page_title: Tempe, New South Wales
section_title: Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Tempe, New South Wales / History / Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of temporary tramway at Tempe, NSW
context_page_description: Tempe is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tempe is located 9 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Inner West Council.
  Tempe sits on the northern bank of the Cooks River and is separated from Sydney Airport by the Alexandra Canal, also known as Sheas Creek. The Wolli Creek waterway also empties into the Cooks River.
context_section_description: The contractors for the construction of the first 23-mile [37 km] section of the Illawarra Railway arranged with timber mills in the Port Stephens and Manning River districts for the supply of sleepers and other timber necessary for the construction. This material was brought down by sea to Botany Bay in schooners and small coastal steamers. The vessels anchored off the entrance to Cooks River and discharged their cargoes on to flat-bottomed punts. Tugs towed the laden punts along the channels of the river to the head of navigation at the Tempe Dam, near the present Princes Highway bridge. On the river bank, immediately to the south of the dam, the contractors erected three wharves where the timber was unloaded and placed on small 4-wheeled railway trucks for conveyance by horse teams, over a temporary tramway, to the company's depot which was established about midway between St Peters and Sydenham railway stations. A large amount of material of all descriptions, including steelwork, for the railway bridge at Como, was also taken over the tramway from the depot to the wharves, where it was loaded on to a small paddle steamer for conveyance to Como via Botany Bay and Georges River.
caption: Map of Contractor's Tramline
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