Write-off the rails

Probably not surprising after my own accident last week this was the first thing that popped into my mind when I was thinking about writing this weeks’ entry. I came across this picture years ago when I first took on the role of Local Studies Librarian tucked away in the shed with a broken frame. Now I was vaguely curious as to when and where it occurred, but it wasn’t until today that I dug around to find out the details.

On the 23rd of March in 1985 two trains collided head-on on the Gold Coast line at Trinder Park killing one of the drivers and a passenger on the southbound train. Back then the line between Kuraby and Beenleigh was only a single track (it has since been duplicated). The southbound train was travelling towards Trinder Park and the northbound train had just picked up passengers at the Trinder Park station and departed when for an unknown reason to two trains collided on a low visibility curve of the track. The cause of the accident was never fully determined although two theories were submitted. The first was that it was driver error and the driver drove through a red signal and the second was that the signals weren’t working properly at the time of the accident.

In digging up this information I also came across another (more recent) derailment in the Logan area. On the 28th of June 2003 a privately owned and operated diesel hauled passenger train derailed near Waterford on the Beaudesert to Bethania branch line south of Brisbane.

This is the old historical railway line that still runs from Bethania to Beaudesert. The railway line was opened in 1885 all the way to Logan Village and was extended to Beaudesert in 1888. In 1915 the Layhes Bros sawmills built a tramway to bring out timber from Tamborine and Canungra. This mixed freight service operated up until 1955 when it was closed. The railway line was closed in 1996 with a brief reopening for tourist trade between Logan Village and Beaudesert a few years later.

The privately owned train was set up with a steam engine leading the outbound train to Beaudesert and a Diesel locomotive to haul the train back to Bethania. At the time of the accident the locomotive and the first two passenger carriages left the rails on a down hill grade about 3km from Bethania but of the 250 passengers and 12 crew on board the train, only two passengers sustained minor injuries with one requiring outpatient treatment.

Now on that happy note I’ll leave you and promise that next time I’ll try for something a little more fun.

Photo Finish

It is with great pleasure that I announce this years winners of the Picture Past It! - Altered READ-ality photo competition.
A full listing of the entries can be found on Flickr

Mayors Choice: Centre of the Universe

Section 18+
1st – Branching Out
2nd – The Eyes Have It
3rd – Don’t Drink Me

Section Under 18s
1st – One of the Crowd

2nd – Book Reading
3rd – The Bowls

Long Tail, Short Story

You know, of all the questions I get asked here in the Local Studies room there is one answer most people listen to and then tell me that I’m pulling their leg. usually the conversation starts as a discussion of the history of the Logan River and then moves on to someone saying

“I wouldn’t swim in Logan river these days there’s sharks!”

And I promptly add “don’t forget the crocodile!” which of course gains me blank looks a few half hearted chuckles as people assume I’m joking, right up to the point where I say “I’ve got proof!”

See? I told you so!. Let me pass on the story told to me about the Logan River Crocodile. 

There was a crocodile living in the river about 5 meters long killing cattle. On many occasion people tried to kill it but to no avail. It was on the 14th of June Charlie Goetsch got lucky, when he saw the giant monster resting on the riverbank at Devils Elbow.

Charlie picked up his rifle, slowly loaded a bullet into the chamber (trying not to make a noise) keeping his eyes on the croc he crept through the mangroves and long grass. It was just on dark and even the birds and insects were silent holding their breaths as Charlie steadied himself raised the rifle and took aim.

BANG! Charlie fell back from the recoil but got quickly back to his feet. White faced and open mouthed he watched with shock as the croc slithered back into the water.

A week later Jack Hinds was delivering some supplies and noticed something odd near the waters edge. He crept  carefully forward and jumped when he realised what it was. He raced back to his store and got his brother and some mates. Once they were convinced the croc was dead they waded in, pushed it to the river bank and then skinned the beast.

 

And that’s all folks, until next week, Enjoy!

Time has almost past!

A quick reminder to all those out in “Blog-land” that the “Picture Past It: Altered READ-ality” photo comp is almost over. Entries close this week so you’ve still got time to dust off an old Logan photo and mash in a picture of you reading.  Have a look at my competition page for more details, and if you’re in the area and need some help drop into Local Studies and I’ll give your some pointers on how to get started.

That’s all I’ve got this early in the week, I’m sure I’ll dig up something interesting before friday for you to sink your teeth into.

Until then, Enjoy!

QR Codes

Just a quick one this week. You may have noticed a new page to my blog this week, Local Studies is embracing QR Codes.  Starting next month the displays in Local Studies will have these codes attached to the item descriptions, which can then be scanned with your smart phone and it will lead to the relevant page on the blog here.

Why QR Codes? The unofficial reason is because they’re easier than typing in a long website address and because I like the look of them lol.  The official reason is because, the stories and histories of items that are kept in the Local Studies Collection are known by only me, so this is a way of getting those stories out of my head and into yours.

Drop into Local Studies next month and have a look around, you never know what you might find!

Putting on the Ritz

I was helping a patron look for some old pictures for the Picture Past It: Altered Read-ality photo comp that we’re running (see previous post) and came across this photo.  Now if you’ve read any of the local newspapers for the last month or more you would know the debate about the city image. Well how flash do you need to be when Logan has “The Ritz”?

All jokes aside, I will admit that I was curious about “The Ritz” and I finally found mention of it in a short history of the “Blue Gum Caravan Park” written by Mary Howells.

“Herbert Bates purchased the Blue Gum site, which included two lots between Logan Road and Slacks Creek, in 1928. Bates retained ownership through most of World War II and then sold the property to Charles La Vergne in April 1944. Bates also established a small roadside shop/café, known as the Ritz, on a site nearer to Park Road, where the family lived. The Bates family grew flowers and small crops. Mr Bates also made ice cream, which was popular with the tourists.”

 Well that’s it for this week, But….

“if you’re blue

and you don’t know where to go to

why don’t you go where fashion history fits?

Logan and The Ritz!”

(more bad humour next week I promise)

Writing All Wrongs

You know nothing gets my goat like a mistake that is perpetuated after it has been corrected. I thought I’d throw a couple of the most common believed mistakes about Logan together just for your information.

Just recently Logan Council in a special ceremony corrected the long-standing typographical mistake for Gould-Adams Park, with a new interpretive panel acknowledging the mistake and that the park was named after Sir Hamilton John Goold-Adams.

Let’s take a look at the Council logo. It’s a flower (everyone can agree on that), but there are claims that it represents the Banksia Integrifolia flower which is the city floral emblem, and I guess it does (if you stand on one leg, turn your head to the side and squint while holding your tongue just right). The logo was actually drawn to be “a modern representation of the spirit of the City’s growth and optimism…. A graphic representation of a flower – growing and blooming in this fast developing City”

And looking at mistakes, how could I not talk about our beloved Captain Patrick Logan. Reviled as a brutal man who had a brutal death it’s interesting to read a few of the more in-depth books that have been researched and written which show that Logan was just doing his job under the orders he was given. One such book even uses actual historical records to disprove several of the claims made by an ex-convict. I’m not saying he was a nice guy but I don’t think he was the villain he has been portrayed as either.

And speaking of Logan, it might interest you to know that Logan City was in fact not named after Patrick Logan, but after the Logan River which formed the largest natural boundary separating the newly formed city from its southern neighbours. The river itself was originally named after Governor Darling in 1826 but was later renamed the Logan River in recognition of the exploration that Patrick Logan did.

Well that’s all I got for you today, don’t forget to enter our photographic contest “History Clicks”