Trams in Australia

In Australia, tram networks were developed to provide public transport in many of the country's cities and towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As the twentieth century wore on, trams fell out of favour and most networks closed or were severely cut back. A revival in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has seen trams return to some of the larger cities and existing networks extended.

The only city with an extensive tram network is Melbourne. Single lines operate in Adelaide, Sydney and on the Gold Coast. The Sydney network is undergoing significant expansion with a second line under construction and a further two lines in the planning stages. A line is under construction in Canberra. Plans have also been announced to construct a line in Newcastle. Several tourist lines also exist.

In the 19th century numerous horse drawn systems were established, with Adelaide and Brisbane establishing reasonably large systems (for their day) and retaining their horse-drawn trams when other systems had adopted steam or cable traction. Victor Harbor and Gawler in South Australia are examples of small, single-line horse-drawn systems which survived until 1953 and 1931 respectively; the Victor Harbor line reopened in 1985.

Following a short lived experiment with a privately run horse tram line in Pitt Street in the 1860s, Sydney adopted steam trams, which were operated by the state government. By comparison, Melbourne adopted cable trams, which were owned by the local government, but operated initially by a private company. The Melbourne cable tramway system became the largest in the world in the late 19th century, with some cable lines retained until 1940. Sydney operated only two cable tram lines (in North Sydney and along New South Head Road) and eschewed the high capital outlay required for cable traction, preferring instead to retain their steam trams, until most of the system was converted to electric operation between 1898 and 1910.

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