A Part of Buderim's History

The Buderim Tram and Tourism

by Joyce Short
September 2011

The First World War ended in 1918.  it was possible by then to journey from Buderim to Brisbane or Brisbane to Buderim each morning, 6 days a week as the Buderim tram co-ordinated with the Gympie Mail train at Palmwoods.

Palmwoods at that time was the business centre for Buderim with it’s Doctor, Dentist, Hospital, lone Policeman (who on horseback patrolled a huge area which included Buderim) and a  Bank that sent an officer to Buderim one afternoon a week.

It was not until the 1930’s that Nambour became the business centre of the Maroochy Shire.

As a kid I loved a trip to Palmwoods in the tram, whether it was to catch the train to Brisbane or just for a morning at Palmwoods.   The tram left its terminus at the Buderim Station early each morning Monday to Saturday.  The station building had a room at the eastern end for the Station Master and Train Guard, Mr Jack Neill Senior, to use for his office and with space as well as for goods and parcel depot.  The middle of the building had a waiting room where you walked through to the train platform running the length of the building.  The room at the western end was the Post Office which also housed the manual Telephone exchange.  Until the 1930’s this exchange only operated during P.O. hours, but extra staff were employed to man it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week after that date.

Our family always caught the tram at its first stop after leaving Buderim Station, at Guy’s siding.  Once we were seated on the wooden seats attached to the inside walls of the passenger carriage, and the farmers in that area had loaded their produce onto the wagons, the Tram would its way down the track to Glenmount station.  After that it had to pass over the high White Bridge.  It had been named after someone, not for its colour as it was black from dirt and soot.  Then the Tram was at Telco Station.  From Telco the Tram skirted around the side of Mons, then down through Forest Glen and Chevallum to Palmwoods.  It finally stopped on a low line between the lagoon and the Main Palmwoods station.  A quite steep set of wooden stairs let Tram passengers walk up onto the Palmwoods Stations platform.

Occasionally one-day tourist trips from Brisbane to Buderim and return were organized of a Sunday or holiday.  To carry the people wooden seats were set up on the wagons as the most the carriage could take would be 20 to 30 passengers and the Guards van even less.

By the 1930’s these tours seemed to have ended.  Two factors helping their demise would have been the great depression and secondly, motor cars had become the way of the future.  It was sad though, when the Tram stopped running in 1935, to see the passenger carriage and the Guards van have their wheels removed and their timber bodies dumped where the Fire Station now stands and left to rot.

However before they became dangerous and were finally removed, they had made a good temporary camping spot for a couple of young men who had come to Buderim looking for work.  It seemed good to see them being useful for a little while.