Railway Construction Act 1884

The Victorian Government's Act No. 821, the Railway Construction Act 1884,{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb//au/legis/vic/hist_act/trca1884292/|title=The Railway Construction Act 1884|date=1884-12-12|website=Austlii}} authorised the construction of 59Some sources give the figure as 66. new railway lines in the colony, plus additional infrastructure.{{cite web

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Promoted by the Minister for Railways, Thomas Bent,{{Cite web|url=http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01222b.htm|title = Railways - Entry - eMelbourne - the Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online}} and passed on 12 December 1884, it became notorious for the large number of railway lines it authorised, and was dubbed the "Octopus Act". It was accompanied by the Railway Loan Act, No. 760, which permitted the raising of a loan of £600,000 for construction of the various lines.{{Cite journal|title=Railway Loan Act No. 760 and the Railway Construction Act 1884: Estimate of expenditure which the Railways Commissioners propose to incur during the ensuing twelve months under Loan Act No. 760 and the Railway Construction Act 1884|url=https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/vufind/Record/70173|journal=Government Printer}}

The act, "to authorize the Construction of certain Lines of Railway by the State and for other purposes", listed 51 "country lines", eight "suburban lines", four short connections and bridges, and two "railway[s] or sidings", specifying 65 pieces of new infrastructure in total. It also provided for additional platforms, buildings, sidings, road approaches, drains, bridge widenings and modifications to existing infrastructure as necessary. It allowed for an average expenditure of £3,960 per mile for the country lines, and £14,294 per mile for the suburban lines.

The severe economic depression in the 1890s soon highlighted the fact that many of the lines were not viable.{{cite web |title=The 1890s Depression |url=https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2001/2001-07/1890s-depression.html |publisher=Reserve Bank of Australia |access-date=2025-04-17}}

Scheduled lines

= Country lines =

Avoca and Ararat Railway
Bacchus Marsh and Gordons Railway
Bacchus Marsh Junction and New-port Railway
Ballarat East and Buninyong Railway
Ballarat Cattle Yards Branch Railway
Ballarat Eacecourse and Springs Railway
Birregurra and Cape Otway Forest Railway
Camperdown and Curdie's River Railway
Camperdown to Terand and Warrnambool Railway
Coburg and Somerton Railway
Creswick and Daylesford Railway
Dandenong and Leongatha Railway
Dimboola and South Australian Border Railway
Fitzroy and Whittlesea Railway
Frankston and Crib Point Railway 15A: Mornington Railway
Frankston Cemetery Railway
Hamilton and Coleraine Railway
Heyfield and Bairns-dale Railway,
Horsham and Natimuk Railway
Inglewood and Dunolly Railway 20A. Kerang to Swan Hill
Koroit and Belfast Railway
Koroit Railway via Penshurst 22A. Hamilton and Penshurst Railway
Koroit and Warrnambool Railway
Kyneton and Redesdale Railway
Lancefield and Kilmore Railway
Leongatha and Port Albert Railway
Lilydale and Healesville Railway (via Yarra Flats)
Lubeck and Rupanyup Railway
Maffra and Briagolong Railway
Maldon and Laanecoorie Railway
Moe and Narracan Railway
Mount Moriac and Forest Railway
Murchison and Rushworth Rail-way
Murtoa and Warracknabeal Railway
Myrtleford and Bright Railway
Numurkah and Cobram Railway
Numurkah and Nathalia Railway
Ondit and Beeac Railway
Ringwood and Ferntree Gully Railway
Sale and Stratford Railway
Scarsdale and Lintons Railway
Shepparton and Dookie Railway
St. James and Yarrawonga RAilway
Tatura and Echuca Railway
Terang and Mortlake Railway
Wandong Heathcote and Sandhurst Railway
Warragul and Neerim Railway
Wedderburn Road and Wedderburn Railway
Wodonga and Tallangatta Railway
Yackandandah and Beechworth Railway
Yea and Mansfield Railway; Alexandra Branch Railway

= Suburban lines =

Schedule numbers are as given.

52. Alphington and Heidelberg Railway
53. Brighton and Picnic Point Railway
54. Burnley to Junction with Outer Circle Railway
55. Fitzroy Branch Railway
56. Hawthorn and Kew Railway
57. Lal Lal Racecourse Railway
58. Outer Circle Railway, Oakleigh, via Camberwell to Richmond and Alphington Railway
59. Royal Park and Clifton Hill Railway

= Additional infrastructure =

Schedule numbers are as given, with authorised expenditure from Section 7 where given.

60. Murray-bridge (temporary) (£1,750)
61. Portland Pier
62. Murray-bridge (£25,000)
63. Flinders-street Viaduct (£73,000)
64. Windsor Siding
65. Ballarat siding

Section 4 provided for "Additional sidings etc. on existing lines".

Section 7 also authorised expenditure on the following works:

66. Duplication Hawthorn and Camberwell Line (£8,500)
67. Railway works (£800,000)
Rolling-stock (£178,000) and permanent-way (£415,000)

Implementation

The task of implementing the act fell to Richard Speight, chief railway commissioner at the time,{{Cite book|url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060189b.htm| title=Speight, Richard (1838–1901) |last1=Venn |first1=Michael |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |access-date=2023-04-16}} a role created by the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act of 1883.{{cite web |url=http://www.brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/kibblew.htm |title=Kibble, William Mcleod Morris |website=www.brightoncemetery.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031115144821/http://www.brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/kibblew.htm |archive-date=2003-11-15}}

Beneficiaries of the act included construction engineers such as Andrew O'Keefe and David Munro,{{cite AuDB |first=Michael |last=Cannon |title=David Munro (1844–1898) |volume=5 |year=1974 |id2=4270 |access-date=2025-04-17}} and politicians, including Thomas Bent himself, who reaped the rewards of promoting or commissioning railway construction in their electorates.

Construction of the lines was complete by April 1890.{{cite web | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3516141 | title=Summary of News | newspaper=Brisbane Courier | date=14 April 1890 }}

By 1892, amid the background of a worsening economic depression, outrage at the excesses of the construction boom, including a number of "white elephants", led to the sacking of Speight, as well as the other commissioners, Richard Ford and A.J. Agg. The Railways Act of 1892 attempted to reverse some of the damage.

Sources

{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/onthisday/decade.cfm?d=1880|title=Victorian Parliamentary Chronology: 150 Years of Parliament in Victoria - the 1880s|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709134207/http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/onthisday/decade.cfm?d=1880|archive-date=2009-07-09}}