Travel Australia

Classic Railway Stations: Kuranda, Queensland

Kuranda Railway Station, in the Atherton Tablelands of North Queensland, is the inland destination of the Cairns-to-Kuranda Railway, a heritage-listed railway service from the Cairns Region to the Shire of Mareeba, both in Queensland. Kuranda Station is world renowned for its tropical gardens and historic significance. It is possibly one of the most photographed railway stations in the world. The heritage-listed buildings blend with the tropical surrounds providing a relaxed environment to enjoy. The Kuranda Railway Tea Rooms at the station offer a great range of souvenirs and refreshments.

Mining provided the original impetus for building a railway line up to the Atherton Tablelands from Cairns. The Cairns to Kuranda line is part of what was originally built as a railway line linking Cairns to the mining town of Herberton. Parliament approved plans for the first 24 miles (39 km) of the Cairns to Herberton railway in late 1885. The first section opened on 8 October 1887 and the terminus was named Redlynch.



The ascent of the range to Kuranda began with the awarding of the 15 miles (24 km) second section of the contract (Redlynch to Myola) to John Robb of Melbourne in January 1887 for £290,984. Work on the second section began in April 1887. The Cairns Railway's range ascent tunnels represent the largest group of tunnels in Queensland and were the 24th to 38th of the 64 tunnels opened in Queensland from 1866. When Tunnel 15 and Surprise Creek Bridge were completed by 14 March 1891, it marked the end of major works. The last rails were laid for the second section in May 1891 and the line opened for goods traffic to Myola on 15 June; and for passengers 10 days later.



By 1891 Kuranda Station was the most important station on the second section. It became a tourist destination due to its proximity to the Barron Falls. The town of Kuranda was surveyed in 1888 in anticipation of development which would accompany the arrival of the railway and the first station buildings were relocated from Kamerunga after services to the latter location ended in 1891. The station master's house from Kamerunga was also moved to Kuranda, in 1908. By 1913 Kuranda Station included (from north-west to south-east) the office, a separate refreshment room (operated by the proprietor of the Kuranda Hotel from 1894), men's and women's toilets and a goods shed. Construction of the Chillagoe Company's private railway lines from Mareeba to Chillagoe and Forsayth, during 1898-1901 and 1907-1910 respectively increased freight traffic through Kuranda, and tourist traffic was also increasing prior to World War I.




A 1910 report had recommended a new station building at Kuranda on an island platform that could be made ornamental by planting trees. Vincent Price was in charge of the architectural section of the Railway Department's Chief Engineer's Office when the passenger station block, described by the Chief Engineer as "after the style of a Swiss Chalet, the idea being to make Kuranda a show station", was designed in 1911. Modified plans were drawn in 1913-14, and included the main station building (with booking lobby, booking office, waiting shed, ladies' toilets, passage, refreshment room, kitchen, pantry, scullery and kitchen yard); a signal cabin; and a utilities block (with men's toilet, porter's room, store room, and lamp room). Each of these three buildings was constructed of precast concrete units, in a Federation style with a Marseilles terracotta tile roof.

Expansion of the station began in 1913 and continued into 1915. Changes involved the extension of the platform and yard, the signalling and interlocking of the station and the construction of a timber overbridge and new station buildings. The main station building was "nearing completion" by September 1914.[36] Its main spaces survive, although the former refreshment room and kitchen are now the gift shop and cafe, and the former kitchen yard is now a lean-to extension.



One of the earliest stations to be built in Australia using standard precast concrete units, Kuranda is the second oldest remaining example of its type in Queensland. Two earlier examples at Northgate (1911–12) and Chelmer (1913) in Brisbane have both been demolished. A luggage lift from the overbridge to the platform, installed in 1915, was demolished after 1939, but a new lift with a shed at its base has been built since 1994.

The signal cabin included a fully interlocking McKenzie and Holland 37-lever mechanical signal frame (still extant). Before railway "safeworking" systems were computerised and centralised in Queensland, mechanical signals were controlled from signal cabins, which dealt with the traffic on a particular block of railway line.

As well as the station buildings, signals and interlocking, the station was beautified. The ornamental planting proposed in the 1910 scheme was developed by George Wreidt and Bert Wickham, both station masters at Kuranda. The tropical vegetation in the platform's gardens and under the platform shelters helped to soften the lines of the station, which first won the Northern Division of the Railways' Annual Garden Competition in 1915 and was so often the winner in subsequent years that it became folklore that Kuranda won every year.



By 1927 the station included a goods shed to the south-east of the main platform, and a turntable at the north-west end of the station. The current turntable is apparently smaller than the original, which was relocated to Port Douglas. Elements that were present in 1932 which no longer exist include a motor shed by the turntable, and signalman's, ganger's and waitresses' quarters to the south of the station near Arara Street. Due to the position of the station at the top of the range climb the station played a key role in freight handling. Extra trains would usually run to Kuranda where their load was transferred, as trains operating west of Kuranda were able to haul double the load they could carry up the range.

As well as freight services, tourist trains ran to Kuranda, although the tourist service was not a formal part of the public timetable of the Queensland Railways until the 1960s. The tourist potential of the second section was recognised early on, with Cairns Alderman Macnamara in September 1887 calling it a great engineering feat, which "would prove a great attraction to tourists from all parts of the globe". In 1893 local representatives from the Barron Divisional Board met with the Railway Commissioners to discuss a proposed viewing stop on the line for the Barron Falls.

The growth of tourism in Kuranda was linked to the popularity of the passenger services of the Adelaide Steamship Company, the Australian United Steam Navigation Company and Australian Steamships (Howard Smith Ltd). Travellers from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne came to Cairns by ship until the opening of the rail line to Brisbane in 1924. In the early 20th century Queensland Railways published a brochure called "Train Trips While the Steamer Waits" which urged tourists not to miss the unsurpassable natural beauty of the mountains, best seen by taking the train to Kuranda. Another early tourist booklet "The Glory of Kuranda" describes the station as the most picturesque in Queensland. In the late 1930s a "Grandstand Train" ran to Kuranda. This had special carriages with two rows of tiered seats both looking out the same side, through scenic windows.



Tourist travel stopped during the World War II. However, Kuranda was one of the busiest stations at this time handling freight for the many troops which were stationed on the Atherton Tablelands from early 1943 for rest, rehabilitation and training in a malaria-free environment close to New Guinea. Traffic at this time was so great that the road from Cairns to Kuranda was constructed to relieve congestion.

Diesel-electric locomotives were introduced onto the Cairns-Kuranda railway in 1959, and tourism recovered after World War II, with a 100 percent increase in passengers between 1965 and 1975. During the 1960s Kuranda became an alternative lifestyle centre, and the Sunday Markets which began in the late 1970s boosted tourism to the town and the railway station, as did the building of the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway in the mid 1990s. By 2003 some 500,000 people visited Barron Gorge National Park each year via the Kuranda Scenic Railway, often returning on the Skyrail.

The tiled roofs of the station buildings were replaced with plain iron sheet in 1961 which was in turn replaced by ribbed metal sheeting in 1989-90. The southern section of the foot bridge was rebuilt in steel in 1990, and the northern section has since also been replaced in steel. The station master's house survives just to the northwest of the railway station, although its verandahs have been enclosed.