The coming of the railway was usually a grand occasion for any community, often marked with banquets, dignitaries, and parades, but for Jeparit, when this occurred 130 years ago on 19 June 1894, it was a little more low-key.

The township of Jeparit was surveyed in the late 1880s and it didn’t take long for agitation to begin to have it connected to the expanding Victorian railway network, but how this would be achieved became quite a saga which included competing routes, political interference, and even a confrontation that resulted in a local threatening a Government Minister.

Significant considerations before any new line was authorised were the quality of the farmland and the number of properties it would serve, with the area around Netherby identified as a prime candidate for this service.

In 1890, a proposed line from Dimboola to Werrap (northeast of Lake Hindmarsh) via Jeparit was included in a Railway Construction Bill presented to the Victorian Parliament, which prompted other interested communities to begin lobbying to have their proposals considered to link the northern Wimmera to the railway network. These included lines branching northward off the mainline at Nhill, Salisbury, or Tarranginnie, and a line westward from Warracknabeal.

Due to their relatively short length, the short branches off the mainline in the Nhill area were not seriously considered, which left the Warracknabeal and Dimboola options as the most viable.

With at least two credible options that would pass through their town, Jeparit residents were confident of getting a rail link and were not overly concerned about where it came from, leaving much of the lobbying to the potential branch stations, which would also gain considerable economic benefits if chosen.

The main selling point for the Warracknabeal option, claimed mainly by those who lived along the route, was that it would serve more properties and better quality farming land, while the big picture for the Dimboola option was that it would form part of a trunk line linking the Murray River near Mildura with the Victorian ports at Portland and Warrnambool with the intention of diverting the river transport trade from the South Australian ports to Victoria.

After the Chairman of the Railway Commissioners and Engineer-in-Chief of the Railways visited the Wimmera in 1891, they confirmed their recommendation that lines from Dimboola to Werrap with a branch from Jeparit to Netherby should be built.

To counter this, the advocates of the Warracknabeal option requested that their proposed route be inspected, which prompted the plans for the announced preferred route to be suspended in early 1892, pending further investigation.

Over the next few years, considerable space was taken up in the local newspapers, with letters to the editor bestowing the advantages of each option.

In September 1892, an inspection of the most suitable route to construct a railway to Netherby recommended the route from Warracknabeal via Cannum, Jeparit, and Lorquon to the Engineer in Chief of the Victorian Railways, which the supporters of this route viewed as an endorsement that it would be built.

In early 1893, a private consortium proposed to construct the Dimboola to Lake Albacutya, but the government did not accept this as there were still hopes that the line would form part of the line to Mildura, and it was considered inappropriate to have a privately managed section within a longer Government-run line.

In July of that year, the debate became more political when the Premier, who was also Minister of Railways, unexpectedly proposed to parliament the construction of the railway lines from Dimboola to Jeparit and Boort to Quambatook, with the secondary aim of providing work for the unemployed. This was particularly unusual as the standard procedure was for such recommendations to come from the Standing Committee for Railways, not the Minister.

As expected, this intensified the debate, with the supporters of the Dimboola route revelling in the ‘win’ and the others not conceding defeat but plotting how they would continue to promote their option.

Disappointment was also expressed about including two lines in the proposal, which meant the vote could only be for either both or neither, not one or the other.

The Warracknabeal interests strongly condemned the decision, citing it as a breaking of a promise by the Premier to thoroughly investigate their option before making a decision, and they even sent another deputation to Melbourne to address this with him.

Amid fierce debate, the railway construction was temporarily withdrawn, but on 11 September 1893, Royal Assent was given to the Dimboola and Boort Railways Construction Act 1893, and the die was cast.

Jeparit would get its railway via a branch line from Dimboola.

Unusually, the line was authorised even before a survey had been carried out, so this commenced within days, and construction started in November 1893.

During the 1893/94 harvest, farmers along the line began to stockpile their grain at the new station yards, eagerly awaiting the trains that would dramatically cut the cost of transporting their produce to market.

Although the project progressed quickly compared to today’s standards, those waiting to get their grain sold promptly became anxious about the time it was taking.

This led to an unfortunate verbal confrontation between a local and the Minister for Railways when he was on an inspection tour of the several lines under construction in the Wimmera and Mallee.
THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS IN THE MALLEE

A CROSS COUNTRY TRIP

VIOLENT SCENE AT JEPARIT

At Jeparit the Minister of Railways was met by a deputation of local residents, who urged that the completion of the line to Dimboola should not be further delayed.

All the earth works have been finished for some time, but no sleepers or rails have been laid. Mr Richardson promised that the works should be pushed on as rapidly as possible, but said the department was short of rails, and he also pointed out that the local league had been unwise in not completing its arrangements for handing over to the department all the land required for the line.

This statement was vehemently denied by a Mr Scott, and before the interview, he created some unpleasantness by making a gross and unprovoked personal attack upon the Minister of Railways, whose statements he arrogantly contradicted. After Mr Richardson had resented this uncivil tone, Scott said he was “as good a man as Mr Richardson,” who characterised Mr Scott as “an impudent fellow.” Scott, who it appears was erstwhile a mallee squatter, offered to do personal violence to the Minister, but his friends intervened, not, however, before Mr Richardson had threatened to put his fist in Mr Scott’s face if he again approached him and Mr Scott had said he would spit on the Minister.

Naturally, after arguments of this sort, the interview closed in much admired disorder, and Mr Richardsonn and his party immediately ordered out the buggies and, shaking off the dust of Jeparit, departed on an inspection of the works completed on the line to Dimboola.

- Horsham Times – Friday 12 January 1894
Upon its opening, the branch was 23 miles long, with intermediate stations at Antwerp and Tarranyurk (the third siding, now known as Arkona was opened in 1905 as Katyil), with the terminus at Jeparit and no significant bridges or cuttings along the line. For almost its entire length, the line runs in the road reserve on the east side of the road.

When the first official train steamed into Jeparit on 19 June 1894, many locals were frustrated with the delays, and they were already criticising the proposed timetable of three return services per week, as it would provide a worse service regarding mail delivery.
The Dimboola to Jeparit extension, a distance of 23 miles, with intermediate stations at Antwerp and Tarranyurk, was opened for passenger and goods traffic yesterday. Trains will, in future run from Dimboola on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 10.30 a.m., returning from Jeparit on the same days at 2 p.m. However, as already reported, an effort is being made to secure a daily train. The running of the coach from Dimboola, which has been taking place for the past twelve months, has been discontinued.

-----

After many delays our railway is at last an accomplished fact, and yesterday for the first time the train, with passengers and goods, arrived here. Most of the residents turned out to welcome its arrival, and flags were flying from the principal buildings in honor of the event. The train consisted of four or five trucks of goods, a composite carriage for first and second class passengers, and a guard’s van. The carriage was fairly well filled with passengers, and should this continue there is no doubt the commissioners will see the necessity of running a daily train, as the present arrangements leave us in a worse position as regards mails than under the old system.

- Jeparit Ensign - Wednesday 20 June 1894
The debate about the trunk line to Mildura continued for another six years until a decision was made in 1900 that the line from Donald would be extended northward through Ouyen to the Murray, although the line from Jeparit was extended to Rainbow in 1899 and eventually as far as Turkey Bottom, renamed as Yaapeet, in 1914.

After waiting another twenty-two years, Netherby finally got its rail link when the branch line from Jeparit to Lorquon was extended to Yanac in 1916.


The first timetable for the Dimboola to Jeparit railway - Jeparit Leader - 27 June 1894.