Birdum: the end of the Never-Never line

Birdum is about 500kms south of Darwin. It is the furthest point reached by the tracks of the "Never- Never line", as the North Australia Railway, the forerunner of the recently constructed Adelaide - Darwin railway, was known.

My interest in the line was aroused by a "Hindsight" program on ABC Radio National http://www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight/stories/s1409442.htm .

I contacted Trevor Horman, President of the Friends of the North Australia Railway, who had contributed to the program. Knowing that I was planning to be in the vicinity (in outback terms) at the time he invited me to Birdum Alive in 2005.

I rescheduled my itinerary and duly arrived at Larrimah, a few kms north of Birdum, where Trevor and everyone else made me feel welcome. We then moved to Birdum for the main event: a combination of field trip, working bee and social function (with live music and other entertainment). The planning and organisation were top quality and I'm sure that everyone there will retain fond memories for a long time. I certainly will.

Unfortunately my camera memory cards didn't have much spare capacity so I couldn't take many photos. The one here shows the end of the line at the former Birdum station site: the track survives and, as we found out, is capable of conveying a well-laden (with people and other supplies) fettlers' trolley to the Larrimah Hotel and back.

The water tower (built in Richmond Victoria in 1929) in the photo is the only surviving structure: the other buildings which constituted Birdum were either dismantled or, in the case of the pub, moved to Larrimah.