Celebrating Victoria's railway history
Victoria celebrated the 150th anniversary of railways in the state in 2004. This page details some of the early history of our railway system.
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Celebrating 150 years of Victorian Railways
The 150th anniversary of Victoria's railways was celebrated on 12 September 2004. The
Victorian Railways: Celebrating 150 years of Victorian Railways website draws upon the image collections of Museum Victoria and the Public Record Office Victoria.
The discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1800s heralded the growth of Melbourne both as a port and as an economy.
As a result, transportation became an important issue for the young colony and it was not long after that Melbourne became the location for Australia's first locomotive-powered railway line.
Just three years after the establishment of the colony of Victoria, our first steam railway was officially opened on 12 September 1854. The service ran from Flinders Street to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). |  | 
Stream train at Ararat Railway Station in 1948 (Photo courtesy of the Ararat Railway Heritage Association) |
A series of other, primarily passenger, routes were also soon opened taking travellers to St Kilda (1857), North Brighton (1859), Hawthorn (1861) and Essendon (1860).
The goldrush was also responsible for creating major regional centres at Ballarat and Bendigo and the colonial government took over from the private companies to establish the rapid construction of regional rail lines. The railway reached Sunbury in 1859, Bendigo in 1862 and Echuca in 1864. A line between Geelong and Ballarat was also completed in 1862. The privately built and operated line between Geelong and Newport, that had opened in 1857, was taken over by the colonial government in 1860.
Agricultural booms also led to further expansion of the rail network and soon the railways became the symbol of progress and prosperity.
Victoria's railways have grown with the State and remain a key part of our passenger and freight transport networks.
150 years of rail to Geelong
The 150th anniversary of rail services to Geelong was celebrated on 25 June 2007.
The Geelong and Melbourne Railway (G&MR) company was formed as part of the railway boom in Victoria in the second half of the 19th century. The company planned to build a 62 kilometre railway line from Geelong to the present day site of Newport Station. The trains would then continue to Melbourne over a line another private syndicate was planning to build.
The other syndicate ran into difficulties and its line was not going to be ready in time for the G&MR. Consequently, it was decided to move the terminus of the Geelong line to a temporary location on the Yarra River at the village of Greenwich. The link between Greenwich and Melbourne was then provided by river steamer.
Government approval for the project was granted on 8 February 1853 and on 20 September that year, His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor C.J. La Trobe cut the first turf of the Geelong line at Geelong and lay the foundation stone for Geelong Station.
Contracts were subsequently let to build the line including bridges over Little River and Werribee River and the jetty that was to become Cunningham Pier. Labour shortages caused by the gold rush meant that the Government had to allocate 100 prisoners to help construct the railway line.
Ten miles (16 kilometres) of track was laid between Geelong and the Melbourne side of Duck Ponds (now known as Lara) by October 1856. Regular passenger and freight services started between these two centres from November 1856 and was extended to Little River in January 1857.
Construction of the line was completed on 8 June 1857 when the last rail was laid near the present site of Laverton Station. The line between Geelong and Greenwich was then officially opened on 25 June 1857. The event was marked by a street procession and a special train carrying the Governor and several hundred guests that left Geelong at 10 a.m. to arrive at Greenwich at 12.10 p.m.
Public services started the next day and consisted of three trains in each direction Monday to Saturday. Sunday services were introduced on 13 February 1859 but were suspended after just six months when the company's English shareholders reportedly objected to people working on Sundays.
At the time of the line's opening, there were just four stations between Geelong and Greenwich located at Cowie's Creek (North Shore), Duck Ponds (Lara), Little River and Werribee.