On This Day - August 4th 1929
The first passenger train departs Adelaide on the Ghan railway line to Alice Springs.
Early settlements in central Australia were isolated by more than distance. Tracks were rough and unsuitable for standard coaches. For many years, outback sheep and cattle stations and other remote settlements such as mining outposts relied on camel trains to bring them necessary goods, supplies and news from settled areas. Not being native to Australia, camels were imported from India, and they required handlers to be brought from India, Afghanistan and Persia. They followed the route taken by explorer John McDouall Stuart, the first recorded European to successfully cross central Australia from south to north, and to return alive.
The concept of a railway line to replace the camel trains was proposed largely as a result of Stuart's exploration, which was instrumental in the building of the Overland Telegraph Line. The first sod marking the beginning of construction of the original Ghan track was turned at Port Augusta in 1878 by the then premier of South Australia, Mr William Jervois. The first section of the railway reached Government Gums in 1881. Government Gums is now known as Farina. The next stage of the line was extended to Marree in 1882, then Oodnadatta in 1891. Premier Jervois envisioned the line eventually reaching Darwin, something that he certainly did not see in his lifetime. It was several decades before the next stage of the railway was begun, in 1926. This was to be the section that would connect Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. It was finally completed in 1929.
The original Ghan train was called the Afghan Express, a name which was soon shortened to just "The Ghan". It was named The Ghan because it followed the tracks of the Afghan camel teams which used to make the trek across central Australia. The first train trip of the Ghan pulled out of Adelaide station on 4 August 1929, with 120 passengers on board. The train now travels through the centre of Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, in the south, and Darwin, in the north, a total journey of 2979 kilometres, as the section between Alice Springs and Darwin was completed in 2004.