This column has carried the story of the Gippsland railway before. It has covered the history of almost every mile of track, open and closed. There is always, though, something more to be learned. Always.
It is 40 years this year since the township and district of Nilma celebrated its 100th anniversary Bloomfield - end of the line, in a way in 1985 and in connection with those celebrations a rather good book was published by the Nilma Centenary Committee, with the help of a formidable research team. This is not a review of that book, but if you come across it read it.
I know a fair bit (however big a fair bit might be) about the Gippsland railway systems. I even know a little bit (smaller than a fair bit) about the tramways that served the timber industry along the lines of the main railways. I had not realised that the Bloomfield railway station, later to be called Nilma, was a fairly important little terminus for a number of tramways and that a very great tonnage of timber was brought in there for railing to Melbourne.
There were timber tramlines running to the Warragul and Darnum stations as well. Indeed, there were many such little tramlines along the Gippsland line. The Cropley family ran a tramline from Ellinbank in to the Darnum station. They called their mill Gainsborough and that became the name of the locality. Their line was a fairly sophisticated one, with steel rails and a steam locomotive. Most tramlines used wooden rails and horse - or bullock-drawn 'trams'.
These small lines were built because there were few roads into the timber country and because the roads were usually impassable for heavy loads of timber.
The lines served to provide access and supply routes for the small communities that grew up near the mills. Cropleys employed 24 men at Gainsborough and there were four other mills using their tramline, so it served as a 'road' for a considerable number of people. The forests were very dense and the timber grew tall and straight. On one 320-acre block it is said that 32,000 pounds worth of timber was cut, and that was in 1900 prices!
The timber cut in the Nilma area was bluegum, blackwood, mountain ash and mess mate. When the railways came through in 1878 the timbermen began to harvest this valuable 'crop' and there was agitation for a siding to handle loading. The siding was built at the Bloomfield station in 1883 but it was built on the southern side of the line. The best stands were to the north.
Biggs had a locomotive working this line, apparently built by his son. These were amazing men. The mill burned down in 1885 but was rebuilt and operated for another three years. It was common for the mills to burn, in bushfires or in their own sawdust and offcut fires, but the structures were usually very basic and easily replaced.
William Watkins Gunn and William Amos were apparently the next millers to join the tramway network running down to Bloomfield. The two men opened a mill partly to make a quid from the timber but also to help clear their land. Gunn and Amos later moved up to Gainsborough, apparently because most of the good timber had been cut out. A somewhat larger company, the Bloomfield Sawmill and Tramway Company, was formed in 1884 from the George Brothers' interests. R. Butler George was the main shareholder and the manager. John George left the timber trade to concentrate on farming.
Though it is true that the township was largely north of the line it seems that nearly all the stations on the line have their sidings on the south side of the main line. I don't know if there is any real reason for this but it might have something to do with the shunting of loaded and unloaded wagons. There is an 'up' line and a 'down' line. For obvious reasons rail lines are usually one way, though this was not the case in 1883.
According to Williams the first sawmill to use a tramline to Bloomfield was that of John and Butler George. Their mill was closer to Warragul than to Nilma but the Warragul road was atrocious, so they built a tramline down to Hazel Creek, a few hundred yards west of the station. This meant additional handling before the timber was on the rail trucks. This mill was operating as soon as the siding was built.
In 1884 a new siding was built on the north side of the line, specifically to serve the timber traffic and the line the Georges were using was extended to bring their timber right into the yards. In 1883 Joseph Smith had built a small mill northeast of Bloomfield, using road transport. He could not manage the poor condition of the tracks and built a tram line in 1885. In 1888 he moved his operations to Ellinbank and may have been one of the millers to use the Cropley tram line.
In March 1885 A.E. Biggs, owner of a mill south of Warragul, asked the Shire Council for permission to build a new tramline from his new mill northeast of Nilma down Bloomfield Road to join the George's tramline near were two George Brothers mills at this time. One was the No 1 Mill already referred to and the No. 2 Mill was further down near the tramline and nearer to Bloomfield.
In June 1885 the No. 1 moved to a point a mile and a half north of Bloomfield, on John Moffat's property. It was known as Moffat's Forest Mill but was destroyed by fire only 18 months later. The No. 2 mill was moved to a point a little north of this and used a tramline extended from Moffat's Forest Mill.
I could go at length about the tramlines and mills, and it is a story that was repeated in towns all along the railway. There are a couple of good books you can find which take it much further than room allows here, too. Just remember, and just imagine, the work our pioneers put in to make this industry possible, an industry that was vital to the growth of Melbourne as much as to the growth of Gippsland.
No chainsaws, no bulldozers. No motor trucks. Just determination, courage and a willingness to work hard. Gippsland is a very lucky part of the Lucky Country, and much of that luck has been made for us in the forests that once covered the rich pastures we now have along the line. We do owe a real debt to our pioneers.