The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864-1933), Thursday 20 April 1911, page 5

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19704808

LAIDLEY VALLEY LINE.

OFFICIAL OPENING.

PRESENTATION TO MR. W. D.

ARMSTRONG, M.L'.A.

10.

The officialopening oí the 1 nidicv \ alloj

hi amil lnilwav, whioh w.i»1

indee! o i

to the Baihvae Deputinent ov the 3ft-i

dent en.ineLi (Alt H 1'opc) i n Moneuix

moilingliisi, took place lins morning m

tie prr cncL c e xeiv laige gnllieiing it

Mul,owic, tile new name toi UIL pies'-iittci immib at Burnside 11K CLILUIOIIV XVIS

ipcrtormed bj the s-titc ircnur I theHon xA Ii Bin ne- I he ill «rd ot

the nulwav avas turned ov the Hon \\1 Paget, ne, u tilt I aidlev faull House mi

Vpul 21 l'UO and it xv-i, ">.p"teil tintthe lint, would hive been coiixtiuctcd ni

¡miL lo have btLii opened ILI tinific in

Dccombei J) tint vom but the ttouble«Apenen ed bv Mi Pope in eicet ng tlie

llrst budge ov«?t the creek ne ii the laidlex sa tv null, ictaide 1

the OVOID, of coustiiK.lion end th continuous rain!all .n theearle part ot the pie cut, veil also nubtat vi to onie e\tcnt tgoanst the plotlessoi the ovoi'e H ox evet, the hue his neeu

constructed and the ixorl Ins been mostfaitlifulH tamed out bv oil Bope andhis st ift \n igitation axas iflont to havethe line e\te ide d to ov mt -,

]

now n is

Chiko's. Ccniei undei Hit Gi.i.antee W,mid nttei ti e lcmnrLs ot Mr Av D Aimstrong the mumbel foi the district, andAir f Pvaiis the general ttaftit manager,

H the banquet, the extension looks, tolit nenrci of accomplishment thnn so'iie

hid antienvued It is mulei stood that thecost of the construction of the presentlength n line- onie eight miles--a ill not,

exceed the est mated cóbt übe'day ovos

bcautifttllo fine and an ideal rat foi snen

an outing Quite a, nninbei of the íe-i

tlents of Laidley Creek axnded themselxtsif the opportuiuto foi a frp« ride oeet the

with two carriages attached, having pro-

ceeded from laidley early in the morningfur (his purpose. Precisely at 11" o'clock,

the; hour appointed for the ¡special to leaveLaidley for Mulgowie, the train of seven

or eight coaches, all crovvtlccl, steamed

away. -Slow ¡progress sAvas m.icb overtilie

first portion of tile Hne, and Goothenda,the first stopping; place, w-as reached at11.23, and hore further passengers Avore

picked up. Tun 'minutes later a'stop Avas

made at Paree», the .second and only otiicr

siding on the line. Avhere more excursion-ists boarded the train. From this Riding

to the terminus the pace was much'faster,

and Mulgowie was reached at IMS a.m.

Here a large number of residents were Avail-

ing on the platform. After the passengers,had alighted from the carriages.,the train

Avas backetl down the line for several

chains, and then it steamed through a

ribben of Royal blue, which was held bytwo t>t the pioneers of the district; Coun-

cillor P. H. M'Grath and Mr. Alex.

Hunter.

As the train approached its obieotive,

Mr. H. S. Brown, one of the hard-work-

ing and enthusiastic secretaries to the

function, said he hail been deputed, on

behalf of.the residents of Laidley Creek,

to tender a hearty AVelcomo'to the lion.

XV. II. Barnes (Treasurer) anel the other

visitors, lie expressed himself ns pleased

at seeing such a large number of people

present, and hoped the line would be a

present, and hoped the line would be a

tlibrough success. He then called for

three cheers for the railway and for Mr.

Bnrnes. anil there was a hearty response.The Hon. W. n. Barnes. who was cor-

dially received, expressed his pleasure at

having the opportunity of being present

at Avhnt he regarded as a reel-letter dayin that part of the district. He congratu-

lated them on haA'ing obtained their rail-

way. There were a great number of

people looking on to see how a line,

which boj considered ,to bo a purely agri-

cultural line, was going to Work out. ile

had no doubt that it would work out

to the fullest satisfaction of all concerned,

and turn out to be one of the first of

many sections, to penetrate further into

their country. It" might be his privilege,

in the not distant future, to extend the

i line still further. (Hear, hear.) In de-

claring the line open for traffie he ex-

pressed a hope that in every pense it

would prove a profitable undertaking

Cheers w'ere given for Mr. Barnes, and

the latter called for three cheers for the

member for the district (Mr. Armstrong)which Avere lustily given.

An adjournment Avas then made to the

reserve,''where an official luncheon Avas

served about'1'

o'clock in a large marque»,

Avhile in another marquee provision was'

made for the -requirements of the

ladies^ of.

whoini there Avère a

large' number present.' - Al the- -offi-

cial luncheon Councillor >. R. J. J Blake,

(Chairman'of wie 'Laidley Shire Council)

presided,'and'on his right snt Mr. W. D.

Armstrong.'" (M.L.A.. Mrs. Birnes, and

Councillor P. TI. M'Grath, and on his left

tho Hon. W. TI. Barnes (Treasurer) and

Mr. II. Sinclair, Federal member for

Moreton. Among others present were:

Messrs. D. T. Kedgh, and T. R. Roberts,

MIM.L.A., Rev. Z. A. Higgins (rector of¡..t. Saviour's Anglican Church, Laidley),

I

Rev. B. Bottomley (Laidley Methodistj Church), Aldermen IT. 'H. Daniel (Mayor),R. Cooper. 'R. Bunn, and ¡E. C. Pike, of the

Laidley Town Council': 'Mr. Will A. ¡Mil

wraith (town clerk). Alderman T. Goivnn

(MaA-or of ,Sandgatel, Mr. Evans (General

Triffic Manager), Mr.' A.'B. Brady (Un-der Secretary lo the Works Department).Councillors John Cook, .1. .T. Hughes, Dan

Ward, jim., elohn Brimhleeombe, A.

'Schlecht, W. Peters, and J. C. A. Xiel

sen, of iho Laidley Shire Council: Council-

lors AV. L. Dart (Chairman), C. Gnnne,John Skinner,- P. Dwyer, anel X. J. West

ergaard Xeilsen, and Mr. M. Dowling(overseer), of the Tarampa Shire Council;

Councillor H. Perrett (Chiirman of the

Xonnanby Shire Council), Councillor J. Y.

Creedy (Chairman of the Rosewooel Shire

Council); Mr. John (Mahon. Principal of

the Gatton Agricultural Collette; Mr. W.

IT. Pimlott, secretary to the Hatton Vale

Progress Association; Mr. W. A. Jîerner,

secretary to the Blenheim Progress As«oc

iilioii; Mr. Jacob Born (representing

Messrs. Cribb and Foote); Messrs. W. 11,

Summerville, Robert Hall. W.,S. Brimblecom'be, C. TI. B. Haly (Queensland Xat

ional Bank. Laidley); W. C. Porter (RoyalBank. Laidley); li. AV. Hardvvicko

(Boulia). AV G. Billington, ÏT. Clarke, D.

O'Xeill, iV. Alcorn, Alex. Hunter, das.I

Hunter, C. Squires, J. Squires, 11. Murphy,I

AT. Paddison. .las. M'Garrigal, TI. AVilson,

sen., AV Hodges, G. Elliot, X. Oberle, AV.

Irvine, TT. E. Peacock, D. Xicol. IT. Her-

mannen; Geo. Baulch, Jas. Sinclair, Alex.

Montgomery, E. Blaxland, John Pitman,Les-

Montgomery, E. Blaxland, John Pitman,J. AV. J. Walton, John Boland, Jos. Les-

ter, John Emmerson, John Baulch, J.

AVilson, S. Hodges. A. E. Bailey,

S. Rasümussen, H. Saxilby (managerQueensland Farmers' Ço-ioperaliive Com-

pany, Ltd.), and AV. C. Grenier. Apolo-gies"

were received from his Excellency

the GoA'emor (Sir AA7illiain MacGregor),

Hon. L. K. Groom, M.H.H., Hon. AV. T.

Paget (Minister for Railways), Mr. ArnoldWienholt, M.L.A.. Rey. P. Fouhy, Alder-

men John Carmody and. T. C. Hayes, the

lion. J. AV., Blair, M.L.A.. and Mr. J. J.

ICidner, manager of the Royal Bank at

The toasts of "The King" «and "The

Governor" were loyally honoured at the

instance of the chairman.

Mr. W. II. Sunimerx-ille, in proposing

the toast of "The'Ministry;" said the pre-

sent Ministry had taken the opportunity

by the hand to do ovhat other Ministries

had failed to* 'do.

in responding, Mr. Barnes said the

Government of Queensland recognised that

they lind a o'cry important 'duty to per-form In their State, which wa« «the bright-

est and the best of the Common

wealth. They oyere only just now on tthe

very fringe of the prosperity that mightbe theirs if they overe prepared to pull

together to help on their Stale. InCJueensland .they had failed to cultivate

to the fullest extent a feeling of^patriot

ism towards their own country. The

first duty of the Australian was to recog-nise the responsibilities to continue to

develop the great State of Queensland.

Their population was only a small one,

xvhile the extent of their territory ivas

great. Their duty was to hold fast tn

ox-hat they 'had trot. He ox-as pleased to

be associated avith the firs: step towards

the advancement of thal agricultural area

represented by the building of a light

railway line. Supposing, i-aid Mr. Barnes,

that the Federal authorities carried their

point on the 2Sth insrtant-and i-e knew

they overe not going to, so far as those

prebtmt overe concerned-ovhat prospectsovould there be if they depended upon theFcdi-ral Government to obtain increasedrailway development ? They would lis:

exceedingly poor. He was pleased to

congratulate them upon the succe-s

which attended their agitation for

the railway, for the Ministro" recognisedthe support which they received fromtheir agricultural district, and also recog-nised the importance of doing all theypossibly could to build up their greatState, the fairest and brightest and best

of the great Slates of Hie Commonwealth.lApplaute.)

. Nothing would be wantingon the pint of the Ministry lo developit. (Applause.) 'Mr. Barties, in concluí-ion,

quoted some figures which had beenhanded to him ny the General TrafficManager, winch disclosed that for theyear ending lune 30. 1800, S-Kil

pacse-ngcrshad booked at Laidley.- us against 1S.Ô71

for ¡lieyear ending .lune SO. ]!»10; £73

had been received for parcels, as against¿".IO, while the tonnage outwards forgoods was 8263 against «74.1 and 1442 in-

wards in 1910. Live slock increased fromx'iiO to £'401, and the total revenue fiom-L'.'JOOO

to £10.000.Mr. D. T. Keogh submitted the toast

of the "Federal Parliament,'' which avlis

of the "Federal Parliament,'' which avlis

suitably acknowledged hy Mr. H. Sinclair.

The toast of "iucce.-s to Our Railway"ovas then heartily honoured at the instanceof Mr. Alex. Hunter.

Mr. A. P. IT. M'Grath, on behalf of thecombined Thornton and Burnside ProgressAssociations, then handed .to Mr. Arm-strong a beautiful gold watch and albertILS an appreciation of Mr. 'Armstrong'sefforts in bringing the railway to a success-

ful i«-ue that day. Mr. Armstrong's heulthovas then musically honoured. The watchbore .' the following inscription :-"Pre-sented to W. D. Arnistong, M.L.A., by theresidents of Laidley Creek in recognitionof his efforts, in obtaining the const mo-

tion of the Laidley Valley branch ¡hie."'

Mr. Armstrong,-in acknowledging thegifii, said lliey lind marie him a presentfor work ovhiclt he lind pledged- them as n.

man to do. lie ovouH value it ns their

spout .menus desire lo mark the occasionof his small-effort on their benah". He(Mr. Armstrong) ovas.satisfied, years ago.that the Laidley Valley should be openedup, and he ovas also of the ) opinion thatthe other rich areas- of the valleys of

the Lockyer should also be opened npwith railxx'iiys. Referring to the extensionof the line, Mr. Lvrmstrong assured! those

present that he ovas behind the exten-sion every time. ¡Ile again thanked them,

for their gifts, and exprcsse«l a hope that,

that day avould ibe frauglil avith n gooddeal of gbod to them" and- their chil-

dren. .?

'

Mr. G. «Evans (General Traffic Mana-ger), in the . course ot a faw remarks,

assnied the company of «his assistance in

sending the i-ailway further along for an-

other vix miles or so. . (Loud applause.)

After the toast'of "The Chairman'' lind.been musically honoured, the comipanv

,avended theh' ovay to the station, a sturtiheing made for, Laidley fihortly after 2.30

o'clock, the latter township ibéing reached;

in time to^ allow of the visitors boardingthe 3.35 p.m. train for tlie metropolis.

The combined committee of the Thorn-ton and 'Burnside Progress associations

ovho arranged the function ixveie Messrs.H. Wilson, inn. (president), W. Clarke

(secretary), D. AA'ard. C. Spann, C, Peter-

sen, H. K Peacock, Jos. Cook, A. Clarke,

and W. Hodges (Thornton), un.î Messrs.T. Parkes (pres«ident), TI. S. Broovn (scc

ietarv),'C. 'J'. W. Beckmann, C. «Johan-

sen, R. S. Hunter, .las. til. Pitman, Thoa.

M'Grath '(treasmcr), P. IB. M'Grath, ,AV.

Beckmann, M. O'Neill, and E. AYoodall

(Burnside)7 Afessi-s.¡jr.

S. (Brown and D.

M'Pheison acted as joint secretaries tothe function.