| Historical notes: | Kyogle railway precinct is located on the North Coast line, the major trunk line from NSW to Queensland. Although originally constructed as an isolated line from Lismore to Murwillumbah in 1894, the importance of connecting the North Coast to the general railway system led to the extension of the line southward to Maitland in 1903. In 1930 the line was connected to the Queensland railway system at South Brisbane (Cottee, 2004).
Kyogle is located 32 kilometres north of Casino on the Summerland Way close to the Queensland border. Exploration of the area began in the 1820s and by 1843 seven stations had leased the entire Upper Richmond, including the area around Kyogle, then known as Fairymount (Kyogle Council website).
The north coast region attracted timber-getters in the early 19th century and the area that became the town of Kyogle was initially established as a lumber camp. Eventually, the region also attracted pastoralists with the Free Selection Bill introduced by the NSW government in the 1860s resulting in the subdivision of large stations into farm selections. Before long there were 551 farms in the district, the great majority of them dairy farms. An organised dairying industry began with the building of a creamery and, in 1905, Kyogle's fast butter factory. In 1901 Kyogle had a population of 51, which increased to 1226 only ten years later. In 1950, when dairying was said to be at its peak, more than 520 dairies were functioning in the Kyogle district. By the late 1970s only 118 remained. Today, there are fewer still (Kyogle Council website).
The single line from Casino to Kyogle opened on 23 June 1910, with the station open for service on the same day. The construction was carried out by the Public Works Department, with work commencing in January 1909 (Forsyth, 2009).
The original and existing station building constructed was a typical example of the skillion roofed, weatherboard-clad buildings used on the branch line network prior to 1917. Such buildings were designed to meet the immediate needs of the area in a cost-effective and functional way. The station building was placed on a timber platform, and contained a ladies waiting room and lavatory, general waiting room, booking/ Station Master’s Office, and a small parcels office. During its early life, the main station building was extended at either end, although the function of rooms remained the same. The building was extended again to include an internal men’s toilet in the early to mid 1970s (SHS, 1996).
Adjacent to the main building was a weatherboard cream shed, originally constructed with every second board missing to allow for cross ventilation, and closed in at an unknown date. Off the platform was a station master’s residence and a combined men’s toilet and lamp room. It is also likely that several station residences were constructed for the station master’s assistants, one of which remains extant (SHS, 1996).
The station yard included a 5-tonne gantry crane and 2-tonne jib crane, a goods shed and platform, a weighbridge, ash pit, water tank, coal stage, turntable, and stockyards; however the stockyards were moved north of the main railway precinct in 1929. In 1944 a signal box was erected on the platform, featuring fibro clad walls and a corrugated steel hipped roof on a pre-cast concrete drop slab base (SHS, 1996).
The station arrangements remained relatively static until the 1970s when the station facilities across the North Coast came under review and signalling was modernised. Consequently, most of the original signal equipment and goods facilities in this region were removed, with the signal box at Kyogle surviving as the last example of its type (Type Q) (SHS, 1996).
Modern photographs indicate few changes have occurred to the exterior of the main station building; however the building did suffer damage from a fire in 2004, but appears to have been restored. The signal box also appears to have undergone few changes. Modern photographs from 2007 also indicate the existence of a communications hut situated behind the signal box, along with the original out-of shed. The elliptical roofed corrugated steel men’s toilet and lamp room structure was removed from the site some time after 1996.
Other changes and additions to the station precinct included the provision of a cover for the goods platform in 1924, the construction of a rail motor shed in the following year, the removal of the cattle loading ramp and overhead water tank in 1984 and 1985, and the removal of the weighbridge in 1989 (Forsyth, 2009). |
