Great Australian Railway Journeys Series "Newcastle to Brisbane" Series 01 E06

[Music] my 1913 bradshaw's handbook to the chief cities of the world has brought me to australia i will ride some of the longest trains and the world's steepest railway i'll climb blue mountains and cross red deserts i'll swim above coral reefs and walk upon golden sand as i journey across this spectacular continent i'll discover the gold and silver coal and wool on which this nation was built i'll encounter her indigenous people and her national heroes and discover the origins of the millions of immigrants who now call themselves [Music] australians [Music] i'm striking north east from sydney's metropolis to discover the beauty and richness of australia's east coast following tracks laid by enterprising british settlers bradshaw sets the scene for this part of my journey exploration for mere discovery's sake has now done its work and the development of the continent has since proceeded on economic lines in which the expansion of agriculture trade and the mining industries plays the chief part by the start of the 20th century australia had discovered enormous mineral deposits which had raised the living standards of its tiny population whilst the country's vast interior is largely inhospitable its coasts provided natural harbours and beaches australians who worked an unusually short week had time for leisure and sport [Music] my first stop will be the historic port of newcastle i'll discover an adorable national treasure in port macquarie and an australian icon in kempsey while in will gorga i'll uncover the roots of one of australia's earliest indian communities i'll enjoy the laid-back vibe of byron bay before crossing into the state of queensland to finish my journey in its capital brisbane i'll mingle with marsupials hello greg are you a good boy which one of us i took [Music] all right the world's greenest train for the first time ever my tracks are solar-powered and tackle training with an aussie rugby legend nice work very fierce [Music] this is the express passenger train or xpt service on the main north line the original railway to queensland this section was known as the short north when completed in 1887 i've been invited to join the driver to enjoy the splendid scenery from the cab charlie thank you so much i'm really looking forward to this welcome aboard michael thank you charlie this train resembles a british high-speed train hst are they by any chance related pretty much the same trade this one's had the suspension change for australian conditions but basically it's the same train we're on a decline here one in 40 grade from cowan station just there down to hawkesbury river exciting part of the run it's a beautiful part of the run very scenic very historic pass through about five tunnels this is brooklyn the township of brooklyn and here is the river ahead of us [Music] bradshaw's tells me that the hawkesbury river has been styled the australian rhine and with its deeply rising wooded slopes you can see why the comparison is at the mighty hortsbury presented a major obstacle for 19th century railway engineers passengers would disembark on its southern bank to cross by paddle steamer before resuming their journey by rail in 1889 a bridge built by new york company opened to great fanfare the fourth largest in the world with the deepest foundations it was hailed as a major engineering achievement but less than 50 years later dangerous faults were discovered and it had to be closed [Music] a new bridge constructed alongside opened in 1946 this time built by australians with a promise that it would last at least 200 years charlie i really feel that was a privilege to ride with you on that stretch you're more than welcome it's a privilege to be here i get paid to do this i'm leaving the impressive landscape of new south wales to travel to its industrial heart the guidebook tells me that the principal station on the northern rail line is newcastle which after sydney is the most important place in the state and the center of its coal mining industry at a time when the australian colonies were enthralled to britain the town was of course named after the geordie city in england but how the wheel of fortune turns the collier ships have long since disappeared from the river time while newcastle new south wales is the world's largest coal exporting port in the world's largest coal exporting country [Music] i'm a lighting at newcastle's broad meadow station which opened in 1887 [Music] newcastle was australia's first industrial town and has a growing population approaching 500 000 making it the second largest city in new south wales [Music] on flagstaff hill overlooking the harbour and the tasman sea sets a reminder of its importance as a coal port for over 200 years [Music] in this distant outpost of the british empire which would go on to be a loyal ally in two world wars the city needed protection from britain's enemies [Music] australia with its mineral wealth and small population was vulnerable to invasion and fort scratchley was built in 1882 to defend newcastle's coal there was a scare in 1888 when a russian warship appeared here but these guns were employed only in 1942 to return fire against a submarine of the japanese imperial navy [Music] newcastle is home to the largest port on australia's east coast covering almost 2 000 acres a staggering 90 percent of its business is in coal which arrives here by rail from the open cup mines of the hunter valley penny duploye is the chief executive officer of port waratah coal services in this extraordinary landscape do you mind if i take you back to history when does the history of coal in new south wales begin 220 years ago in 1797 coal was first found in newcastle and then within about three years it was being exported the first goal went from here to bengal and then within five years there were vessels going to the cape of good hope regularly the hunter river was known as the coal river because of the rich seams discovered in its valley the first permanent mine opened here in 1804 employing convict labor as the industry grew and free settlers arrived newcastle became a prosperous commercial center fueling a growing australian economy this discovery of coal was very fortuitous because it's just the beginning of the steam age isn't it that's right and it's been a very big contributor to the australia and specifically the new south wales economy since then um what has changed about your methodology how are you able to do such huge volumes now the biggest things are the scales and the scale of the machinery and the rate at which they run and then also automation what's this machine doing the reclaimer is the machine that collects the coal once it's been stockpiled for loading onto the vessel the reclaimer runs at about 10 000 tons an hour we can do about half a million tons a day the only machine that requires skilled operation by human being is the ship loader and it's an awesome responsibility this is the most magnificent site we're out over the ship now we're moving over the holds the coal that has already been put inside is clearly visible and the enormity of the ship is revealed absolutely amazing hello al i'm michael nice to meet you mate oh i have been watching your work you are a great man no i'm not the way you've been moving the gantry and moving the nozzle and you're putting that coal in there as neat as putting icing sugar on a cake huh you're saying either you would take me out for dinner next [Laughter] you'll have to scrub up first oh your head scrubbed up what are you doing what do you got so take me through what you're doing next huh so much in first passes now when going back to complete the passes so you don't stress the vessel out too much it's not stressful sometimes it is when they're full you are responsible for not snapping a ship well yes well their load plans will stop it from doing that how much cold already are 60 000 tonnes so far what would it take all together um about 68 000 this one you're getting there yeah we're nearly on draft honey how much coal is the port doing a year out of newcastle uh we are exporting about 160 million tonnes of coal from the hunter valley 116 million tonnes but can it survive with environmental concerns and with alternative fuels well coal exports through newcastle doubled between 2007 and 2014 and has been growing incrementally since then there's no doubt that there's pressure on coal is a fuel but there's a lot of growth in demand for electricity and under valley coal has significant advantage in the market it's low ash high calorific value coal and very desirable in markets where that's important such as japan control seven tens in one and ready for coal so he wants to complete this hatch yeah there we go what do you think i think it's epic how much pole am i watching going through there right there wow the foundations of australia yeah this is the main voyage too is it really so you to be a bit gentle al this was a nicely freshly painted brand new ship and you've made a real mess of it yes that's the industry i'm still reeling from the sheer scale of this operation it's amazing to me that they're exporting more coal from this one port than the whole of britain was producing even 50 years ago [Music] back in the comfort of my express train i'm riding the north coastline which first linked sydney directly with brisbane in 1932. sounds absolutely spiffy thank you thank you very much [Music] okay hello hi how are you i believe that devon's tea is ready yeah okay would you like a tea coffee or hot chocolate with that tea please okay tip of the day thank you very much today [Music] when i heard there was devonshire tea i had a little fantasy about china cups and maybe a little teapot but this is the 21st century [Music] the scone though it arrived in a little plastic bag is warm oh and delicious hello ladies may i join you a moment yes uh you're on a long journey today yeah fairly long five nights six hours with my wheelchair it's just a lot easier than catching a plane or driving they were there to help you on they were there to help you off definitely get a ramp out for me yeah they're wonderful you can come and get your cup of tea did you partake of the devonshire tea it was absolutely beautiful it was wasn't it [Music] excuse me sir yes my name's michael michael mark very good to see you so what brings you on the train today i missed my flight you missed this morning yeah you missed you just slept and then i tried to rebook and i was out of luck so this was the last form of transport left available to me i suppose i could have had a car and driven are you anti-trained no no not at all i've actually got a soft spot for them as you can see a few garages here i will never doubt you again you're not anti-trained no it's my dad's first job when he came out from hungary was uh the railways in um in sydney hungarian family uh yeah have a soft spot for them for trains well thank you and a good journey to [Music] pleasure [Music] four hours after leaving newcastle i arrive at war hope station bye-bye [Music] around 10 miles east of here is the seaside town of port macquarie or port as it's known by the locals i'll see what it has to offer in the morning [Music] port the quarry marks the start of new south wales subtropical northern coastline named after lachlan macquarie the state's fifth governor it was established in 1821 as a penal settlement for british convicts today it's a popular tourist destination with great surfing and a choice of breathtaking beaches like many towns in australia it also boasts a healthy choice of restaurants and cafes which make the most of the abundant year-round fresh produce i'm ready for breakfast and this place promises modern australian cuisine hello very well um i was thinking of something fruity yes can you remind me what this is so acai is a berry yeah and our smoothie bowl is mixed with local fruits on top oh brilliant i'll have that thanks thank you very much yeah this is my size wow now the pistachio crusted pear with our homemade granola and the chia pudding very good for your health i'm sure i feel good eating it thanks very much thank you so i'm guessing this part here is where the acai looks it's very very tasty it's unusual that anything that looks that good and tastes that good does you good [Music] long before this stunning coastline became a playground for holidaymakers it teamed with unique animal species [Music] bradshaws tells me that all the mammals of australia except the dingo and bats and a small few rodents are marsupial or pouch bearing there's one which human beings regard as cute almost like a childhood teddy and so over a long period it has been mistaken for a bear much to its own indignation i assume [Music] when the first colonists arrived here in the 18th century they settled in the rich fertile land by the sea and today more than 80 percent of australians live within 60 miles of the coast but the wildlife of these regions has paid a heavy price for human development not least one of the country's most distinctive creatures which inhabits the eucalyptus forests and woodlands of south and east australia just a few minutes walk from the beach in the macquarie nature reserve is the koala hospital where they care for sick and injured animals today shane flanagan is the clinical director so let's just nail this once and for all chain a koala is not a bear definitely not a bear is a placental mammal a koala is a marsupial so their development is in a pouch not completely inside the body what has been the impact of the arrival of european settlers in australia on the koala the impact has been dreadful but that's applies to all wildlife but you know our national icon it's just dreadful we have lost so many animals right across the country there's just more and more habitats removed for human development that's the problem to the extent that they are endangered in some areas they're in there are endangered populations in other areas they're still doing okay but the way we're going it's just to be an exponential decline it's it's shameful we hold the highest rate of extinction of mammals in the world australia does in the world isn't it awful [Music] experts believe that the koala population has fallen from around 10 million to fewer than a hundred thousand since the arrival of settlers in the late 18th century huge numbers were killed for their fur shipped to england and america koalas were finally made a protected species across australia in 1937 but as trees continue to be cleared to build roads and houses koalas are still endangered what are the complaints that your patients are coming here with there's this key threatening processes that happen to koalas hit by cars attacked by dogs and disease all of that's driven by removal of habitat this hospital run by the koala preservation trust conducts research into disease and behavior as well as caring for 250 koalas a year i'm meeting some of the current patients with volunteer mick feeney mick good day good day lovely to meet you michael the board as you can see has got a lot of patience on it suffering all forms of problems maladies injuries disease i think we have about 28 in our care we have a short history of their problems uh bush fire victim motor vehicle accident infection raptured humerus how many of these will get back into the wild so we have about 16 and this they are under active care and eventual rehabilitation and on the other hand we've got some permanent care ones they would not be viable until the while and if you follow me we go into the enclosures [Music] hello good morning i'm michael pleased to meet you michael very good to see you barbara and who is this this is minnie her mother was killed with a dog but fortunately minnie wasn't injured so um i just took her into hanky how long have you had minnie at home three months three months and how's she doing she's doing very well she's now one and a half kilos she'll have to put on another killer and then she'll come into the hospital here she'll go into the yard where there's a tree because she's never had a tree and we won't touch her again we call it dehumanising yes because she's she thinks i'm her mum so we won't touch her and it doesn't take them long before they don't really need to be handled again and this is not the first time you've done this no well i've been here 17 years so i've done it many times it's lovely to see them start off little tiny things and grow and be healthy is it okay to uh to touch many yeah she can touch just film third feel how soft she is incredibly soft that's extraordinary oh this is a first for me i've never met a koala and i've never touched a koala barbara is it all right to get closer to minnie oh follow me [Music] it's feeding time on the wards and the first patient on the list is grant tell me about this patient no this patient he was the victim of a collision with their goods train so being hit by a train i assume his condition is quite serious it was very very serious he suffered severe fracture above the left eye socket his left forearm and the ear has been severely damaged he would not be viable in the wild because of the level of disability that he has hello hello i'm michael how are you margaret good thank you margaret obviously you're feeding grant what is it you're giving him so this is a sawyer formula but it just gives you an extra oomph do you think he'd take that syringe from me yes you can have a guy he's anxious hello grant you are an anxious fellow right here you're enjoying that at about right right all right grant that's the end of that one let's have another go for you ron are you ready here we go again i hear a good boy which one of us i really enjoyed this oh my god i can see what amazing satisfaction you get from this a most heartwarming job at the hospital comes when a rescued koala can be released again into the wild today it's the turn of big guy now this looks like a pretty ideal tree for him it's a koala food tree and it's in his home range so we'll um place him at the base the small group of eucalyptus or gum trees in which koalas live is known as their home range and there they sleep for up to 18 hours a day now any precautions we need to take they are unpredictable he may not agree with my choice of tree right and may pause and choose to go and climb another one all right there he is quite calm in the circumstances we lift the koala in the bag towards the tree have you made a good choice do you like the tree he's considering his position as they say zoomed up the tree see him disappearing now beyond the canopy yeah marvelous this is why we do what we do i've been charmed by these wonderful creatures and i'm grateful that this hospital is fighting so hard to protect their future as the midday temperature rises i'm looking forward to the air-conditioned train to continue my journey along the new south wales coast [Music] bradshaw's has this warning about the middle of november summer comes in the heat becomes great and by the end of december most of the rivers are dried up and vegetation has ceased hot winds can last 48 hours the australian response is to put on the sunnies apply the sun block and cover the head but i'm not convinced that my panama looks right in australia i'm on the hunt for something a little more appropriate in the rural town of kempsey founded in 1836 it lies around halfway between sydney and the queensland border and was originally a center for logging and then the dairy industry this company has been making the quintessential bush hat since the 1870s when they spotted a market amongst fair-skinned settlers stephen michael good to see you nice to meet you [Music] so stephen i've been noticing the intense sunshine here intense heat and i just need the uh the right hat for the climate and uh i'm told that your hat is the iconic australian hat is that right oh yeah it is actually yeah now my try one on you can try them all on who was the founder of the company uh benjamin dunkley uh was the founder of the business and uh my uh great grandfather married his daughter and that's how uh we ended up in the uh in the hat game your great-grandfather married his daughter until it's just remained in the family ever since that's right benjamin dunkley was a hatter from cheshire in england he arrived in australia in 1874 to find the country in the grip of a rabbit epidemic spotting an opportunity he invented an ingenious machine to turn their undefer into felt in 1904 he persuaded lancashire hatta stephen kier to join him and a year later kier became his son-in-law the akubra name taken from an aboriginal word for head covering was introduced in 1912 and the business is still family run today by stephen kier the fourth that's very nice what what what do you call that one that's a kettleman that's their most popular style very very nice what do you describe that that's a traveler hat that's called the rust that's a new color we've just come out with anything a bit more outlandish stephen ah now you're talking look at that that's brilliant what a great hat goes well with a shirt don't you think it does liar any idea how many hats you're making uh we make about 180 000 a year up to about 80 different styles and a lot of different colors and you supply huts to the australian military we do we uh we're the sole supplier of the uh the uh chat to the australian military we have been for quite some time that's so distinctive isn't it that's what you see in all the war movies yeah and then they clip it up the side when they march the company began to supply the armed forces during the first world war and over the years its hats have become the classic aussie brand you must be very proud of your family seem yeah i am i'm really proud and we're in a business that uh you know we feel is one of the icons of australia and we're really happy the factory employs a local workforce of around a hundred and many of the jobs are still done in the traditional way well there's at least a hundred hundred different sets of hands and there's a hell of a lot of processes it goes through to make one hat hello hello michael i'm kev nice to meet you so what are you doing to these hats uh blocking the hats so they've got the right block so the correct shape and size to go into the next process of the line every block's sort of different size than uh different shapes as well the steam basically makes the hat soften yeah so the block goes in nicely a lot of weight coming down man nice press yes you don't get your hands caught under there no keep your fingers out and how come you can touch the metal when it's hot there is a trick to it you don't actually grab it you actually just let it sit your hand and you release it straight away and my hands are now desensitized from years of work in uh kitchens and uh cooking and things like that so the perfect training for making that hello hi how are you what do you do to the hats i put the linings in and glue how long have you been working here 30 years any idea how many hats you've done in 30 years oh my god no how many two do it takes about 60 000 a day that's quite a large number isn't it yes you are quite an experienced lady truly such a pleasure yes good luck to you bye-bye [Music] i'm continuing my journey along the coast of new south wales i'll stop at coffs harbor for wool gulga then travel to byron bay before crossing into queensland on route to the state capital brisbane although this rail line often runs close to the coast views of the water are few and far between but here just north of numbucker heads through what the train crews call the hole in the wall we get a brief glimpse of snapper beach and the ocean beyond [Music] coffs harbour is one of the largest cities on this stretch of the coast [Music] at the turn of the 20th century banana farming was big business here plantations spread from tropical queensland to this part of new south wales twenty minutes north on the coast in the small town of wolgulga i discover a thriving sikh community and this impressive guru narak temple built some 50 years ago it might be surprising that sikhs first arrived in australia to work in queensland sugarcane fields they slipped in during the 1890s shortly before australia passed laws to exclude non-europeans in order to keep the country white the sikhs moved south to this region to work in the banana plantations after the australian workforce left to fight in the second world war rashmi akanbati was born here and has written a history of her community rashford how big is the sikh community here in bulgar in terms of numbers it's um probably sitting around 1500 but in terms of visibility you would think only the sikhs living will build up the traditional clothes groups of men sitting together down the street the temple it's so visible is the community pretty good at maintaining its traditions its distinctness when i grew up it was a simulation and integration trying to fit into the western culture i was born in australia and i actually didn't go to india until i was 26 and that was for an arranged marriage back in that era there weren't many indians around here so the concept of india was very alien but currently the uh wu gilga upholds its um cultural and religious stuff with like they love it and they're proud of it it sounds from what you say as though the sikh culture here is becoming stronger with the passage of time not less from no it is definitely becoming stronger a lot of people now say to us that we're more traditional than the people in the punjab anyway i think it's about you know the younger generation discovering their roots why do you in particular choose to live in will having been born in australia and grown up you know aussie and traditional family this my mom was very traditional because she came straight from the punjab whereas my dad grew up in australia there was always the mixture of two cultures in our family and then i of course went away to university and lived in sydney but when i had my son i actually moved back to worgulga specifically because i wanted to bring him up in the culture and i just adore it because it lets me enjoy who i am a foot in both worlds every september bulgogi sikh community hosts a curry fest with indian food and bhangra dancing attracting over 15 000 visitors this afternoon regular stall holder john arkham is holding a small event of his own [Music] oh john what have you got there for us beautiful prawn curry from india oh that looks lovely and what do we eat that with a little bit of rice and a little bit of green chili and a little bit of red chili so ladies have you tried it again you tried i will [Laughter] in india it's important to make noises uh fruit growing is still at the heart of the community but today blueberries have replaced bananas as the primary crop hello i'm michael michael great to meet you great to see you i i hear sounds of activity so you've got some packing going on at the moment have you ever so let's go in and have a look i've got a hair in it where it matches your pants is chairman of the ozgroup co-op which represents around 150 growers beautiful blueberries coming up the conveyor belt here how many crops do you get a year look our blueberry season here runs 52 weeks of the year we've got a peak in the spring in september october but every single month of the year we keep picking and keep packing what happened to the bananas the bananas are still grown here in very small volumes but they started being grown in north queensland so that climate up there's a lot better suited to growing bananas they can grow on more efficiently than we can here around the late 90s we had some growers decide that they want to trial blueberries and it was four growers initially and then we've grown to 150 growers and this year we hope to turn over about 100 million dollars worth of blueberries and the seek community is much involved in the fruit business here at the moment probably 80 percent of our members here are sikh from the sikh communities so what was it about the punjab where the sikhs have come from that suited them to this work back in punjab most people come from farming families or they grew up in a village surrounded by farms so when they came to australia farming was a logical next step so my great grandfather came out here with a group of about 20 people and they worked here on the cane fields they'd kind of come back and forth from india and then in the late 30s the white australia policy had relaxed a little bit and then my grandmother came out with my grandfather and they settled here in wolverhampton it's quite interesting to me that you have passed through a period of frankly racist policy there was a white australia policy my generation we grew up in a post-racism era so we don't feel any of that my father grew up here he didn't feel any of that perhaps there was some of it towards my grandparents but i even remember my grandad saying that the australians who helped him out he had a lot of time for this really is a story that australian sikhs sikh australians are fully integrated look absolutely i think a lot of the values that seek share uh common with australian values like mateship and hard work so it's uh it's been a happy melding of both the cultures i'm resuming my route north heading for the backpackers hotspot of byram bay at the time of my bradshaw's guide i could have taken a train all the way into town on the casino to merwillemba line but as roads improved passenger numbers dwindled and in 2004 110 years after it began the service finally closed so i'll leave this north coast train at casino around 50 miles inland the hippie charms of byram bay will have to wait till morning byron bay was known originally by indigenous australians as cavanbar or meeting place but in 1770 captain james cook anchored here and named it cape byron after a famous naval officer john byron grandfather of the poet [Music] how long is the bridge between australia and new zealand i was asked at school it was of course a trick question here i am at the most easterly point in australia and new zealand remains stubbornly out of sight in fact it's still nearly 1 500 miles away [Music] in 1894 the railway arrived and the town was renamed byron bay with its port and rail link industry boomed but today tourism is king here with more than 2 million visitors every year a voyage to australia says bradshaw's is frequently recommended as an excellent means of recruiting health and strength and beautiful byron bay which was once a place of whaling and mining and factories has recently been a magnet for the health conscious hippies backpackers surfers and other natural soul mates of mine [Music] with its fabulous beach it became famous for its new age hedonism and music festivals in the 1970s and the town still draws people yearning for an alternative lifestyle karen wilson moved here from france 15 years ago and teaches meditation karen what's brought you to byron bay first of all the beach and the landscape i think it's very beautiful place the people also are very nice to live uh with the community is very strong around here what sort of people come here you know there are a lot of creative people around here my own is quite popular for that people that like to have a good life balance between relaxing enjoying themselves and then work perhaps karen could help me to get in touch with byron bay's famed cosmic consciousness so we just got our first close our eyes and allow you to focus on your breath really follow the path of the breath and just focus on that as soon as you notice that your mind is wandering just bringing back to wash the breath again that's a meditation process [Music] how you feeling now michael um good i i i think it takes a lot of practice it does my mind was wandering but whenever it did wander i did as you told me i focused on my breath going into my diaphragm i've enjoyed a lovely moment of peace with just the roar of the surf thank you although the railway no longer runs to byram bay it's now possible to take a train perfectly designed for a country most of which enjoys more than 3 000 hours of sunshine a year now here is a joyous site some beautifully restored old railway rolling stock in wonderful livery of maroon and cream anybody on board ah michael hello who's tim who's jeff i'm jeff you're jeff i'm team welcome to byron jeff clark is a manager at the byron bay railroad company which runs the service on the old mo willembe line from the north end of town to the center this 1949 train has been updated by tim elderson's company lithgow railway workshop jeff tell me about the train it's the very first of a a series of these rail cars of the new south wales railways it was built in 1949. and there's something special about the train yes we've solarized it so it's uh apparently it's the world's first solar-powered train it runs 100 on solar power that is amazing and where where where are the solar panels we've got six kilowatts of solar panels on the roof of the train and we've got another 30 kilowatts of solar panels on the shed roof which we need to tap into at the most once a day so when the train comes in once a day you plug it in like an electric car yeah that is pretty sunny here but um is it 100 reliable yes so far touch wood all good um can we take it for a spin absolutely let's go okay [Music] beautifully quiet tim sure is it's slightly unnerving to be on an electric train with no third rail no wires above us absolutely but from the sound you know it's electric yes actually um we only use about a quarter of the energy that we generate we sell three quarters of it to the grid and we get paid this is an area byron bay kind of well known for uh people are interested in the environment and so on so i suppose having a solar power train is pretty important in this community i guess if there's any place in the world to put it it was it would be byron bay what were the challenges jeff of getting the whole thing going just the regulatory approval to start a passionate railway was immense we had planning approvals we had a physical worker doing the engineering work to reconstruct the railway line and the bridge but the role along was completely overgrown the service was launched in 2017 and runs nine return trips daily with evening trains at weekends was it a struggle to get people to believe in solar technology we had people that told us it was just a joke and you could never have a solar power train and some of them are still saying that but you're traveling on one now you prove them wrong here's your favorite bridge jeff [Music] [Applause] for the first time ever my tracks are solar powered [Music] i'm bidding farewell to new south wales and crossing the border into queensland australia's second largest state seven times the size of the united kingdom it's four and a half thousand mile coastline extends all the way to the continent's northern tip brisbane the guidebook tells me is the capital of the state of queensland and was founded in 1825. it stands between the southern temperate zone and the subtropical north drawing from both some peculiar advantages as a city brisbane possesses a distinctive character which i'm told is expressed in both culture and architecture oh and indeed by the fact that we have to change our watches back by one hour odd since we're traveling north not east or west will terminate at this station the vulture express train 620 miles on from sydney i arrive in australia's third biggest city built around its river of the same name brisbane was once home to a thousand convicts almost 40 years after the first british prisoners set foot in sydney the morton bay penal settlement was established here for the most hardened re-offenders it closed in 1842 and free settlers then flocked here brisbane became queensland's capital in 1859 bradshaw's remarks that brisbane was not a planned city queen street now the finest thoroughfare of the city had its direction determined by the building of some barracks where most of the city was a field of corn and this is what the book refers to as the colossal treasury buildings i get the impression that now brisbane would rather be known as a modern city than an historic one yet its past has given the state capital one of its sweetest claims to fame the story began here at old government house peer robinson knows the history and has invited me to tea hello i'm michael hello michael pierre so nice to see you and what is that that you've so kindly brought me oh well this is quite a large lamington lamington strange name why is it so called the naming is after lord and lady lamington lord lamington was the eighth governor of old government house here in queensland london-born aristocrat lord lamington and his wife lady lamington took up residence here in 1896. and nord lamington was a great cake baker was he no you would never see lord lamington in the kitchen instead lady and lord lamington hired experienced french patisserie chef amman garland and he invented the case we believe so in the house they used to have the lady lamington's afternoon tea receptions and so the chef de cuisine had to be able to make something for a large number of people it was able to be made on mass not because it was fast to make but because you could make a lot of them the earliest known recipe for the cake was published in the queensland country life magazine in 1900 and national lavington day is celebrated every year on july the 21st what's it made of um that's a very good question it's a butter cake with chocolate icing and coconut on the outside this is the aussie cake and we do hold it in our heart this is our iconic cake quite a build up you observe the sponge we popped in the mouth chocolate coconut really good combination that's excellent you want to feed it to your cricketers it would stop them winning they say you can travel 3 000 miles across this continent and australians still sound and look the same but when i moved from new south wales to queensland i'm not only crossed into a new time zone i moved between tribes two tribes locked in fearful rivalry slugging it out on the battlefield of rugby union i'm at ballymore stadium in brisbane's northern suburbs it's the training ground for the queensland reds one of the top teams in australia and the southern hemisphere i'm meeting philip pope who knows all about the club so uh tell me about the stadium philip valley mall um the spiritual home of rugby in queensland built in 1967 we train here seven days a week and it's used by over a hundred thousand community rugby players we play at suncorp stadium which is where the international rugby games happen as well so for the older members of the reds club it's this stadium that has the big memories absolutely this is where many of them met their wives on the hill over here and this is where they feel most comfortable queensland's rugby union association was formed here in brisbane in 1883 melbourne or aussie rules football have been the number one sport prior to that but new south wales had adopted rugby union in 1874. there was a meeting at the exchange hotel just a few miles from where we're sitting here over a few beers the young lawyers and barristers of queensland many of whom were playing both sports had a heated discussion on what should be the predominant sport that night the northern rugby union was created and that became the queensland rugby union and 136 years later here we are what's the big significance of settling on rugby union in queensland queensland competed with new south wales at rugby for over 100 years before any other states really got involved queenslanders regard the city folk of sydney as their arch enemies so there was a lot of passion there was a lot of feeling in those very first encounters that queensland new south wales rivalry means everything so if queensland hadn't adopted rugby union rules there would not have been a winter sport in common to play with new south wales that's correct potentially there would be no wallabies because new south wales would have had nobody to play against and it was only through new south wales and queensland games over the decades that australia really began a international rugby culture now in britain they were using rugby union rules yeah there is a i think there's a a match um in 1888 which is probably the most famous first match between queensland and great britain they win by a few points but they produced some exhilarating rugby and that helped cement rugby union in this state one of the queensland players in that match was william eason board in 1856 he sailed from liverpool at the age of 26 to start a new life in australia a couple of years ago his family found this cap michael in the attic and as you can see it's it's got the 1888 branding on it and william was one of our first players oh that is a magnificent trophy isn't it george smith former captain of australia's national team the wallabies joined the queensland reds last year he's training some young players today and has invited me to join in george i'm michael hi mark we'll love to meet you a great honor to meet you how many caps did you have for your country yeah in the end i played uh yeah 10 years and amassed 111 caps so i was very fortunate to to play for the wallabies um in those years and a few defeats over england in that time numerous times but uh at the same time they they uh won the 2003 world cup which still hurts me and what are you instilling in these lads now oh we're just uh working on their basic skills their catch pass their tackle technique and also the ability to clean out of the breakdown so different variables within the game well it's a while since i played and i didn't exactly play at your level but shall have a go of course we'd love to have you let's go so here we go michael [Music] i got him [Music] nice fantastic getting rid of all that aggression [Music] nice distribution there nice nice work okay left [Music] jackal jackal jackal there we go nice work i might feel fantastic today especially when you did that tackling drill very fierce yeah i used to be in politics comes naturally thanks so much george no problems on this journey along the east coast i've seen that australians have a good work-life balance the beach is integrated into their towns and cities and they excel at sports like rugby you could say that these people are very lucky with their sun and sea and abundance of fruits and minerals that have enriched them but such success has led to thoughtless urbanization an enduring memory for me is the struggle for survival against the destruction of its natural habitat by the endearing and iconic koala [Music] [Applause] [Music] the man responsible for making my english class sing sheamus heaney and the music of what happens is with us in 45 minutes queasy quacks is the subtext of tonight's qi xl that's with us next [Music] you

Channel: JOURNEYS

Views: 134,624

Rating: 4.896739 out of 5

Keywords: Great Australian Railway Journeys, MichealPortillo, Sydney, Australia, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane

Id: w_OpajWkg4Y

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/RAAFStupot]

Some amusing and interesting stuff in this from an outsider's perspective of Newcastle. If you can tolerate the narrator, who reminds me of a camp Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Just today I was driving past the coal loaders at Koorangang thinking it would be an interesting job operating them.

[u/DARTHAWESOME7898]

Damn this is cool. Can't believe I didn't know about this. I quite enjoy this railway show.

[u/[deleted]]

Very interesting to see just how the coal loaders work.