JOB-CREATION DE-RAILED

Machinery
The Minister for Home Affairs - the famous King O'Malley of Commonwealth Bank fame - had imported from Chicago two giant American track layers, the like of which had never been seen in Australia before. The Ruston shovel, an Australian invention, which could shift 500 cubic yards of soil per day, a steam crane which could lift 35 tons, and some second hand rolling stock, bought in Australia, was the extent of mechanized equipment.
By early 1914, the eastern end of the railway had advanced some 140 miles (235 kilometres), having had difficulty with the Lake district of South Australia which, after rains, became

flood plains for hundreds of miles. Fill from the Flinders ranges had to be hauled by oxen or mules to build up suitable embankments.
The camps for workers were of an appalling standard, little more than crude, corrugated iron lean-tos, with primitive sanitary arrangements. Most slept under flimsy canvas. Food was expensive, and delivery unreliable. There was no refrigeration. The flies and the heat, with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees, made living conditions unbelievable.

Team work
By 1915 a pattern had developed; an advance party of surveyors was followed by a workforce of some 400 men, who formed the embankment for the next party behind them, consisting of the track-laying machines and the wooden sleepers, which had been transported thousands of miles. A steady two miles of new railway was accomplished under this team work. Their best day was two miles 40 chains, in one week they put down 14 miles 50 chains, and in one year that accomplished 442 miles 44 chains - a record for railway construction in Australia.
As was to be expected, the primitive living conditions resulted in disease. On January 4, 1915, the first case of typhoid was reported, and the disease raged all along the line. On the Eastern section, 102 typhoid cases occurred, with seven deaths. The hospital at Port Augusta could not cope with the influx of patients, and a temporary hospital of 51 beds was hastily erected, and 12 extra nurses and assistants engaged.
The South Australian Department of Health inspected working conditions and forced a change to sanitation and cooking. Within three months the disease was wiped out.
Sand
By April 1916 the party was approaching the second engineering challenge - "The Sand hills" near Barton. Men had to be sent 100 miles in advance of the tracklayers to prepare the way. Their supplies of food and water were transported by camels. The gangs had to excavate 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth by hand within a distance of 25 miles and face some of the larger cuttings with stone. This mammoth job was finally accomplished, and the railway moved steadily towards Ooldea.

East and West
Meanwhile, work had also commenced from the Kalgoorlie end of the project. The first sod was turned on February 12 1913, but by June 24 only eight miles had been completed. The line crawled on, and on November 18 one of the giant track layers ordered by O'Malley arrived. By December 15, 25 miles of track had been laid, and work was speeding up. In March 1914 the 60-mile peg was reached. By October 24, 1914, the railway was at Zanthus, 125 miles from Kalgoorlie, and on March 25 1916 it had reached Naretha, ready to start the long journey across the Nullarbor Plain, 400 miles from the scheduled meeting point between East and West.
This was 'No-man's land". On this Plain, for two-and-a-half years, the men were completely isolated. Apart from the occasional newspaper there was no literature. Sports and other entertainment did not exist. Wireless (or radio as we now know it) was unknown. The only diversion was the gambling game of "Two-up", on which wages and savings were regularly won or lost.
By June 30, 1916 the railhead had reached Forrest, in the center of the Nullarbor Plain, about 410 miles from Kalgoorlie. Twelve months later it had reached a point midway between Cook and Fisher, some 540 miles from its starting point. It was not until October 1917, almost six years after commencement - the same month that Lenin and his Bolshevik revolutionaries seized control of Russia for Communism - that the two weary teams from East and West met in Ooldea and the railway became one.

Rejoicing
When the news broke through the achievement became the occasion for national celebration. The men at the face were given a holiday, with sports and a concert. The King cabled his congratulations, and Sir John Forrest, speaking in Melbourne, said:
"I rejoice to see this day. Western Australia, comprising one-third of the continent, hitherto isolated and practically unknown, is from today in reality, a part of the Australian Federation. From today, East and West are indissolubly joined together by bands of steel, and the result must be increased prosperity and happiness for the Australian people".
The achievement was indeed immense. The total distance covered was 1,051 miles (1,755 kms) with about 1,000 miles of practically waterless desert. Throughout its entire length it does not cross one permanent stream. It runs for 330 miles (550kms) without a bend or a curve - the longest straight stretch in the world. It is said that a politician, traveling across it, said he had never runs so straight in his life!

Manpower and other barriers
The obstacles, both natural and man-made, had been immense. An entirely separate industry was established cutting sleepers. An attempt by a private monopoly in Western Australia to corner this market was successful for two years. Hundreds were employed at miserable wages to cut jarrah. They slept in bark shelters cut from timber scraps, for which they were then charged rent. The combine charged exorbitantly, finally forcing the Commonwealth to set up its own industry, cutting jarrah and karri from the south-west. Altogether, 1,900,000 sleepers were cut, hauled from forests and then delivered to rail heads hundreds of miles away.
Water was an immense problem. It had to be carted 500 miles on the Western division and 337 miles in the East. It had to provide not only for men, but horses, livestock and machinery. A number of dams were built, lined with bitumen, and one was covered by a corrugated iron roof in an effort to minimize evaporation. The mineral content of the water played havoc, and over 2,000 boilers were corroded and had to be replaced. Finally, a water-softening plant was built at Augusta, with condensation plants along the line.

Steel
As soon as the project commenced the steel magnates increased their prices for steel, causing King O'Malley to exclaim on August 8, 1912:
"I am up against the trusts of the world, which have laid themselves out to make this railway so costly it will be a dead failure".
But the monopolists controlled the market, and the price had to be paid, raising the original costs. After the outbreak of World War I the price rose further and steel became almost unobtainable. Plate laying ceased altogether in the Western Division for seven months. In 1915, BHP finally

began to supply rails, and within a year was the sole supply. But delivery was often erratic. Wartime demands resulted in many claims for steel.
Rolling stock on the completed sections faced increasing pressure. At one time on the Eastern section supplies were being carted for 1,200 men, an uncertain number of women and children, plus livestock, plus materials for building. Individual engines were often doing 5,000 miles per month.

Living conditions
The attrition rate amongst such an immense labour force was so great that finally living conditions were improved. Tents were replaced by "boarding houses", the largest of which housed 500 men. Food was improved as well as sanitation.
A Commonwealth Bank rail car ran up and down the line, taking deposits and withdrawals, and making loans. Two hospital cars were put in constant motion, with doctors and staff, and doctors were appointed to specific locations. Altogether, there were over 900 accidents with 20 fatalities, apart from the typhoid cases and fatalities mentioned earlier.
. This landmark achievement, of which all Australians should be proud, should be compared to the only other comparable railway project ever attempted in Australia - the Alice to Darwin railway just completed.

A rail like Alice
The first sod of the Alice to Darwin rail link was turned by the Prime Minister, John Howard, in April 2001, and within 15 months, by July 2002, 304 kms of track had been completed, 921 kms of corridor had been cleared, 747 kms. of embankment built, 591 kms. of the capping layer completed and 30 of the 97 bridges built.
The challenges were different. This was not flat country, but marked by ranges, gorges and rivers.. Unlike the Transcontinental, it was not financed and built by Australia. An international consortium called the Asia Pacific Transport Company, comprising Halliburton KBR, Barclay Mowlem, the John Holland Group, MacMahon, Australia Railway Group and SANT, with Australian tax money thrown in, undertook the job. The consortium will own and use the railway for 50 years before finally returning it to the South Australian and Territory Governments.
Again, this project started from each end. In total, it employed 1,200 people, only 100 on the actual track-laying operation.

Completed
At 8.30 am on September 13 2003 - 30 months after commencement - the Southern team laid their last rail and welded it into place. Those who had worked on the project lived in insulated comfort, with superb meals. Instead of flies they had air-conditioning and refrigeration. Instead of open wood fires for cooking they had the latest microwaves. Instead of the lonely harmonica beside a camp fire they listened to the best Philharmonic orchestra, available in stereo. Television was always available. Working hours were reasonable, with regular leave in either Darwin or Alice Springs.
The Northern Section will meet the completed rail line before the end of September. All that remains is electrical installation for such things as lights and direction, signs for drivers and other directional equipment. The railway will officially open at the beginning of 2004 - a nice New Year's present to Australia. Already the first $5 million's worth of tickets for the journey have been sold and paid for.
It is a staggering achievement. But, unlike the Transcontinental, it won't be Australian owned and operated until the second half of the 21st Century.

How did we pay?
The total bill for the Transcontinental railway was approximately $14 million. Of this, $2.4 million came from taxes. The rest came from the Note Issue Department, which had resumed the right to create Australia's money-creation needs from the private banks. The debt, recorded between two government departments, was progressively written off. The real costs were the materials and the sweat expended in building the railway.
(The full story is told in D.J. Amos's booklet "The Story of the Commonwealth Railway and the Note Issue", available from League bookshops)
Comparison of the two railways reminds us of two facts that no politician dares mention today. Firstly, a nation such as Australia does not have to borrow to capitalize its own development, provided it has the material and know-how for any project it wishes to undertake.
Secondly, the belief that giant public or private works can re-create full employment has been made meaningless by the state of technology, which has increasingly displaced human labour. This is an achievement by governmental insistence that full employment is the only way to live.