Wishart Siding and the North Australia Railway

The Litchfield Shire area is intersected by both the old and the new railway lines – the Northern Australia line, built from 1886, and the new Alice Springs to Darwin line, completed in 2003.

For historic train buffs, the Wishart Siding buildings (also called the 22 Mile) comprise the most intact relics of the North Australia Railway which can readily be seen from the Stuart Highway. The place name Wishart recognises a contractor who helped construct the railway jetty in Port Darwin. The alternative name, the 22 Mile, reflects the Territory custom of referring to places by the distance from Darwin along the highway or railway. Until closure of the line in 1976 Wishart was the home base for a gang of fettlers who maintained the line south toward AdelaideRiver.

The North Australia Railway was built in 1886 - 1889 as an intended element of a narrow gauge transcontinental railway to serve the goldfields hinterland and then to eventually reach southwards to link Port Darwin with southern Australia by rail.

The line was built by contractors Millar Brothers, with heavy reliance on local Chinese labour. Almost 3000 Chinese and at least 119 Tamils laboured to build the line, under the supervision of 369 whites. Their efforts were astonishingly successful – the line from Palmerston (Darwin) to Pine Creek was completed 19 months ahead of schedule.

However, the line never operated profitably. The goldfields were in decline when the line was completed and traffic demand was dwindling even as the line opened. Despite this disappointment, the line was extended to Katherine between 1914 and 1925, and then to Birdum (near Larrimah) by 1929. Ambitions to push on to Daly Waters and then to Alice Springs to link with the “Ghan” line from Adelaide were frustrated by the economic depression.

But the North Australia Railway paid for itself during World War Two, when the line was busy with as many as twelve trains per day, carrying personnel and supplies within the north Australian war zone. Often, especially during the desperate days of 1942 before the Stuart Highway was completed and when the Japanese enemy pressed down on the north, the railway was the only means of transport to bring men and materials from the south to the northern war zone.

Sections of the line were upgraded in the 1960s to enable heavier loads of iron ore to be carried from FrancesCreek and Mt.Bundey. However, the line was closed in 1976 following damage caused by Cyclone Tracy, the decline of iron ore freights and the recurrent unprofitability.

After this closure many elements of the system, including most buildings and most of the permanent way, were sold for removal. Only some elements of the system now remain, at places such as Wishart.