By Callum Ludwig
A comprehensive history and recollection of the railways that once ran through the Upper Yarra can now be explored after the release of a new hardcover book.
‘Whistles Through the Tall Timber’ written by V/Line train driver Nick Anchen and published by Sierra Publishing Australia is 264 pages of history and recollections of the rail and its importance to the local timber industry.
Mr Anchen said the book was inspired by all the incredible stories he’d gotten from people who worked on the railway and in the timber industry in years past.
“The memories shared go all the way back to the 1930s and 40s, and in the old days, everything all came out by rail until probably about the 1950s or so when the roads started to take over,” he said.
“It’s a super interesting area, I spent a lot of time as a teenager and in my twenties exploring the area, looking at old sawmills and hiking around the old railway.”
The book expands upon a previous publication by Mr Anchen ‘Railways of the Yarra Valley’ which he published over a decade ago on the Healesville and Warburton rail lines. Whistles Through the Tall Timber focuses on the rail from Lilydale to Warburton, from Noojee to Warragul and the private timber tramway out to Powelltown.
Mr Anchen said the book is all-encompassing, 50 per cent focused on the railways and 50 per cent on the timber industry.
“What surprised me more than anything else about these stories was how different life was back then and how tough it was, the way they used to live, the dreadful wages and working conditions, how dangerous it was,” he said.
‘There was quite a lot of fatalities and serious injuries out in the bush because it was very dangerous work and there was no compensation for families and if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat.”
The Powelltown tramway ceased operations in 1945, while the last train left Noojee in 1954. The Lilydale to Warburton line was the last to go, with its last train leaving the station on 1 August 1965.
Mr Anchen said the railways are a very important part of Australian and Victorian history that have been a little bit forgotten.
“Up until the 1950s or even 60s, most people couldn’t afford a car unless they had wealth or money and people relied greatly on the trains which carried everything from timber to potatoes to the mail, groceries and even beer for the pub, they were the lifeblood of these little communities,” he said.
“We’ve got the Lilydale to Warburton rail trail, which is far and away one of Victoria’s most popular rail trails and justifiably because it’s so scenic and at least there’s something left but the Noojee railway, is largely just gone, there’s nothing left of it in parts and a lot of it is private property,” he said.
“The Noojee Trestle Bridge is quite a bit of a tourist attraction but it’s only a fragment of what was there, a spectacular railway line, which is almost unknown, with a series of seven bridges where the bridge you may have walked upon was one of the smaller ones.”
The Noojee Trestle Bridge, 102m long and 21m high, is the tallest surviving historic trestle bridge in Victoria and only a 3km walk out from the township.
Mr Anchen said the history of the area is also being lost through the loss of the people.
“By the time I started to put the book together in earnest about two years ago, most of them had already passed away, there’s still five or six still alive that are in the book and a lot of the stories are men talking about the stories of their fathers,” he said.
“I think it’s very important to keep the memories alive because this is why I dedicated my last 15 years or so to recording as many people as I can because once they die, and the numbers are rapidly dwindling, their stories die with them.”
A copy of Whistles Through the Tall Timber can be bought at the Yarra Junction Post Office, the Powelltown Pub or direct online at sierraaustralia.com/whistles-through-the-tall-timber.
