September 15, 2023
Mark you diaries … on Sunday, September 14, 2053, an important occasion has been scheduled for Wondai’s Coronation Park!
On that day, a time capsule containing information from 2023 will be lifted out of a sandstone plinth for examination.
Inside, the good citizens of the town will find information about the history of Wondai, photos, drawings and colouring-ins of trains, and (they’ll have to hunt around for some old technology) USB sticks.
The plinth containing the time capsule was officially unveiled in a small ceremony on Thursday evening, exactly 120 years after the first passenger train steamed into Wondai.
The trains have long gone but their memory remains, as does the town which grew up quickly around the railhead.
Local resident and history buff Noel Selway wasn’t about to let this important anniversary go unnoticed, so he encouraged the formation of a small committee to create the “Steaming Back To Wondai” celebration.
The time capsule and erection of the plinth were organised in just a couple of months, at a speed that astonished South Burnett councillors who pitched in to help.
The unveiling ceremony was compered by Cr Kathy Duff who invited local schoolgirl Willow Palmer to help as she has a piece of artwork inside the capsule.
Cr Duff pointed out that Willow would be one of the few people present who would be around to see the time capsule opened in 30 years.
Wakka Wakka Elder Eric Law AM did the Welcome to Country, saying the arrival of the first steam train 120 years ago would have been watched in astonishment by his ancestors.
Noel related some history about the coming of rail, part of a Queensland Government plan to take a line from Kilkivan as far as the 56 Mile Peg (now Kingaroy).
“Work began from Kilkivan with day labour, which averaged 278 men, in March 1901,” Noel said.
The line reached Goomeri on August 1, 1902.
“The land surveyed for the establishment of the railhead at Wondai was given as where the post road to Nanango and Mondure crossed the proposed railway right of way,” he said.
“It is in this location the commemorative stone has been placed.
“Work on the Goomeri to Wondai section of 19 miles saw the earthwork complete by July 13, 1903, and the line opened to traffic on September 14.”
Passenger trains consisted of two carriages, at most, hauled by a B13 class locomotive.
“The B13 was lightweight and it was necessarily so as the track was laid on freshly turned earthwork,” Noel continued. “The track wasn’t metal ballasted until the mid-1920s.”
The Mondure Hotel had already been built opposite the proposed railway station, and a row of businesses down to the intersection of what became Mackenzie and Scott street (the post road from Nanango to Mondure) followed soon afterwards.
“Wondai was on its way.”
- Related article: Wondai Celebration Steams Ahead
