Prelude
The centenary of the first electric tramway in Australia, which was also the first in the southern hemisphere, was celebrated on 14 October 1989.
The line was 2.25 miles (3.6 km) long, of single track between the Victorian towns of Box Hill, now a Melbourne suburb, and Doncaster to the north. The purpose of the line was to open up the area of Box Hill and Doncaster, north of the Box Hill railway station, for land speculation. The 1880s were a time of frenzied activity in such matters generally, when fortunes were made, and many lost in the subsequent crash of the early 1890s.
There was the added bonus of tourist traffic when Melburnians visited the pleasant rolling countryside of orchards, at weekends. A popular destination was an observation tower in Doncaster, not far from the terminus, and the adjacent Tower Hotel. The tower was 285 feet (87m) high to the top of the flagpole, and was a kind of mini Eiffel Tower. There were commanding views from a platform 140 feet (42m) high, reached by open stairs!
It was the tourist traffic and a small amount of local residential traffic that kept the line operating as long as it did and not the land speculation traffic for which it was constructed.
The various promoters had hoped to gain from the tramway in their own particular ways , but the boom being nearly over, not much land was sold. The tramway never made any significant profits, when they were measured against the capital invested, along with the losses. It could be seen in retrospect that far from benefiting from the enterprise, the promoters had unintentionally provided a social service which was essentially bankrupt from the beginning.
Much litigation occurred in the short life of the line, which could be summarised as the promoters claiming for unpaid share calls or disputing payments to contractors, and employees seeking recovery of unpaid wages.
Initially, the promoters were intending to run their line with horse traction. Fortunately, an alternative presented itself, as horses were not suited to the hilly terrain.
First Centennial Exhibition
The year 1888 was the centenary of the founding of the first colony in 1788 and was celebrated by the Centennial International Exhibition of grand proportions at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton.
The 1880s were also a time when the use of electricity was being promoted. One of the most progressive and enterprising firms in this field in Melbourne was an agent for the Thomson Houston International Electric Company, which had just become involved with electric traction.
The agents seized the opportunity to promote electric traction at the exhibition and the Commissioners agreed. A line was built at the northern end of the exhibition grounds and parallel with Carlton Street, about 300 yards (274m) long, of four feet eight and a half inch (1435mm) gauge, complete with overhead wire and power supply to the single car.
The exhibition ran for six months but there was a delay in setting up the demonstration line.
First Electric Tramcar Displayed
Thomson-Houston dispatched a tramcar and electrical equipment from their plant in Boston, USA but the vessel on which it was shipped encountered bad weather. The tramcar seems to have been carried as deck cargo, because it was so badly damaged in a storm the body was off loaded at London and not sent on. As the agents were progressive and enterprising, it is most probable the tramcar was of the type being supplied at the time by Thomson -Houston to tramways in the USA, with the hope of securing orders for electric tramways in Australia.
The tramcar equipment survived the storm and in due course arrived in Melbourne when the exhibition was well under way. The agents then had a timber body constructed as expeditiously as possible and the equipment fitted to it.
The body was a small crossbench style of a basic design, clearly, as such a car could be put together very quickly. The car had a flat roof, six tip-over transverse bench seats and could seat I 6 passengers.
The single truck arrived with only one motor, of l 5hp. Photographic evidence indicates that the truck originally had two motors but one may have suffered damage in the storm and been discarded at London with the body.
There seems to be no record extant of who built the simple crossbench car body, but it seems possible it came from the Melbourne works of car builders Duncan and Fraser. This firm supplied horse cars to various lines, including Beaumaris, and the car body resembled two crossbench horse cars supplied to that line.
The Thomson-Houston car was the first vehicle of its kind seen by untraveled Victorians and praised for its smooth and noiseless operation.
First Electric Tramway
When the promoters of the Box Hill and Doncaster line heard of this car, they decided to acquire it for their tramway, along with its associated equipment, principally the steam engine and dynamo power generating plant. The rails for this line were second-hand, obtained from a supplier in Launceston, Tasmania.
The line commenced at Station Street, Box Hill immediately north of Whitehorse Road, continued north to Koonung Creek, then generally north-west along what is now Tram Road, to terminate just south of Doncaster Road. Westfield Doncaster Shoppingtown is now across the road from what was the terminus.
There was some local opposition to the line because a topical issue was the extension of the railway as a branch line to Doncaster.
The government had stated such a line would be included in the next Railway Construction Bill, but it was thought the existence of the tramway would give the government the excuse not to proceed.
The undulating nature of the area, with its attendant high construction costs, the shortness of such a line, and the minimal regular traffic offering, would have made such a railway extension hopelessly uneconomic .
A lightly constructed tramway, following existing land contours much more closely than would be feasible with a railway, was a more suitable alternative. Even today, a century later, there is no railway to Doncaster.
A two motor truck of the type supplied by Thomson-Houston with the first electric tramcar. The truck used at the exhibition only had one motor from “The Electric Railway” by F .H. Whipple , 1889
First Electric Tramway Service
The line was opened as the Box Hill and Doncaster Tramway Company Ltd on 14 October 1889, and a banquet was held at the Tower Hotel. The official opening was to be by the Victorian Premier but he sent a telegram indicating that the affairs of State prevented his attendance. The government whip was invited to take his place. It is possible the Premier preferred not to attend the opening. He would surely have been inundated with questions relative to a railway extension to Doncaster.
The Box Hill Reporter for 17 October 1889 gave a philosophical account of events and the future for the tramway in the following glowing terms:
"The opening of Box Hill-Doncaster Electric Tramway marks a new epoch in the history of this rising district. Doncaster is now connected with the city of Melbourne with a motive power which bids fair to revolutionise the world. What the State has failed to accomplish private enterprise has taken in hand and carried out in a successful and praiseworthy manner.
Every resident in the district should be proud of the action which has prompted the promoters to rise and make the tramway which connects Doncaster with the leading metropolis of the southern hemisphere. They have carried out an undertaking which will tend to immortalise their names in the bright and sunny land of Australia. They have been the instruments of demonstrating one of the actual facts and revelations of science, and when the directors of this company shall have joined the great majority they will leave behind them footprints in the sands of time.
Is it not a high honour to think that the first Electric Tramway which has ever been made in the southern hemisphere should have been laid down between Box Hill and Doncaster ? Of course it is. Thousands of influential people in London and about England who read the London Times on Tuesday will have been made acquainted with the fact that the first Electric Tramway in Australia was successfully opened on that day between Box Hill and Doncaster. These places will therefore be well known in future in the great mart of the world, and we venture to say that our council could float another Joan tomorrow for £50 ,000 on more advantageous terms than the loan which is now an accomplished fact.
All over the Australian colonies, too, Box Hill will be known as the place which had the capital, the wisdom and the enterprise to inaugurate an undertaking which will place her in the foremost van of progress. In the course of a few months hundreds of tourists and sightseers will specially visit Box Hill to see for themselves what was hitherto believed to be a physical impossibility - a tram car run by electric motive power.
This is one of the effects of the march of science, and to the thoughtful mind it suggests a great deal. Only fancy for a moment such a dangerous element as electricity being made subordinate to the power of man's intellect, and that force which can travel around the world eight times in a second being so contracted and guided at will that it will drive six tons up a steep hill at the rate of six miles an hour.
Why, had Galileo prophesied such an occurrence as that he would have been court marshalled and crucified head downwards. Yet such is, nevertheless, a fact, and we in Box Hill have ocular demonstration of it. Science in its onward march will always be opposed by men of small minds who cannot see further than their nose, and this being the case it is no wonder that the promoters of this tram-way should have met with determined opposition but when we consider that the opposition in this case came from men who cannot tell a gooseberry bush from a sunflower , they should treat it with the contempt it deserves .
Look at the scorn and derision the inventor of the steam locomotive had to endure. Yet he survived it all, and now he is regarded as one of the greatest men that ever Lived. So it has been and so it will ever be. Those who have the brains and know how to use them will always be misrepresented and persecuted, and those who come to the front in this enlightened nineteenth century will not receive any better treatment than was accorded to their ancestors before them.
The trial of the tramway on Monday last aptly demonstrated the fact that electricity will, before long, be regarded as one of the cheapest and best motive powers that can be utilised in propelling tramcars in city and suburbs. This being the case we congratulate all those who have been instrumental in connecting Doncaster with Box Hill by means of the Electric Tramway, which is so pleasant and agree{able] to ride on."
At first it seemed the line might be successful, but the future became uncertain when the single motored car began to break down and be out of service for days at a time. Spare parts for electric tramcars were not plentiful in Victoria in those days! Traffic levels had been encouraging overall, so a second car was ordered from Thomson-Houston, which entered service on Christmas Day, 1890. This car had two motors and was therefore more reliable.
The traffic levels deteriorated as a progressively developing depression deepened. The company went into voluntary liquidation though another company, the Doncaster and Box Hill Electric Road Company Ltd, was formed and continued operations until it closed down in January 1896. For two years the equipment was retained in the hope of a reopening under improved economic conditions, until 1898, when it was dismantled and dispersed.
First Electric Tramway Memorials
Recollections of the line lingered on but refused to be extinguished. The northern section of the line was immortalised in the naming of the roadway built to carry the Doncaster Section of the tramway as Tram Road.
In 1940 a booklet was self-published , entitled Australia's First Electric Tram , by J.K. Moir. It was reissued in 1977 by the Rotary Club of Box Hill. Also in 1940, a commemorative cairn was erected at the corner of Station Street and Whitehorse Road, Box Hill outside the Post Office. It was demolished by a motorist in 1988 but the plaque was saved.
In 1977 a replica of the original car, without electrical equipment, was built by the 6th Box Hill South Scouts as a float for the City's Golden Jubilee Parade, but it has not survived.
A substantial replica, also without electrical equipment, was made by the City of Doncaster and Templestowe for a festival parade in 1979. It is now on permanent display at the museum of the Doncaster -Templestowe Historical Society at Schramm's Cottage, Doncaster. In 1980 the same Society published a booklet called The Tower and Tram at Doncaster.
First Electric Tramway Centenary
The Centenary of the Tramway was celebrated on 14 October 1989, which included a re-enactment of a journey along the original route using preserved buses.
Robert Green, author of a new book on the tramway, gave the opening address at Schramm's Cottage from the platform of the replica car, before the plaques were unveiled along the route of the tramway. His address summarised the chequered history of the tramway and was as follows:
"Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me much pleasure to address you on this special occasion. I thank the Doncaster Templestowe Historical Society for the opportunity to speak to you from this replica tram. It is indeed a most appropriate platform on this cenay (sic), and wondered at the thoughts that were going through the minds of the top-hatted gentleman crammed aboard this new conveyance. Could they have even begun to imagine the urban landscape that now adjoins the route of their pioneer tramway?
It is a moving experience to research and write the history of a past era, for as you work through the historical record, people live, work and die before your eyes. The great challenge for the historian is to capture the richness of people' s lives and also to explain the changing community in which they lived.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century , street tramways changed the face of cities throughout the world. At their zenith, tramways were perceived as the mark of a city's progress and success.
Melbourne has always enjoyed the reputation of being one of the foremost tram cities. At one time it had the largest cable tram network ever constructed and in recent times it has developed probably the largest electric tramway system in the English-speaking world . In addition to this envied reputation, Melbourne boasts the honour and distinction of having cradled Australia's first electric tram.
This primitive vehicle first appeared as a working exhibit at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888, less than one year after the technology of the electric tramway was perfected in America. Wihin a further year, this little tram was carrying sightseers up and down the hills between the outlying rural townships of Box Hill and Doncaster. This was the first electric tramway in the southern hemisphere. Here was an example of the latest technology in urban street transport operating through two and a quarter miles of virgin countryside , far removed from where it had its origin.
That this tramway should have been constructed in this locality is incongruous , but not entirely surprising. At the time Melbourne was about the 30th largest city in the world and 7th in the British Empire. The city and its surroundings were booming and provided fertile ground for entrepreneurs willing to try new innovations.
The promoters of the Box Hill and Doncaster tramway were true pioneers. They originally planned for a horse drawn tramway but when they heard about the electric tram at the Centennial Exhibition, they quickly decided that electric traction would be more appropriate for the hilly terrain they wanted to traverse. With sheer determination they turned a bold concept into reality.
Construction of the line through private property was a lengthy and costly task. It was made more difficult by some gun wielding locals who tried to stop it on the grounds that it wou ld spoil the chances of Doncaster getting a railway and that it would bring undesirable tourists to the area. From all accounts the line was crudely built, and on the day before the opening the tram derailed nine times . Some critics compared the tramway unfavourably with a switchback railway and others said it would not even pay for its own axle grease.
The tram made ten trips on weekdays and additional journeys on weekends. It averaged nine miles per hour and the fare charged for a single journey was sixpence. For the first six months, while it was being run by the electricians who installed it, it was a great success. A profit of £58 was made and a second, more improved, tram was ordered from Boston to cope with the traffic offering.
However, as soon as the tramway company took over the line from the electricians, trouble began. Breakdowns were commonplace. This annoyed many locals but especially one land company which had allowed the line to be constructed through its property north of Whittens Lane. Twice the land company tore up the rails and chopped down the overhead wire in a long and bitter feud with the tramway company. In the end the Shire of Doncaster intervened and turned the private right of way into a public road. But this rescue was too late for the tramway company which was then in financial difficulties through lack of regular revenue and litigation with its contractors, employees and bank.
In the end the Supreme Court Sheriff sold the company's assets to a Mr Thomson and the company went into liquidation. Thomson ran the line for a few months , then sold it to a local identity, Richard Serpell. Serpell tried very hard to keep the tramway going for the benefit of the district, and was instrumental in floating a second tramway company in 1892 to take over the enterprise.
The Doncaster section of the line was straightened to ease the run up the hill, Henry Hilton was appointed engineer-in-charge, and for a while the line ran smoothly. However, just as the tramway settled down on a more successful course, economic conditions, which had boomed for the past decade, deteriorated rapidly. Although patronage on the tramway fell sharply, the company soldiered on. In April 1894, it finally decided it could no longer continue and in desperation, leased the line to Henry Hilton for one shilling a week until economic circumstances improved.
Hilton was assisted by his cousin and together they referred to their enterprise as the ' bob-a week' tram service. Henry Hilton persued every avenue of economy and by prudent operation managed a modest profit. It was hardly a satisfactory living. After a long and difficult struggle, Hilton ran the tram for the last time in January 1896.
In his book, Mind the Curve, John Keating accurately summed up the Box Hill and Doncaster line when he referred to it as the 'rather freakish' electric tramway. It was an oddity; the first and last of its kind. Surely there was no other tramway where the track was physically tom up and the overhead wires tom down over a long-running dispute concerning right of way ; and no other tramway operator so beset with litigation. Surely no other tramway could have had such a baptism of fire.
Although the precocious infant did not survive for very long, it was the first of a family of tramways scattered throughout Australia. With in a decade of the birth of the Box Hill line, all major capital cities except Melbourne and Adelaide installed electric tramways. Paradoxically, these two places are now the only Australian cities where tramways still operate , although in the case of Adelaide there is but one solitary line.
In closing, I would like to say how appropriate it is that the City of Doncaster and Templestowe chose this time to reconstruct Tram Road. As you will see on our journey this afternoon, there is a sign beside the road carrying the message 'Building a better city. Tram Road now under construction for the community'. It is a strange but fitting coincidence that exactly one hundred years after Tram Road was carved through the orchards· by those men in top-hats, our generation is again turning the same ground to further develop our city.
Author Bernard Cronin once said that the history of roads is really the history of civilisation. I think you will all agree with me that Tram Road will always be the greatest memorial to the pioneer electric tramway we are commemorating today."
The Celebration
The commemorative postmark applied to mail carried on the re-enactment journey.
A commemorative carriage of mail was arranged by Australia Post using envelopes bearing the two electric tramcar stamps from the recently released Historic Tramcars series. The mail was carried on the buses making the commemorative run over the route of the tramway. It was cancelled with a special postmark and a commemorative cachet was applied to mark its carriage over the original tramway route.
Stops were made at each terminus and at Bushy Creek, the powerhouse location, to unveil commemorative plaques of the tramway.
The original 1940 plaque was re-erected, this time on the wall of the Box Hill Post Office, alongside the new plaque there.
A banquet was held in the Chambers of the Doncaster and Templestowe City Council Municipal Offices , in the evening, as the nearest location to the former Tower Hotel where the first banquet had been held a century before. The present government whip, Carolyn Hirsh MLA, was in attendance, also as a re-enactment of the tramway opening in 1889. She was the guest speaker and compared the roles of the government whip 100 years ago and today. She was followed by Robert Green who launched his new comprehensive book on the tramway.
In conjunction with the centenary, an exhibition of Melbourne tramway memorabillia and models was held on the lower ground floor of the Box Hill Town Hall, only a short distance from Station Street, between 18 and 28 October 1989.
Melbourne's original No. 1 cable grip car and trailer of 1885 and its showcase were relocated from the Science Museum, Melbourne to the front lawn of the Box Hill Town Hall, in time for the exhibition. The set is to remain there until the new Science Museum is ready, which is presently under construction in Spotswood.
Conclusion
Notwithstanding events, the underlying con cept of Australia's first electric tramway was sound, but, with hindsight, it opened too late in the land boom period to succeed. Had the boom lasted longer, followed by moderated conditions rather than depression, the land holding shareholders would have sold their land and made sufficient profit to more than recover their tramway investments, the tourist traffic may have continued at useful levels and development of the area brought gradually increasing local traffic to and from Box Hill and its station.
The tramway might have thus continued far into the 20th century.
A most erudite and exceptionally well produced chronicle of the tramway was recently released which will certainly become the accepted and definitive record of the line , especially as it was researched from original documents.
This intricate saga of the tramway has been carefully documented in "The First Electric Road" by tramway historian, Robert Green, past chairman of the Tramway Museum Society of Victoria, to mark the tramway's centenary year.
Illustrated by more than fifty contemporary photographs and engravings, and with maps included , " The First Electric Road" is an absorbing examination of the events surrounding the establishment, operations, and eventual demise of this innovative yet ultimately strife ridden enterprise.
This volume of approximately 100 pages, comes in a soft cover, measures 245mm x 175mm, and is complete with appendices, reference notes, bibliography and an index. The recommended retail price is $14.95 per copy plus packing and postage of $2.05 within Victoria or $2.50 interstate. It is available from the publisher, John Mason Press, 730 Hawthorn Road, East Brighton, Victoria 3187, and most Melbourne bookshops. Museums are urged to contact the publisher on (03) 592 3297 for the wholesale price and freight rates.
Source: William F. Scott. Published in Trolley Wire - Feb 1990 (Trolley Wire is a quarterly publication of Sydney Tramway Museum). Permission granted by editor of Trolley Wire, August 2021 to publish this extract online.
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