Wee MacGregor railway is a heritage-listed tramway and railway associated with the former towns of Ballara and Hightville in the locality of Kuridala, Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1909 to 1926. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 March 2019.
History.
The Wee MacGregor tram and rail complex and the former towns of Ballara and Hightville are located in the Argylla Ranges between Cloncurry and Mount Isa in North West Queensland, in the traditional country of the Kalkadoon people. Constructed during an early 20th century boom in copper prices, the now-abandoned mining towns of Hightville and Ballara were surveyed in 1913 and 1914 respectively. The former western terminus (near Ballara) of a private narrow gauge railway line was constructed 1913-14 and a private gauge tramway, was constructed 1914-15 between Ballara and the Wee MacGregor mine. The complex includes a long ore transfer stage (c. 1914), and a long tunnel (1914–15).
The town of Cloncurry was surveyed in the 1870s to support the local mining and pastoral industries. Pastoralist Ernest Henry had discovered copper nearby in 1867 and established the "Great Australia" (or Great Australian) mine. Part of the area was proclaimed a goldfield in 1874, and the Cloncurry Mining District (later the Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field) was proclaimed in 1883. In 1885 Cloncurry was described as "A copper-mining centre and township on the River Cloncurry", with a population of 754. The Cloncurry Mineral Field was proclaimed in 1905, and the Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field in January 1913. Copper was discovered south of Cloncurry in 1884, and a town was formed in 1898 called Hampden (later called Kuridala, now heritage-listed as the Kuridala Township site). At Mount Elliot, south of Hampden, copper was discovered in 1899 and mining commenced in 1906 at the Mount Elliott Mining Complex.
The absence of a railway initially hampered the effective exploitation of Cloncurry's mineral resources. The closure of the Great Australia mine in 1887 meant a proposed railway from Normanton was diverted to Croydon as the Gulflander (1888–91), but when copper prices rose in 1905 the Queensland Government decided to extend the Great Northern Railway west from Richmond, and the first construction train reached Cloncurry in December 1907. In 1906-07 copper averaged £87 a ton on the London market, the highest price for 30 years.
Mining activity was increasing on the Cloncurry field even before the railway arrived. By March 1906, copper had been discovered as an outcrop at the Wee MacGregor lease, west-southwest of Cloncurry. The MacGregor ore body was discovered by Jack White in 1904 and James Peberdy, from Victoria, purchased seven leases in 1905, and later created the MacGregor Cloncurry Copper Mines Company. The Leichhardt Development Syndicate was formed in October 1906 to develop the Wee MacGregor "group" of mines, which included the Wee MacGregor, Grand Central, Wattle, and Wallaroo leases, and two months later MacGregor Cloncurry Copper Mines (the MacGregor Company) was floated in London. Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Ltd, and Mount Elliot Limited, two companies which later dominated the Cloncurry field during World War I (WWI), were also floated in 1906. In November 1906 tenders were called to sink 100 ft (30m) shafts on the Wee MacGregor, Wallaroo, and Grand Central leases.
A survey plan from January 1907 shows two shafts on the Wee MacGregor lease, and one shaft on the Wallaroo lease. By October 1907 there were three prospecting shafts on the Wee MacGregor lease. That year, with a population of 650 miners (almost double that of 1906), the Cloncurry field produced 5.6% of Queensland's copper. The Great Australia mine also reopened in 1907 (Jane Lennon &amp; Associates, and H Pearce, Mining Heritage Places Study, p.xxvi). By July 1908 the MacGregor Company was employing 70 men, not including mine officials, and during 1908 a telephone link with Cloncurry was established and tenders were called for a mail service.
By 1909 a settlement, including company offices and a store, was developing near the Wallaroo mine, located about 1 km southeast of the Wee MacGregor mine. That year John Frost constructed the MacGregor Hotel on the site of Hightville. The hotel was listed under "Hightville" in Wise's Post Office Directory of 1911, although the town of Hightville was not surveyed until November 1913. In early 1909, the main camp for the Wee MacGregor mine was at the Wallaroo mine. The offices and store at the camp were lit by acetylene gas. Edith Edwards was the licensed victualler at the MacGregor Hotel, and from 1912 to 1920, Pierce Edwards is at the MacGregor Hotel. Hightville was surveyed into quarter acre (0.1ha) blocks in November 1913. The MacGregor Hotel is shown adjacent to the road on a 3-acre block within the town.
Isolation threatened the economic viability of the Wee MacGregor group of mines. Ore was first drayed to Cloncurry along a rough road in May 1909, but this form of transport was uneconomic. One option for the MacGregor Company was to build a private mining railway, as had been done elsewhere in Queensland, e.g. the Chillagoe railway (built 1898–1901), the Mount Garnet railway (1901–02), and the Etheridge railway (1907–10), which were all 3 ft 6in gauge, as well as 2 ft tramways from Boonmoo to Stannary Hills (1901–02), and Stannary Hills to Irvinebank (1906–07). Such railways were part of a wider pattern in Queensland during the late 19th-early 20th century: the construction of private and local government railways and tramways to transport the products of mining, as well as timber and agricultural produce. However, the MacGregor Company could not afford a private railway to "Marabah" (Marraba), the closest point on the Mount Elliott railway, away.
Another option was for the company to contribute towards a state-owned railway, as had occurred with the railway from Cloncurry to Mount Elliott, via Hampden. The cost of this railway, which opened in 1910, was split 50/50 between the Kidston Government and The Mount Elliott Company. The railway ran from Cloncurry via Malbon and Hampden to the town of Selwyn (next to the Mount Elliott mine), 72 miles from Cloncurry. In September 1910 the MacGregor Company proposed a branch line from Malbon, on the Mount Elliott railway, under similar terms, and the government agreed to split the cost of a line survey and plans.
In June 1911 the MacGregor Company sought government support for a shorter branch line, this time linking to the state railway being built southwest from Malbon towards Sulieman Creek. Government officials were sceptical about the profitability and lifespan of the Wee MacGregor group of mines, despite the company estimating reserves of 100,000 tons of ore (most from the Wee MacGregor mine). Instead of a 50-50 funding arrangement for a state owned branch line, the government agreed to rent the MacGregor Company the rails they needed to construct a private line. By January 1912, a network of railways was spreading out from Cloncurry to the surrounding copper mines: the Mount Elliott Railway served the Hampden and Mount Elliott mines to the south of Cloncurry. The railway to Sulieman Creek was designed to link up with "Great Western Railway", a line from Bourke, New South Wales, to Darwin, Northern Territory, which was never built. The Duchess mines, southwest of Cloncurry, were to be served by the Malbon to Sulieman Creek Railway, while a Cloncurry to Mount Cuthbert Railway was planned to the northwest of Cloncurry and the MacGregor line would serve mines west-southwest of Cloncurry.
Queensland's Railways Commissioner, Charles Evans, inspected the proposed route to the Wee MacGregor mine in July 1912, and the Railway Department's Engineer, Percy Ainscow, proposed a "no-frills" railway, with a wide formation, reduced earthworks, less side drainage, cheap concrete culverts and the minimum of bridges.
The company's branch line was proposed at an opportune time. In 1912, the Cloncurry field produced 45% of Queensland's annual production of copper, with annual copper earnings now exceeding gold's earnings. There were 1485 copper miners on the field, which was the "foremost producer of copper in the State". By July 1912, 7000 tons of ore were sitting on the surface at the Wee MacGregor mine, awaiting transport, along with 1200 tons from other mines.
The Wee MacGregor Tramway Agreement Bill was introduced to Queensland Parliament in November 1912. The legislation's title uses the term "tramway" possibly because the railway was built on a "tramway" mining lease, granted under The Mining Acts, 1898–1910. The legislation proposed that the MacGregor Company pay for the construction and maintenance of a private "tramway" (actually a narrow gauge railway), long, from the Malbon to Sulieman Creek Railway to a terminus at or near the Wee MacGregor mine. The Commissioner for Railways would provide steel rails, fish plates, fastenings, sleepers and other permanent way materials. The company would pay 5% per year "rent" on the cost of the materials supplied by the government, which had the power to acquire the line. By 2 December 1912, the company involved in the proposal had become the Hampden Company, which purchased the Wee MacGregor group of mines from the Macgregor Company for £108,750. The purchase cost was paid in two instalments of £54,375, and the second instalment was paid on 10 June 1913.
Despite the Labor Party's concern about a company gaining a competitive advantage from a private railway line, The Wee MacGregor Tramway Agreement Act 1912 was passed on 4 December 1912. Walter Paget, Minister for Railways, noted the difference from previous private sector-government railway agreements, with less government exposure to risk. Instead of half the estimated £92,000 cost of the railway, the government would only invest £27,000 in materials, and would not be liable for any operating losses. The government also included a provision that the company could only charge 25% above government transport rates, rather than the usual 50%.
Work started on the railway in early 1913, supervised by Ainscow. MacGregor Junction (Devoncourt), on the Malbon to Sulieman Creek railway, was the location of the main construction camp. The steepest grade for the railway was 1 in 40, with a minimum curve radius of . By April 1913 about 200 men were employed on the project. By April 1913, all formation works and cuttings were finished to the Malbon River, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of MacGregor Junction, which by then had a telegraph office, a general store, slaughter yards, butcher and baker.
The railway was planned as far as the Wallaroo mine, located east of the town of Hightville, but in late 1913 the Hampden Company decided that, due to the steep, difficult terrain near Hightville, the railway would be shortened, with the terminus now from MacGregor Junction. The remainder of the route to Hightville, and beyond to the Wee MacGregor mine, would now be traversed by a gauge tramway, which could accommodate tighter curves and steeper grades than the railway. The 3 ft 6in line's route from MacGregor Junction initially headed northwest, crossed the Malbon River near both the 5 and 10 mile (8 km and 16 km) marks, and then travelled south of the river, past the Pindora siding near the 14 mile (22.5 km) mark, before crossing the Malbon River again near the 15 mile (24 km) mark. It then headed north along the east side of Jimmy's Creek, before turning west and heading along the north side of Jimmy's Creek to Ballara.
A railway station and goods shed were constructed on the northern side of the town of Ballara, where a triangular junction was located. Ballara, situated at "Lady Lease Flats", was surveyed in June 1914. A sale of town lots was scheduled for 14 August 1914, with upset prices for the lots ranging from £10 to £30. The outbreak of WWI led to the sale's cancellation, and by the time a sale of 36 lots was held on 24 February 1915, prices had trebled. Ballara was originally called "Mineral" and the latter name continued in use for some time after the Town of Ballara was surveyed. Facilities at Ballara included a post office, established in late 1914, and a police reserve was gazetted at the west end of the town in 1915. A district hospital was established by August 1918, on north of the turning triangle. The Ballara Hotel existed by 1918, although it burnt down on 27 April 1918, and again in April 1919. A state school was approved in May 1919, and opened in July 1919. A cemetery reserve was also gazetted, northeast of the hospital reserve, replacing the