The opening of the Brisbane to Sandgate railway service was a momentous occurrence. Regrettably, though, not every event associated with the line’s inauguration went as smoothly as it could have.
Take, for example, the ceremonial laying of the last rail of the line at the Sandgate terminus in February 1882. The mayor, Mr Deagon, having undertaken this duty (with a specially presented “workmanlike set of tools”), the official party, comprising business leaders, aldermen and railway officials, adjourned to a nearby hotel where dinner was served.
However, the event, which should have been marked by solemn celebration and congratulatory speeches, quickly degenerated into “a state of general disorder and excitement” characterised by “scuffles and uproar”, with speakers (admittedly there were a great many) being “hissed and laughed at”, some miscreants even having to be ejected from the room.
One speaker “flourished his (full) glass above his head” so enthusiastically that he splashed all those seated near him. While perhaps not the “drunken orgy” reported by one newspaper, the occasion nevertheless conceivably lacked a certain gravitas.
Questionable behaviour was not confined to the official party. When attendees of the lunch “ambled” back to the station for the return trip to Brisbane, they found “a lively state of things” with “crowds of tipsy navvies” indulging in drunken fisticuffs; this spectacle, apparently, “exceedingly amusing” to onlookers.
The Grand Opening and Its Missteps
Neither did the day of the grand opening of the line, on 1 May 1882, proceed entirely smoothly. First of all, the train carrying the vice-regal party took only 25 minutes (a record possibly never bettered to this day) to come from Brisbane, which meant they arrived earlier than expected, resulting in there being no one on the platform to greet the governor, leaving him and his companions to entertain themselves for the 10 minutes it took for the mayoral party to appear.
Speeches ensued, the mayor welcoming the governor, who replied in kind adding, perhaps ungraciously, that had he not been so mindful of the importance of the occasion, he would not have attended on account of “feeling exceedingly unwell” with asthma. The official parties then adjourned to a marquee set up by Mr Drouyn of the Osbourne Hotel where luncheon was served for 400 people.
Absent from the proceedings were the children of Sandgate who were to have met his excellency with a rendition of the national anthem but were, according to the Brisbane Courier, “prevented from doing so by a slight mistake”.
These setbacks notwithstanding, a satisfactory day passed and the line was opened, to our continuing benefit.
[With thanks to the Sandgate Historical Museum (opening hours: Sunday and Wednesday, 9am to 1.30pm. Adults $5, Children $3, Membership $20/$30).
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