Goolwa-to-Port Elliott horse-drawn iron line Australia's first in 1854; horses used until 1884 for Strathalbyn train
The Goolwa-to-Port Elliot horse-drawn iron tramway in the 1860s.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
South Australia’s railways began with a horse-drawn system in 1854, running between the ports of Goolwa and Port Elliot at the mouth of the Murray River. It was the first Australian rail track to be laid with iron.
The line, later extended to the safer Victor Harbor, was used to move freight between the shallow-draft paddle steamers navigating down the River Murray and coastal/ocean vessels that wanted to avoid the treacherous narrow and shallow mouth of the river.
The original line (a loop line was built later) went inland from the Goolwa jetty through to town towards Port Elliot where a deep cutting allowed the train to access a jetty and breakwater. Port Elliot’s lack of shelter and shallow anchorage, with seven ships wrecked between 1853 and 1864, meant the port was moved to Victor Harbor with the rail line extended.
The broad gauge line was extended north from Middleton to Strathalbyn in 1869 with a steam rail line from Adelaide to that town completed in 1884. Two horses at a time, changing at intermediate stations, continued to be used to pull trains on the line until 1884. Records from 1875 show 29 horses, travelling 7000 miles a month, were used.
The Victor Harbor-to-Adelaide rail line branched off south from the line to Wolseley at Mount Barker Junction. From 1883-85, the section to Currency Creek was rebuilt to steam railway standards.
In the 20st Century, Australian National stopped carrying freight on the Victor Harbor line in 1980 and halted passenger services in 1984, citing the track’s failing condition. Passenger numbers had dropped from 50,000 return journeys in 1977-78 to around 16,000 in 1982-83.
