Convict tramway

The Convict Tramway [1] was hauled by human power in the form of convicts from the Port Arthur convict settlement.[2] and was created to replace the hazardous sea voyage from Hobart to Port Arthur, Tasmania.[1][3] Charles O'Hara Booth oversaw the construction of the tramway.[4]

Convict tramway (Sketch by Col. Mundy) from the Tasmanian Archives

It opened in 1836 and ran for 8 km (5 miles) from Oakwood to Taranna.[5] By most definitions, the tramway was the first passenger-carrying railway/tramway in Australia.[3] An unconfirmed report says that it continued to Eaglehawk Neck and, if this was so, the length of the tramway would have been more than doubled. The tramway carried passengers and freight, and ran on wooden rails. The gauge is unknown. A sketch by Col. Mundy, which is held in the Tasmanian Archives, shows that, when the vehicle was coasting downhill, the four convicts providing the motive power would ride aboard it but otherwise would run alongside pushing the vehicle. The date of closure is unknown, but it was certainly prior to 1877.[6]

References
  1. "Taranna - Tasmania". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  2. "Local History - History of the Tasman Peninsula". Tasman Council. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. "Port Arthur Historic Sites Statutory Management Plan 2008". UNESCO. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  4. Robert Hughes (1987). The Fatal Shore. Random House. pp. 407–408. ISBN 9781407054070. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  5. "Taranna - Tiny township on the road to Port Arthur". The Age. Fairfax Media. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  6. John Yonge, Australian Railway Atlas: No.1 -Tasmania, Quail Map Company, Exeter U.K., 2004
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