Calliope River Historical Village | Community organisation

Calliope River Historical Village

Phone: +61 428 739 128

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• Community organisation
• Landmark & historical place

21.01.2022 Hi people of Gladstone. Come out to the Calliope River Historical Village on Sunday for Morning Tea. Love to see you. Kay

17.01.2022 HISTORICAL ITEMS AT THE Calliope River Historical Village BY BETTY LAVER. We acquired this photo from the Calliope River Historical Village A train bringing passengers onto the Auckland Point Wharf, Gladstone Story of the Gladstone-Townsville Passenger & Mail Service - The Auckland Point wharf in Gladstone built in 1885, was considered a white elephant, as it was remote from the rest of the town. The establishment of the meatworks in 1896 did nothing for this jetty as the...y had built their own at Parson’s Point. A rail line was built from the railway station to the approach to the Auckland Point Wharf in 1890. In 1898, the government entered into a contract with Friends, as agents for the Australian United Steamship Navigation (AUSN) Co, to convey both passengers and a fast mail service to the ports north of Rockhampton, i.e. Mackay, Bowen and Townsville. On 7th October 1898, the SS Barcoo, of 1505 tons, handled the inaugural service. The mail train left Brisbane on Friday evening and connected with the Barcoo at Gladstone on Saturday morning. This vessel left for the north at 2pm arriving at Bowen on Sunday afternoon and Townsville at 4am on Monday morning. Prior to the construction of the loop line onto the jetty, the train was required to stop at the approach before the jetty. Small boys would earn money by carrying the passengers’ luggage to and from the waiting trains. Bill Golding (Jnr) was a lad at the time and was one these youngsters to earn sixpence a time and, because the bags were extremely heavy, he felt that the money was well earned. To convey the mail wagons to the ship’s side, a turntable was constructed in 1899 and a rail link to the jetty was built. Mail vans were placed in front of the passenger train at the railway station and when the train approached the wharf the mail vans were individually placed on the turntable. From there, waterside workers pushed the vans onto the wharf proper and loaded them onto the ship, while return vans had already been unloaded from the vessel. Likewise, the passengers would alight from the train and continue their journey by ship, or they would disembark from the ship and continue their journey by train. The timetables of the trains and the vessel usually required the southern train travellers to cool their heels around Gladstone for some twenty-four hours before the ship was again ready to travel. The mail service continued no matter how rough the seas became and, although this caused delays, it always got through. Many fine ships were employed on the service and no vessel was better than the Bingara, which was small graceful and dependable. In 1909 the approach was extended so that the mail and passengers would continue completely onto the wharf proper. This famous service became known to thousands of people throughout Australia and continued for twenty-six years. It was not until the railway line was built to Mackay that the service became redundant in February 1924. See more

13.01.2022 The Calliope River Historical Village opened on the 12th June, after being closed due to the Covid-19 virus. Since that date we have had tremendous support from the public. This village exists on this support from the public either by way of tours through the village or funds derived from the Kiosk. The Village is run by volunteers who are interested in the preservation of history.in the Gladstone area and surrounding districts. Please accept our undying gratitude for the support we have received in the past and hope this continues into the future.

03.01.2022 We at the Calliope River Historical Village would be pleased to see school children on holidays pay us a visit. Come spend a day, an hour or a morning. The ghosts will be glad to welcome all.