Station clocks were central to city's life - Brisbane - QLD - Australia - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

"MEET me at the clocks". For many years that was all you needed to say to arrange a good place in downtown Brisbane to catch up with friends, make contact with a business acquaintance or meet a lover.

The Central Railway Station clocks were one of the best-known landmarks in the city and faithfully kept the time for decades until Central was redeveloped in 1984.

Surprisingly, it was not the first railway station in Queensland and not even the first in Brisbane.

Ipswich had the honour of being the site for the colony's first major railway station in 1865 and Roma Street claimed the honours in Brisbane.

Pressure mounted in the 1870s to extend the line from Ipswich to South Brisbane and either terminate it there or carry it across the then new Victoria Bridge.

Chief engineer of railways Henry C. Stanley wanted Roma Street as the city's first terminal. He got his way but only after being hauled into Parliament to face hours of belligerent questioning about it.

It wasn't until 1890 that a rock tunnel under Albert and Turbot streets was built, connecting Roma Street to Central.

The terminal building itself, an imposing Victorian edifice, was finally finished in time for Federation in 1901. It replaced a temporary wood and corrugated iron structure.

At first there were only four platforms and five tracks, all covered by a large steel-framed barrel vault roof. It was demolished in 1966 and replaced with small cantilever awnings over each platform.

By 1904 Central's electro-pneumatic system for changing points and signals was installed, a first for Australia.

The elegant sandstone portico and clocktower facing Ann Street were sacrificed to progress when the Sheraton Hotel (now the Sofitel Brisbane) was built over the station and Ann Street was widened.

Railway authorities were, naturally, obsessed with the correct time. It fell to the chief watchmaker to ensure every clock and every employee's watch was synchronised throughout Queensland.

The last chief watchmaker to ensure the old Central clocks told the right time was Bob Williams, who retired three years after the redevelopment was finished.

He estimated he had fixed nearly 700,000 watches or clocks in his 44-year career.

The redevelopment of Central's "air space" was a novel concept in the 1980s but quickly triggered a flurry of similar tenders for air space above the Roma Street, Brunswick Street and Toowong stations. The Toowong redevelopment was rammed through in a controversial ministerial rezoning.

Originally published as Clocks central to city's life

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 12/03/2009 Publication: The Courir Mail Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: regional News Category: Society/People

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