Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
September 28, 1899 The first electric trams to operate in Perth, the capital city of what was then the British colony of Western Australia, made their official debut. (A little over a year later, Western Australia became a state as part of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia.) The new transit system – owned and... Continue Reading →
March 19, 1932 Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge, which carries traffic between that New South Wales (NSW) city’s central business district and North Shore area, was officially opened in ceremonies attended by hundreds of thousands of people. The lavish festivities on that Saturday for the steel through-type arch bridge included decorated floats in a nearby parade in... Continue Reading →
February 25, 1985 In Australia, a major milestone for Kendell Airlines took place when that record-setting regional airline in Australia, added the twin-engine turboprop aircraft Saab 340 to its fleet. These 34-seat civilian planes, which had made their public debut only two years earlier, were built by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB... Continue Reading →
February 4, 1961 William George Toop Goodman, who made significant contributions to public transit in both Australia and New Zealand, died in the city of College Park in the state of South Australia (SA) at the age of 88. Goodman had been born in southeastern England in 1872. After studying at educational institutions such as... Continue Reading →
January 28, 1930 The prototype chassis for a pioneering American bus arrived in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). The Model 54A bus had been constructed and inaugurated in the United States by the Ohio-based White Motor Company the previous year. This six-cylinder bus was designed to accommodate anywhere from 29 to 38... Continue Reading →
December 16, 1895 In Australia, the second race of the now-famous one-day road bicycle classic between Melbourne and Warrnambool in the British colony of Victoria took place. (Victoria became one of the states of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.) The first of those bicycle races had occurred just a little over 10 weeks... Continue Reading →
November 26, 2017 In the Australian state of Victoria, a new railway station was officially opened on Bay Road in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham. Southland railway station, which is part of the Frankston railway line (a commuter rail passenger train service in the Melbourne area), made its debut more than 130 years after building... Continue Reading →
November 20, 1897 Aviation pioneer Maude Rose “Lores” Bonney was born in the city of Pretoria in the present-day Republic of South Africa. (At the time of Bonney’s birth, the region where Pretoria is located was part of an independent and internationally recognized state known as the Transvaal Republic.) At an early age, Bonney –... Continue Reading →
November 5, 2011 Better late than never . . . In southeast Australia, a lighthouse at Cape Wickham on King Island in the state of Tasmania was officially opened 150 years after first going into the service. This ceremony finally took place in 2011 because, during preparations to commemorate the lighthouse’s sesquicentennial, it was discovered... Continue Reading →
October 7, 2010 (Image courtesy of Eastern Reporter Community News.) In Australia, Mandjoogoordap Drive (State Route 19) in the Peel region of the state of Western Australia was officially opened two months of schedule. (“Mandjoogoordap” is pronounced man-joo-goord-daap.) Western Australia’s Transport Minister Simon O’Brien officiated at the dedication ceremony for the dual carriageway (this class... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 