The Myth of the Standard Guage: Rail Guage Choice in Australia, 1850-1901 Author Mills, John Ayres Published 2007 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Business School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/426 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366364 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au THE MYTH OF THE STANDARD GAUGE: RAIL GAUGE CHOICE IN AUSTRALIA, 1850 – 1901 JOHN AYRES MILLS B.A.(Syd.), M.Prof.Econ. (U.Qld.) DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING, FINANCE & ECONOMICS GRIFFITH BUSINESS SCHOOL GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2006 ii ABSTRACT This thesis describes the rail gauge decision-making processes of the Australian colonies in the period 1850 – 1901. Federation in 1901 delivered a national system of railways to Australia but not a national railway system. Thus the so-called “standard” gauge of 4ft. 8½in. had not become the standard in Australia at Federation in 1901, and has still not. It was found that previous studies did not examine cause and effect in the making of rail gauge choices. This study has done so, and found that rail gauge choice decisions in the period 1850 to 1901 were not merely one-off events. Rather, those choices were part of a search over fifty years by government representatives seeking colonial identity/autonomy and/or platforms for election/re-election. Consistent with this interpretation of the history of rail gauge choice in the Australian colonies, no case was found where rail gauge choice was a function of the disciplined search for the best value-for-money option. To the extent to which economic variables were considered in rail gauge choice, the initial cost of construction became the proxy for value in building and operating railways. In Australia engineers’ opinions in the role of advice to governments or parliamentary committees were substituted for rigorous evaluation. These and other findings were reached by reference to primary documentation including companies’ minute books, official correspondence and reports of the proceedings of parliamentary committees, generally missing from earlier studies. This study analyses and interprets them by reference to the history of the “standard” gauge, to the economic and constitutional settings of the time, and by reference to rail gauge choices and decision- making processes in other large developing economies of the time, notably Brazil, India and the United States. In so doing a new narrative and interpretive study of early rail gauge choice in Australia has been created. iii The finding that previous studies of the early development of Australian railways either ignored or misread important documents has led to a reappraisal of the part played by several individuals, including engineers in all four colonies, Lieutenant-Governor LaTrobe and WE Gladstone in his role as Secretary of State for the Colonies and for War. iv DISCLAIMER This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published, or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. ………………………………….. Signed John A Mills v THE MYTH OF THE STANDARD GAUGE: RAIL GAUGE CHOICE IN AUSTRALIA, 1850 – 1901 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ii DISCLAIMER iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii ABBREVIATIONS x 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The Research Question 1 1.2 Methodology 4 1.3 Economics and Railway Technologies 7 1.4 Thesis Structure 10 1.5 Summary 11 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 14 2.1 Introduction 14 2.2 International Sources 14 2.3 Australian Sources 19 2.4 Conclusions 34 3. THE ORIGIN OF THE STANDARD GAUGE 36 3.1 Introduction 36 3.2 Prehistory 37 3.3 Mining Heritage 38 3.4 Managing Mixed Gauges 45 3.5 Conclusions 48 4. THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT 50 4.1 Introduction 50 4.2 Brazil 51 4.3 India 63 4.4 United States of America 72 4.5 Synthesis 85 vi 5. RAIL GAUGE CHOICE IN THE COLONIES 90 5.1 Introduction 90 5.2 New South Wales 91 5.3 Victoria 122 5.4 South Australia 151 5.5 Queensland 163 6. SYNTHESIS 184 7. CONCLUSIONS 192 APPENDICES 1. Operational issues pertaining to mixed rail gauge systems 196 in Australia; extract from Denniss, AG 1942 History of the break of gauge in Australia, Journal of the Institute of Transport, December, pp. 54 – 60 2. Railways, Gladstone, WE; Despatch to Governors, 15 January 1846 198 3. Despatch, Earl Grey to Fitzroy, untitled, 30 June 1848 201 4. Report to the Board of Undertakers of the Adelaide City & Port 202 Railway, B Herschel Babbage 5. A chronology of selected secondary sources about railways and 204 railway gauge in Australia. BIBLIOGRAPHY 221 A. MANUSCRIPTS 222 A.1 Commonwealth of Australia 222 A.2 New South Wales 222 A.3 Victoria 222 A. 4 South Australia 223 B. CONTEMPORARY PRINTED MATERIAL 224 C. PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS 227 C.1 United Kingdom 227 C.2 Commonwealth of Australia 227 C.3 New South Wales 228 C.4 Victoria 229 C.5 South Australia 230 C.6 Queensland 230 D. THESES 231 E. SECONDARY PRINTED WORKS 232 E.1 Books 232 E.2 Journal Articles 244 vii LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES Page Table 1.1 Principal Railway Track Gauges, 2000 3 Regions/Countries with more than one Gauge Table 1.2 Track Lengths by Gauge (km.) 3 Australia 30 March 2003 Table 4.1 Ownership Structure Brazilian Railways: 1911 59 Table 4.2 Gauge Diversity USA – late 1860s 77 Selected Railroads Figure 5.1 Railways Built in South East Australia by Decade 1861 – 1891 181 Figure 5.2 Railways Built in Queensland by Decade 1861 – 1891 182 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If ever a lesson were needed that teams can accomplish something which individuals cannot, the production of a work such as this proves it. I have many people to thank for contributing to this product. First is my wife, who wholeheartedly supported our investment of time, money and effort in the venture, and who undertook the word processing of countless drafts. Secondly my supervisors, Associate Professor John Forster, Dr. Peter Ross, and earlier, Dr. Kyle Bruce supplied critical comments which were invariably constructive and stimulating. Jan Noble was a long-suffering constructive critic of style. A number of people contributed generously of their time and thinking some of whom must have had much more to do than cope with unsolicited requests from a student from half a world away whom they did not know. They include Professor Robin Cowan, Professor of Economics of Technical Change at the Maastricht Economic Research Institute, University of Maastricht; Professor Iskender Gokalp, Director, Laborataire de Combustion & Systèmes Réactifs, Federation de Recherche EPEE, University of Orleans; Andy Guy, then Researcher, Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum; The Honourable Dr. John Herron, Australian Ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See; Professor Philip Laird, University of Wollongong; Dr Colin Lewis, London School of Economics; Dr Michael Lewis, University of Hull and author of Early Wooden Railways; Snr Paulo Roberto Cimo Queiroz of Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados; Tarcisio Resende of the Embassy of Brazil in Canberra; Professor Maria Teresa Ribeiro de Oliveira of the University of Brazil; T. Grant Rowe of Mannum, South Australia and Professor WR Summerhill, University of California, Los Angeles. I am especially grateful to Dr Michael Lewis, who provided a critique of Chapter 3. I visited the State Archives in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, and the State Libraries of Victoria (including the LaTrobe collection), Queensland and South Australia. I made extensive use of the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland, and I used the Parliamentary Libraries in Brisbane, Canberra and the House of Commons. Their staffs were always friendly, helpful and diligent, and I owe them much. ix Finally, special thanks are due to Catherine Ashley, Sharon Klein and staff in the Inter Library Loans section of the Griffith University Library. I would have been quite unable to work without them and their very special talent for procuring distant and sometimes obscure material. I alone am responsible for the errors. x ABBREVIATIONS ARA Australian Railway Association ch. Chapter CYB Commonwealth Year Book EIC East India Company EIRC East Indian Railway Company F Financial year FC Ferro Carrile (iron road) ft. foot; feet GDP Gross domestic product GIP Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company GWR Great Western Railway (Company) in./ins. inch(es) LA Legislative Assembly LC Legislative Council m. metre NSW New South Wales PP Parliamentary Papers (UK Parliament) p./pp. page/pages Q Queensland Q Pp Queensland Parliamentary Papers QYB Queensland Year Book RN Royal Navy SA South Australia SAPP South Australian Parliamentary Papers SMH Sydney Morning Herald SRC Sydney Railway Company UK United Kingdom US United States USA United States of America V Victoria V&P Votes & Proceedings V&P NSW LC(A) Votes & Proceedings New South Wales Legislative Council or Assembly 1 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Research Question “How did Australia’s mixed rail gauge systems come about?” The history of rail gauge choice in Australia is poorly understood. It is characterised by oversimplification and distortion, and in some cases, its arguments are methodologically and substantively unsound. To the extent to which decisions of the future depend on our accurate understanding of the past, it is as well to document that understanding. This thesis does so. The decisions that led to Australia’s mixed rail gauge systems are between one hundred and one hundred and fifty years old, yet they have a contemporary echo.