Yarraman Historical Society president Helene Johnson with a photograph of the arrival of the first train in the town in 1913 (from the collection of local resident Kerry Wyvill)

May 17, 2013

Yarraman residents are getting ready for a big day of celebrations on Saturday (May 18) to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first train to town.

There’ll be activities all day at Heritage House in Millar Street, a mountain bike social ride on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and a Yarraman Weir Walk.

But the most popular event is likely to be the Railway Dance which will be held in the Yarraman Community Hall from 7:00pm.

This supper dance will have a European feel with live music and entertainment by Euroband from Hervey Bay.

Yarraman Historical Society president Helene Johnson said a special display of historic photographs, documents and business dockets had been assembled at Heritage House for visitors to peruse.

Some of these belong to the Society, but many are from the private collections of Leon and Kerry Wyvill so it is a good opportunity to bring back a few memories.

At 11:30am, an official commemorative ceremony will be held with the planting of an ironbark and the unveiling of a plaque on the old railway station building, which was shifted to the Heritage House complex in 1998.

During the day, there’ll also be live entertainment, bush poetry, a barbecue, free face-painting and circus workshops, and two draught horses pulling a wagon will also be taking visitors on free rides.

A brief history of the Yarraman railway:

  • Opened 1913
  • First rail motor 1931
  • Last rail motor 1967
  • Last steam train 1969
  • First diesel 1969
  • Line closed 1993
  • Tracks removed 1996
  • Station building relocated 1998
The opening celebrations at the Yarraman Railway station in May 1913