The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-21 00:00:00

Railways in Queensland.

On the 27th Sept. last Sir George F. Bowen,
G.C.M.G., &c., Governor of Queensland, accom-
panied by the Minister for Lands and Works, the
Colonial Treasurer, and many others, went to
Rockhampton in order to
.inaugurate the Great
Northern Railway of Queensland. Before turning
the first sod, the Governor said, in answer to an
address presented by the Mayor and Corporation of
Rockhampton, that when he first saw Rockhamp-
hampten, in 1860, it was a small hamlet of wooden
huts, with scarcely 500 inhabitants, who had re-
cently settled down in the primeval wilderness. He
recollected wellthat what Lord Macaulay has termed
" a rude kind of patriarchal justice, which was, how-
ever, better than no justice at all," was then admi-
nistered in a canvas tent whenever a magistrate
happened to attend. On his second visit, in 1862,
the population had trebled, and the hamlet had
grown up into a thriving township, with about
15,000 inhabitants. On that, his third visit, he
learned with much pleasure that their population
had again more than trebled during the brief inter-
val that had elapsed since his second visit. He saw
around him a flourishing town of nearly 5,000 inha-
bitants, with public buildings of every kind—
churches, schools, a mechanics' institute, a post-
office, a telegraph-office, and numerous banks and
warehouses. He found a judge of the Supreme
Court, surrounded by the leading members of the
colonial bar. He was welcomed by a mayor and
aldermen, and he remarked with great satisfaction
in the wharves which lined their noble river (the
Fitzroy), in the well-ordered streets of their town,
and in the other signs of material prosperity, the
rapid progress of those advantages which municipal
self-government, when prudently and vigorously
administered, was certain to confer. He entirely
agreed with them in attaching high importance to
the great public work which was to be initiated that
day. It was acknowledged in every quarter that the
pressing need of the colony was the improvement of
their internal communications. With this object the
colonial Parliament had decided that two trunk lines
of railway should be carried into the interior—one for
the southern districts, from the head of the naviga-
tion of Moreton-bay (Brisbane), and one for the
northern districts, from the head of the navigation
of Keppel-bay (Rockhampton). It was well known
that in 1862, in consequence of his urgent represen-
tations, the Imperial Government annexed to their
northern territory an additional area larger than the
United Kingdom, and that during several years he
had spared no pains to push on two enterprises cal-
culated to be of great advantage to the interests of
the north ; he meant the establishment of steam
communication through Torres Straits, and the ex-
tension of the electric telegraph from Rockhampton
to their north-western frontier, where it will meet
the international line, which will ultimately connect
Australia with Asia and Europe. Both these pro-
jects had received the sanction of the colonial Legis-
lature in its last Session, and both would be carried
into execution forthwith by his constitutional Mini-
sters. The report of Mr. 11. T. Plews, chief engi-
neer, states that the Great Northern Railway will
run from Rockhampton nearly due west with the
interior, passing through Westwood and other
townships, and traversing the extensive Leichherdt
district, and will eventually reach Clermont—a
township on the Peak Downs, distant 220 miles

from Rockhampton ; thus opening up a vast terri-
tory, and enabling squatters to convey their wool
speedily and cheaply to the port of Rockhampton.
The Empress of the Seas, with 550 immigrants and
a large quantity of railway plant, and about 50
navvies for the Great Northern Railway works, had
just arrived in Keppel•-bay—the port of Rockhamp-
ton. She is.one of the celebrated Black Ball line
of clippers, belonging to Messrs. T. M. Mackay and
Co., and was consigned to Messrs. Morgan and
Allen, of Rockhampton.