Map Showing Proximity of Port Darwin to Markets of the World and Route of Proposed Transcontinental Railway from Adelaide to Port Darwin.

Rare map made by the South Australian Surveyor General’s Office, showing the advantageous access of the port of Darwin to the major sea ports of Asia and on route to Britain. Shown is the proposed route of the raiway line and what portion had already been built. The Darwin to Pine Creek section had been completed in 1888 and Oodnadatta reached by 1891.

The history of the line;

1878: Construction from Port Augusta starts

1879:  Quorn reached

1883: Maree reached

1883: Construction of the North Australia Railway from Palmerston (Darwin) starts

1888: Pine Creek reached

1891: Oodnadatta reached, and known as the Great Northern Railway

1910: First promise by federal government to complete the line in the Acceptance Act (but no date given)

1926: Line acquired by Commonwealth Railways

1926: Katherine reached

1929: Birdum reached, terminus at Larrimah, and known as the North Australia Railway

1929: Alice Springs reached, and officially renamed the Central Australian Railway. The northern and southern parts are not connected.

1957: Marree line from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree rebuilt and connected to Adelaide

1976: Line closed 1980: South: New line from Tarcoola (a siding on the Trans-Australian Railway) to Alice Springs opens 

1980: Marree to Alice Springs (narrow gauge) line closed