Australian Railway MonumentPrint Page

The Australian Railway Monument was built as a tribute to the railway industry and its employees for their contribution to Australia`s development through rail.

It includes six stainless steel figures depicting various aspects of railway work, plus an honour board of over 2,000 names commemorating the workers killed on the railways since the 1850s. Eleven flagpoles were added in 2008. 

For approximately 70 years Werris Creek was the largest railway centre in northern New South Wales, the depot alone employing 800 people.From the 1970s, the railway began to decline, but it still remains an important part of the network, with Pacific National still using the depot. The introduction of diesel locomotives and centralisation of the rail system led to the demise of the complex's importance. The jobs of tradesmen servicing steam trains disappeared. The population halved as rail jobs fell from 800 to 100. Town morale sank as its heart and soul began to disappear. Even though passenger and freight trains still passed through Werris Creek, as they still do, it seemed destined to become yet another country town fading into oblivion.

In 1989 a committee led by Chris Holley - a former porter, shunter, guard and controller, strongly supported by a band of fellow retired railmen such as veteran yard master Les Brown - vowed that Werris Creek would not die. Their determination led to the acceptance of a plan envisaged by Dr Stuart Sharp, of the former New South Wales State Rail Authority Heritage Unit, involving creation of an Australian Railway Monument. While funding came principally from the New South Wales Government ($1.3m), some 40 townsfolk - mostly former railway men and women pledged themselves as volunteers to run the complex. It opened on 1 October 2005 as the Australian Railway Monument and the Rail Journeys Museum and since has averaged more than 10,000 visitors per annum. 

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