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1 Office of Economic and Statistical Research discover more about historical Queensland Q150 Digital Books Section Details Name: Queensland Past and Present: 100 Years of Statistics, Section name: Chapter 6, Transport, Section 4 Pages: Printing notes (Adobe Acrobat): For best results Page Scaling should be set to Fit to Printable Area. Auto Rotate and Center should also be checked. Licence for use: This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the authors. Return to Q150 Collection: The State of Queensland 2009

2 QUEENSLAND PAST AND PRESENT River transport Rivers in Queensland were not sufficiently navigable to accommodate the traffic that developed on the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers, which took produce to markets in Melbourne and Adelaide. Wool from south-western Queensland was later taken across the New South Wales border to be loaded at Bourke for transporting by steamer down the unpredictable Darling River. In the nineteenth century, river ports were established at centres removed from the coast. As the size of vessels increased, access to these river ports became more restricted. Port facilities were relocated from Rockhampton to Port Alma and from Brisbane to the Fisherman Islands, while towns like Normanton and Maryborough declined as port centres. Various ferries and punts have conveyed people, vehicles and goods across rivers since the nineteenth century; for example, a passenger and vehicular ferry operated between the southern and northern banks of the Brisbane River by Most services were superseded by bridges, although some did continue well into the motor age, for example, Meyers Ferry which carried vehicles across the Nerang River at Southport before construction of the Jubilee Bridge. A resurgence in passenger ferry usage led to the establishment in 1996 of Brisbane's City Cat ferry service which caters more for tourism and recreational purposes and as an alternative for commuters than as an essential means of crossing the river. AIR TRANSPORT The miracle of flight Aircraft appeared in Queensland about a decade after the first motor vehicles. The first aeroplane recorded in Queensland was a cloth and wood machine that glided onto the slopes of Herston near the Royal Children's Hospital in Later that year there was a powered aircraft flight at the Rockhampton Show and Bert Hinkler demonstrated his second glider at the Bundaberg Show. Aircraft that appeared at shows were frail, being made of wood braced with wires and covered in fabric. Their top speed was about 100 km/h. Their load capacity was limited and the distance covered was short due to their inability to carry large amounts of fuel. Frequent stops meant that express mail trains were much quicker. World War I transformed aircraft from 'flying toys' to fighting machines. The Australian Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force, was part of the Royal Flying Corps and engaged in aerial combat over the skies of the Middle East, Belgium and France. The war improved the technical capabilities of aircraft, but upon their return to Australia the pilots found no civilian airlines to employ them. They wished to continue their flying, and many earned their livings giving joy-rides and aerobatics displays. Brisbane's first landing ground was at the Exhibition Grounds while racecourses and parks, and even beaches, were used in provincial towns and cities. As the design of aircraft continued to improve, they became more reliable, faster and larger, and could fly further without refuelling. Long distance flying records were established throughout the world. Charles Kingsford Smith had crossed the Pacific Ocean between North America and Australia, and the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand. Ross Smith flew 192

3 TRANSPORT from Cairo to Calcutta. In 1919 the Prime Minister, William Hughes, offered a prize of 10,000 for the first Australian to fly from the United Kingdom to Australia, a distance of some 18,000 km, in less than 30 days. 31 The competition was won by Ross and Keith Smith. The length of time spent on the journey was similar to that of the fastest mail steamer. Their feat showed the future international potential of air transport. In 1920 the Air Navigation Act (Cwlth) established a Civil Aviation Branch of the Defence Department, introduced licensing of pilots and engineers as well as aircraft, established aerodromes and emergency landing grounds, and laid out safety standards. Airfields in the major cities were designated as official aerodromes. Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh won the contract to survey possible sites for airfields between Longreach and Darwin. With little experience of the outback: they were supplied with a Ford Model-T utility and a mechanic to look after problems with the vehicle, then set off heading north-west to Cloncurry via Winton. The second sector took them through the Gulf Country to Burketown, then along the coast to Borroloola. At regular intervals they arranged the construction of rough bush airstrips which would serve as emergency landing areas. 32 Commercial flights After they finished their survey, McGinness and Fysh, together with Fergus McMaster and Alexander Kennedy, formed Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. The company, soon known as Qantas, opened its head office at Winton in 1920 before moving to Longreach, Brisbane and then Sydney. The airline commenced service with an Avro biplane which was 9 m in length, had a wingspan of 11 m and had a cruising speed of 105 km/h. 33 The Civil Aviation Branch awarded Australia's first airmail contract service to Qantas. On the initial run a Whitworth FK-8 took off with 108 letters on board. The plane stopped at Blackall, Longreach, Winton and McKinley. Its flying time for the 933 km flight was nearly eight hours. In 1922 the company won the second airmail contract, from Charleville to Cloncurry, and later to Camooweal. At Cloncurry the new service collected its first passenger, Alexander Kennedy, then aged 86 years. Qantas was the first airline to carry an Australian Prime Minister when it flew Stanley Bruce from Winton to Longreach as his car was unable to travel between the two centres. 34 While early flights operated from the railheads, Qantas wanted the mail route from Charleville to Brisbane, a wish that brought it into direct competition with the railways and involved political argument between the Commonwealth and State Governments. In 1928 the Civil Aviation Branch called tenders for the airmail route between Charleville and Brisbane, and between Camooweal and Daly Waters, with eventual extension to Darwin. Qantas was successful in obtaining the Brisbane-Charleville route and service commenced in It later took over the route from Camooweal to Daly Waters. Aeroplanes transported the sick and injured from remote areas. The Reverend John Flynn of the Australian Inland Mission started an air ambulance service, with Qantas providing the aircraft and pilots. A de Havilland 50A was able to carry a stretcher and medical equipment. Stations were able to send messages over the airwaves through the new pedal wireless. In its first year of operation in 1928 the Flying Doctor Service flew 28,130 km

4 QUEENSLAND PAST AND PRESENT In 1929 British airline Imperial Airways established a link from London to Karachi. The airline approached the Commonwealth Government to extend the airmail service from Karachi to Singapore and to Australia. The contract for the Australian section was won by Qantas. In 1938 Qantas and Imperial Airways bought flying boats for the England Australia route, with Rose Bay in Sydney becoming the new terminal. In that year Qantas moved its head office to Sydney. The aeroplane was now much quicker than the mail steamer and a London businessman could fly to Singapore and take a Qantas flying boat to Sydney in a total of 9-10 days. 36 Domestic competitors challenged Qantas's dominance. Australian Aerial Services in 1929 won the mail contract between Camooweal and Daly Waters in the Northern Territory. In 1930 Australian National Airways, a company founded by Charles Kingsford Smith, began regular services between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, but collapsed in The New England Bus Company, fearful that air transport would cause its bus operations to lose business, established New England Airways with services from Brisbane to Lismore and Sydney in 1931, and to Toowoomba and Townsville in Queensland Air Lines operated a route from Brisbane to Gladstone. Butler Air Transport flew mail between Sydney and Charleville via Cootamundra from 1934 to A new company, Airlines of Australia Limited, was floated. It absorbed Rockhampton Aerial Services in 1936 with routes between Brisbane and Rockhampton, and then North Queensland Airways Limited with routes through the Gulf Country and along Cape York to Horn Island. By 1937 the company was operating routes from Sydney to Torres Strait. In that year one of its Stinson aircraft crashed in the Lamington National Park with the loss of five of the seven on board. 37 Another new airline, Holyman Airways, was founded by Ivan Holyman in It was renamed Australian National Airways (ANA), and in 1942 absorbed Airlines of Australia Limited. In 1937 Reginald Ansett established Ansett Airways as a result of the Victorian Government preventing his road services from challenging the monopoly of the State railways. The efficiency of aircraft improved during World War II. Better air navigation, traffic control and radio communications resulted from the role that aircraft played in the Pacific war. Commercial air services were dedicated to the war effort. Private companies such as Ansett Airways and ANA obtained attractive contracts with the United States military forces. The airport at Eagle Farm was redeveloped by the United States Air Force and became the major air terminal for Brisbane after the war. Post-World War II development In the postwar period flying costs declined, leading to an increase in the use of air transport. Australians became accustomed to flying and were assured by the safety record of Australian aviation. The recent availability of fast international flights assisted in reducing Australia's insularity and increasing business from overseas. Quick transport meant that foreign business people, politicians and entertainers could include Australia on their travel circuits. The Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, felt that airline services should be operated by Government. In 1945 an Act established a commission to nationalise airlines in Australia and to bring them under a single authority. Holyman, as head of ANA which was the largest airline, challenged the Government in the High Court and won. Consequently, the Government established Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA). The first TAA service flew from Melbourne to Sydney in 194

5 TRANSPORT Major Thomas J. Lee receiving Rockhampton's first air mail at Connor Park, 1920s Soon it provided air links between Brisbane and southern centres, and then extended its services north to Cairns. The first fully pressurised Convair 240 was introduced on the inter-capital city flights in The Government also directed that all mail would be carried by TAA. Qantas resumed its overseas mail service by flying from Sydney to Karachi but the Government's response was as follows: Rather than nationalisation the government turned to the normal commercial practice of buying up all the shares in Qantas Empire Airways held by the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. 38 The Government of Robert Menzies did not alter the policy relating to TAA and Qantas, but the perilous state of ANA required some action. The new Commonwealth Government treated ANA and TAA equally, dividing mail and public service travel between them. The Commonwealth Government's 'two-airlines policy' remained an important element of Australia's transport policy until the late 1980s. The Civil Aviation Agreement Act 1952 (Cwlth) guaranteed finance to ANA for the upgrading of its fleet. Other airline companies upgraded their aircraft to handle the increasing traffic, especially on the main routes. In Queensland TAA and ANA provided services throughout the State. Butler Air Transport had postwar routes across southern Queensland and to Sydney. Bush Pilots, which was formed in 1951 and became Air Queensland in 1981, operated in northern Queensland. In 1957 Ivan Holyman died, ANA was losing business to TAA, and Ansett purchased ANA to form Ansett-ANA. Part of the success of Ansett-ANA was its strategy of forcing competition 195

6 QUEENSLAND PAST AND PRESENT out, taking over many of the early companies. The first move was against Butler Air Transport, the largest of the remaining commercial airline companies. Queensland Air Lines was also taken over. Ansett-ANA established special services to cater for tourism. Australia's first regular helicopter service operated from Ansett-owned Hayman Island, transporting passengers from Proserpine. Both Ansett and TAA purchased jet aircraft from International terminals were built at Cairns airport in the 1970s and at Townsville airport in the 1980s and flights from Asia and Europe to northern Queensland resorts were promoted. TAA began operating the Airbus in Ansett, TAA and Qantas had developed into large corporations with thousands of staff and significant capital investment. Little competition existed, with the two domestic airlines confined to operating the internal routes and Qantas being Australia's international carrier. The smaller East-West Airlines in New South Wales had, however, established a successful service in the late 1970s from Sydney to the Gold Coast and Maroochydore. Ansett-ANA was renamed Ansett Airlines in Later, when it acquired interests in road transport, it was restructured as Ansett Transport Industries and was taken over by a consortium of News Limited and TNT at the end of the 1970s. Changes in the Government's airline policy removed the requirement that both Ansett and TAA operate the same type of aircraft, enabling Ansett to purchase more modern aircraft. TAA changed its name to Australian Airlines and later merged with Qantas making a single government-owned international and domestic carrier. This company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1995 in one of the largest public floats in Australian history. Attempts to establish a third alternative to Australian Airlines and Ansett were not successful. Compass Airways failed twice after a brief period operating on the main inter-capital city routes. Air services in Australia are regulated by the Commonwealth Government. Safety of aircraft is the responsibility of the Commonwealth departments of Transport and Civil Aviation. These bodies license airline companies and pilots and ensure that safety standards are maintained. Airports are operated by the Commonwealth Government, previously through the Department of Civil Aviation and then through the Federal Airports Commission. Queensland Transport regulates the number of air operators for each route within the State to ensure that all regions are offered an adequate service. The State department also licenses pilots to fly in Queensland, after they have obtained a Commonwealth licence. Growth in air transport Growth in domestic passenger transport escalated from the 1960s. Passenger movements at Brisbane airport increased from about 800,000 in 1965 to more than 6 million in (table 6.8). However, air transport became less popular over short distances. Services from Brisbane to Gympie, for example, declined as improvements to roads and higher motor vehicle ownership made road transport more attractive in terms of time, cost and convenience. International air transport has also expanded rapidly since the 1960s. In 1965 there were about 23,300 passenger movements on international flights to and from Queensland, although on many days there were no international flights arriving or departing. In international passenger movements totaled nearly 2.5 million, including million in Brisbane and about 640,000 in Cairns. 196

7 Brisbane Domestic International (c) Bundaberg Cairns Domestic International (c) Coolangatta Gladstone Hamilton Island Hayman Island Mackay Maroochydore Maryborough Mount Isa Proserpine Rockhampton Townsville Domestic International Weipa 800,114 23,318 26,224 84,927 82,357 71,322 22,888 28, , , ,277 1,278, ,204 27, , ,356 23, ,638 24,659 62,542 87, ,886 2,247, ,239 55, ,840 n.a. 321,799 44,288 22, ,832 38,025 83, , ,360 23,286 TRANSPORT Table 6.8 Air transport: Passenger handlings (a) by major airport, Queensland, 1965 to Airport (b) number 2,617, ,790 44, ,821 n.a. 618,100 62,009 27, ,510 39,091 28,123 83,755 92, , ,476 27,237 2,684, ,388 21, ,877 40, ,447 36,860 41, ,622 60, ,441 79, , ,463 23,745 2,648,578 1,017,003 (a) Comprises arrivals and departures. (b) Passenger handlings affected by a pilots' strike. (c) For 1975 and 1980 figures for international passengers at Cairns are included with those for Brisbane. Domestic passenger handlings are not shown where an airport had less than 20,000 handlings in that year. Source: ABS, Queensland Year Book, various years. 543, , , ,271 86, ,365 25,059 23,867 77, ,831 20, ,033,292 1,599,086 1,890, ,115 1,682, , , ,701 63,252 72, , ,410 5,557 24,223 The fastest growing airports are the tourist airports. Passenger movements at Cairns domestic and international terminals increased by about 26-fold from about 85,000 in 1965 to more than 2.2 million in Similarly, Coolangatta airport increased passenger movements by 22-fold from about 82,000 to nearly 1.8 million over the same period. Other major airports with greatly increased traffic over this period include Hamilton Island (nil to 290,000), Mackay (71,000 to 205,000), Maroochydore (nil to 221,000), Rockhampton (61,000 to 224,000) and Townsville (151,000 to 440,000). EMPLOYMENT IN TRANSPORT As well as being an important link between the various sectors of the economy, the transport industry provided employment for 87,300 persons in Queensland in 1996 (table 6.9). From a transport activity viewpoint, this number was understated as many industries outside the transport industry provide in-house transport services. Supermarkets and food manufacturers, for example, use their own trucks to distribute their goods from warehouses and factories to retail markets. People employed in this type of transport activity may not be recorded in the transport industry, but included with the major activity of the business they serve. Technological change has probably impacted on transport employment levels more than any other factor. Also, the rail, air and water transport industries have had high levels of government 197

8 QUEENSLAND PAST AND PRESENT Table 6.9 Persons employed in transport and storage, Queensland, Proportion of employed Year Road Rail Water Air Other (a) Total persons number % ,024 5,980 7,804 7,554 5,514 8,522 12,106 12,711 4,739 6,014 6,215 5,306 n.a ,371 20,560 26,205 25, (b)(c) (b) ,088 13,219 14,999 18,713 17,429 17,003 21,703 22,360 25,945 12,567 17,315 15,453 13,601 11,448 14,900 21,247 22,728 14,744 2,911 9,243 2,859 3,066 4,821 4,036 5,184 1,652 1, n.a. 1,875 2,662 3,402 4,501 5,628 4,195 5,125 4,739 4,502 4,417 2,425 3,985 4,198 13,070 15,364 36,279 39,777 39,688 42,459 39,525 44,425 57,960 64,005 62,989 87,300 (a) Includes storage, services to transport and storage, and transport and storage undefined. (b) Includes unemployed persons who stated that their last place of employment was in the transport and storage industry. (c) Road transport includes storage, rail includes air and water includes 'other'. Total is an estimate from ABS, Labour Force Survey, August Source: ABS, Census of Population and Housing, various; ABS, Labour Force, Queensland, Auguxt 1996, Cat. no ownership and regulation, and employment levels in these industries have been greatly affected by government policy. Furthermore, employment in transport is affected by short-term economic fluctuations. Employment in road transport increased from 6,024 persons in 1901 to 25,945 in 1991 (table 6.9). Improvements to roads and motor vehicles led to a doubling in road transport employment between 1933 and Employment growth in road transport since World War II has not reflected the large increase in road transport activity in this period. This could be due to an increasing number of manufacturing and retail businesses providing their own transport, gains from larger haulage and quicker turnaround times between journeys. Queensland's extensive railway network has provided employment for thousands of people, in both the running and the maintenance of the system. Rail gangs laid new lines and repaired existing lines, railway workshops manufactured and repaired rolling stock, and stations and railway refreshment rooms were staffed throughout the state. Railway contracts for construction of locomotives provided work for Queensland firms such as Walkers Limited of Maryborough. Employment in the railways increased from 5,514 in 1901 to 12,106 in Growth in employment then slowed as track expansion was curtailed. In 1947, when rail was carrying more passengers per head of population than at any other time, 12,567 persons were employed. Since then passenger numbers have fallen but freight has increased, and rail employed 14,744 persons in Maritime transport supported a range of services such as port facilities, dry docks and wharves, and provided employment for thousands of wharf labourers as well as shipping agents, ships' chandlers and others. Water transport employed 6,215 persons in 1921 and then declined due to factors such as the development of a coastal rail link, better roads and the production of economical and reliable motor vehicles. These factors made rail and road transport faster and

9 TRANSPORT more competitive than sea transport. Wharves remained highly labour intensive until containerisation and other improved handling innovations reduced the amount of labour required. Employment in water transport fell from 5,184 persons in 1981 to 1,652 in The number of persons engaged in air transport has increased more than fivefold since World War II as air transport overtook rail as the major method of long distance travel. The growth in international travel since the 1960s has also contributed to the increase in employment. Air transport employed 5,125 persons in 1991 compared with 974 in SUMMARY The earliest transport in Queensland was shipping as there were no roads or tracks linking Brisbane and Sydney, or Brisbane and northern outposts such as Rockhampton and Townsville. As settlement spread, horses, bullocks and camels became important means of transport for both people and goods. A rail system was well established in Queensland by 1896 with separate lines in the southern, central and northern divisions running westward from coastal areas. A rail linking these coastal areas was not completed until Horses, bullocks and camels could not compete with rail along the main routes, although they still dominated in remote areas. Rail and the emergence of motor vehicles led to the end of animal transport on a commercial basis. Railway line expansion slowed in the 1920s and ceased from the 1930s as technology and better roads meant that motor vehicles were becoming more viable than rail. However, rail remained and still is an important means of transport for many purposes and in many areas. Air transport became commercially viable in the 1920s, initially for mail runs. Since World War II road and air transport of both people and goods have increased greatly. Freight carried by rail has also increased substantially, although passenger numbers in were not much higher than in Shipping has become an important transport means, especially for commodities exported to other countries, with the volume of cargo shipped from Queensland ports in exceeding that shipped in by nearly 100-fold. The various modes of transport compete against one another, although to a large extent each one has its own specialised areas of passenger and goods transportation. They also coordinate with one another, so that people and goods often travel by several modes of transport before reaching their destination. Endnotes 1. Geoffrey Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1968, p Commandant, Moreton Bay to Colonial Secretary, New South Wales, 1 November 1840, Archives Authority of New South Wales 4/3093, in-letter of 1840, John Oxley Library microfilm reel A2.ll, frames Lieutenant Gorman's expedition is discussed and his report reproduced in J. K. Jarrott, 'Gorman's Gap', Queensland Heritage, vol. 3, no. 4,1976, pp H. McGregor, The Horse and Buggy Days, Roebuck Books, Canberra, 1981, pp