National Railway Museum (Port Adelaide) - History

History

The museum was founded in 1963, by a group of rail preservationists who managed to convince the South Australian Railways Commissioner to allocate land on the site of the former Mile End Roundhouse to house a small collection of withdrawn steam locomotives. The original site, on Railway Terrace Mile End, had only a small number of exhibits under cover. Most items had to be housed on the site in the open air. The effects of weather took their toll on the exhibits, so an alternative undercover venue was sought.

In 1988 the Museum was fortunate enough, with the involvement of the History Trust of SA, to obtain a $2m Australia's bicentennial Commemorative Grant to relocate to its current site and to provide covered accommodation for the exhibits. On 2 January 1988 the gates at the Mile End Railway Museum closed for the last time and on 10 December 1988, after almost a year of frantic activity, the Port Dock Station Railway Museum Port Adelaide was officially opened by the Premier of South Australia, The Hon John Bannon.

In 1999, special funding was received as part of Australia's Centenary of Federation to construct the Commonwealth Railway Museum within the museum's precinct. This new facility, which was opened on 21 October 2001, houses a representative sample of exhibits from the "Commonwealth Railways" and "Australian National". Included is the original Tea and Sugar train, as well as a number of vehicles that were used on the Ghan and Trans-Australian passenger trains.

At the opening of the Commonwealth Railway Museum the Port Dock Station Railway Museum was renamed the National Railway Museum. The name change is a response to the Commonwealth Railways operations being integrated into a National Transport Network that spans the whole of the Australian continent.