Blackall and Yaraka Branch Railways

The Blackall and Yaraka Branch Railways are railway lines in Central West Queensland, Australia. The former branch connected the small town of Jericho on the Central Western railway line with Blackall and the latter branch connected Blackall to the even smaller town of Yaraka. Blackall was named after Sir Samuel Wensley Blackall who from 1868 to 1871 was the second Governor of Queensland.

In the late 1890s it was government policy that Queensland’s three major trunk lines should be extended to the south-west in order to link vast remote areas with the coast. Those trunk routes were the Western line which then ran from Brisbane to Charleville, the Central Western Line from Rockhampton to Longreach and the Great Northern line running from Townsville to Hughenden. The Western line was extended south-west to Cunnamulla and opened in 1898 whilst in 1917 the Quilpie Line was opened from Westgate (south of Charleville) due west to Quilpie. The Great Northern line was extended south-west to Winton and opened in 1899.

Extending the Central line was more problematic. Residents of the Jundah and Windorah regions (along the Thomson River south-west of Longreach) jostled for a line in their direction to run from Dartmouth, 50 kilometres east of Longreach via Stonehenge to Jundah and Windorah. Meanwhile, Longreach residents preferred an extension north-east to Winton thus providing a link to the Great Northern Line. An alternative option to the south-west was therefore examined being a line from Barcaldine or Jericho (both further east of Longreach) down to Blackall the oldest town in the region. Although Barcaldine was fractionally closer to Blackall than Jericho, the latter prevailed because most of the land over the Barcaldine route had already been settled. The Blackall Branch was therefore approved in 1905 and had the potential to be further extended south-west to Yaraka, Windorah and beyond. The branch was 114 kilometres long and opened on 31 March 1908. Tiny sidings appeared en route at Joycedale, Lancevale, Yalleroi and Glenusk.

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