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Historic Engineering Marker - Goolwa to Port Elliot RailwayPrint Page Print this page

25-August-2014
25-August-2014

Photographs supplied by Bryan Cole
The Historic Engineering Marker commemorates the Goolwa to Port Elliot railway, which was the first constructed in Australia in 1854.

The Institution of Engineers Australia, through its Heritage Committees, established the Australian Historic Engineering Plaquing Program to acknowledge past engineering achievements and to draw public attention to the significant contributions they have made to society.The Plaquing Program is a means of bringing public recognition to significant historic engineering works and the engineers who created them. The Program is intended to contribute to the conservation of Australian engineering heritage.

Location

Address:Henry Street, Railway Station, Port Elliot, 5212
State:SA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -35.532647
Long: 138.680688
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Technology
Sub-Theme:Industry

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1992
Front Inscription

Historic Engineering Marker
Goolwa - Port Elliot Railway

Completed in May 1854, this was Australia's first public railway and the first Government railway in the British Colonies.  By linking the River Murray to a sea port it captured river trade for South Australia from as far as Queensland.  It was extended to Victor Harbor in 1864 and Strathalbyn in 1869. Design for working by locomotives, the railway was operated with horses until it was connected to Adelaide in 1884 when steam was introduced.  Since commercial operations ceased in April 1984 it has been run as a tourist railway.

Dedicated by the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1992.

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au