morrow's son William 'Bill' Morrow went on to be a senior figure in the Australian Railways Union and a Labor senator in Tasmania.

Dr Mate said Mr Morrow went on to witness many historic moments during the Queensland railway expansion, and worked on the railway's expansion to Toowoomba, Brisbane and Caboolture among other places. 

'He saw so much of what was happening on the railways at the time,' she said.

'He saw the engineers that came out, he saw the first railway strike, he was the man that was there as they were opening up pastoral country.'

Dr Mate said it was not abnormal for boys as young as 12 to work on the railways lines as 'nippers', who would run around doing small jobs including holding railway sleepers while the labourers spiked them.

Other boys would start their railway apprenticeships aged 14 and work until they were 65.

Dr Mate said the introduction of 2000 foreign workers had a major impact on the Queensland colony of 40,000, which was officially made a colony in 1859.

'The influx of Irish workers had a really big impact on Queensland, it was really an impact on the working class,' she said.

'They brought ideas with them about unionism and separatism. 

'Canvas towns went up and people made a living supplying accommodation, food and grog to navvies.

'They also brought some problems with, I guess, social unrest and fights breaking out on a Saturday night. It's not as prolific as people imagine it could be but it certainly did happen,'

Dr Mate added that the people governing Queensland at the time trumpeted the new rail line as advancing the economic cause of the state.

'Regardless of what your view is of colonialism and Aboriginal land, they saw themselves as bringing civilisation and hard work to the colony,' she said. 

The 1863 Railway Bill was fiercely debated at the time, with politicians arguing over whether or not to give the rail line a narrower gauge than a standard track - meaning the spacing of the rails on the track would be closer together - in order to save money.

'It was such a political hotcake because having a different gauge to New South Wales meant we were struggling to transfer stuff by rail down south,' she said.

THE RICH 150-YEAR HISTORY OF QUEENSLAND RAIL - TIMELINE 

 

1865 Queensland’s first railway line opens from Ipswich to Bigges Camp (now Grandchester)

1875 Ipswich to Brisbane railway opened for use

1879 Emerald line opened

1882 Charters Towers line opened

1887 First passenger journeys from Brisbane via Wallangarra to Sydney

1888 Opening of railway to Charleville

1890 Brisbane to Bundaberg line is connected

1891 Barron Gorge Railway (Cairns to Kuranda) opened

1892 The outback line to Longreach is connected

1908 Opening of railway to Cloncurry

1910 North Coast Railway and Great Western Railway acts passed in Parliament

1923 Brisbane to Townsville linked by North Coast Railway

1935 New tourist train the Sunshine Express is introduced

 1952 First diesel locomotives come into service

1953 The Sunlander replaces the Sunshine Express

1954 The Westlander enters service

1958 Last steam locomotive is put into service

1961 Stainless steel carriages are seen on Brisbane’s suburban trains

1969 Steam era ends in Queensland

1979 First electric trains enter operation in Queensland

1989 First electric train service (Spirit of Capricorn) Brisbane to Rockhampton

1998 Rockhampton Tilt train comes into service

2003 Cairns Tilt Train is introduced to the fleet

2013-14 Spirit of Queensland is introduced to the fleet

2015 Queensland Rail celebrates its 150th birthday with celebrations all over the state 

 

'It was a balancing act of economics versus what was seen to be the standard of the time.'

The narrower gauge of 1067mm was chosen, and when the track was completed in 1865 it was the first of its type in the world and was quickly adopted by many international railways. 

The Governor's wife Lady Bowen turned the first sod at a ceremony in North Ipswich on February 25 1864.

The first part of the railway to be constructed was chosen between Ipswich and Bigges Camp because it did not involve major engineering difficulties over the Toowoomba range

Two stations were constructed between Ipswich and Bigges Camp, named Walloon and Moruya.

The rail line's grand opening on July 31 1985 was a grand occasion and a public holiday was declared. 

Hundreds of people lined the railway line and attended the inaugural service, enjoying a luncheon and the drinking of many toasts before they celebrated at a glittering railway ball in Ipswich.

Four services operated that day and the first train arrived in Bigges Camp at 11.06am, just over an hour for the 21 mile trip.

From the following day the railway got down to the business of taking passengers and goods to their destinations on a regular timetable and work continued on building the line to the Darling Downs by 1867.

Hundreds of people lined the railway line and attended the inaugural service, which included a luncheon and a glittering railway ball in Ipswich.

Four services operated that day and the first train arrived in Bigges Camp at 11.06am, taking just over an hour for the 34km journey. 

The line was later extended to the Darling Downs in 1867, and Brisbane in 1875.

On Friday, Ipswich commuters were surprised when Queensland Rail replaced their regular service with a heritage steam train. 

Chief operating officer Martin Ryan said the special service departed Ipswich station at 7.19am and was part of Queensland Rail's 150th birthday celebration taking place today.

'Queensland Rail is 150 today and we are saying a big thank you to our Citytrain customers with a number of special events planned right across the network,' Mr Ryan said.

'The celebration kicks off this morning with a blast from the past when the pride of our heritage fleet Bety, or BB18 ¼ 1079, makes her return as a commuter train.

'Bety retired from regular timetabled services at the end of the steam era more than 40 years ago and we are very excited to welcome her back into peak morning service, for this once off surprise trip.

'We are encouraging customers to jump aboard Bety, take a step back in time and enjoy the opportunity to travel to work by steam.

'Bety's carriages have been fittingly decorated for the event and we encourage people to put their party hat on as she steams into Central station for the official birthday party.'

Last Sunday Queensland Rail kicked off the 150th birthday celebrations with a re-enactment of Queensland's first ever train journey from Ipswich to Bigges Camp (now Grandchester).