Wee MacGregor railway is a heritage-listed tramway and railway associated with the former towns of Ballara and Hightville in the locality of Kuridala, Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1909 to 1926. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 March 2019.
History The Wee MacGregor tram and rail complex and the former towns of Ballara and Hightville are located in the Argylla Ranges between Cloncurry and Mount Isa in North West Queensland, in the traditional country of the Kalkadoon people. Constructed during an early 20th century boom in copper prices, the now-abandoned mining towns of Hightville and Ballara were surveyed in 1913 and 1914 respectively. The former western terminus (near Ballara) of a private narrow gauge railway line was constructed 1913–14 and a private gauge tramway, was constructed 1914–15 between Ballara and the Wee MacGregor mine. The complex includes a long ore transfer stage (), and a long tunnel (1914–15).
The town of Cloncurry was surveyed in the 1870s to support the local mining and pastoral industries. Pastoralist Ernest Henry had discovered copper nearby in 1867 and established the "Great Australia" (or Great Australian) mine. Part of the area was proclaimed a goldfield in 1874, and the Cloncurry Mining District (later the Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field) was proclaimed in 1883.MJ Fox, The History of Queensland: Its People and Industries, Vol 3, Brisbane, States Publishing Company, 1923, pp.324-5Queensland Government Gazettes, 1874 (goldfield), and 1883 (Mining District) In 1885 Cloncurry was described as "A copper-mining centre and township on the River Cloncurry", with a population of 754.Pugh's Almanac for 1885, p.438 The Cloncurry Mineral Field was proclaimed in 1905, and the Cloncurry Gold and Mineral Field in January 1913.Queensland Government Gazettes 1905, 1913 Copper was discovered south of Cloncurry in 1884, and a town was formed in 1898 called Hampden (later called Kuridala, now heritage-listed as the Kuridala Township site). At Mount Elliot, south of Hampden, copper was discovered in 1899 and mining commenced in 1906 at the Mount Elliott Mining Complex.
The absence of a railway initially hampered the effective exploitation of Cloncurry's mineral resources. The closure of the Great Australia mine in 1887 meant a proposed railway from Normanton was diverted to Croydon as the Gulflander (1888–91), but when copper prices rose in 1905 the Queensland Government decided to extend the Great Northern Railway west from Richmond, and the first construction train reached Cloncurry in December 1907.J Kerr, "The Wee MacGregor Tramway, a novel partnership for government", in Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol.53, No.778, August 2002, p.293Jane Lennon & Associates, and H Pearce, Mining Heritage Places Study - Northern and Western Queensland, Volume 4, Mount Isa District, September 1996, p.xxvi In 1906–07 copper averaged £87 a ton on the London market, the highest price for 30 years.
Mining activity was increasing on the Cloncurry field even before the railway arrived. By March 1906, copper had been discovered as an outcrop at the Wee MacGregor lease, west-southwest of Cloncurry.Queensland Government Mining Journal, April 1906, p.202 The MacGregor ore body was discovered by Jack White in 1904 and James Peberdy, from Victoria, purchased seven leases in 1905, and later created the MacGregor Cloncurry Copper Mines Company.Information Board at Hightville (sponsored by Cloncurry and District Historical and Museum Society, Ballara Mining Heritage Trail, Blueprint for the Bush, and Baker Photo graphics) viewed September 2018 The Leichhardt Development Syndicate was formed in October 1906 to develop the Wee MacGregor "group" of mines, which included the Wee MacGregor, Grand Central, Wattle, and Wallaroo leases, and two months later MacGregor Cloncurry Copper Mines (the MacGregor Company) was floated in London. Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Ltd, and Mount Elliot Limited, two companies which later dominated the Cloncurry field during World War I (WWI), were also floated in 1906.'Mining Gossip', Australasian, 20 October 1906, p.39 (JR Peberdy to manage the mine for the Leichhardt Development Syndicate) In November 1906 tenders were called to sink 100 ft (30m) shafts on the Wee MacGregor, Wallaroo, and Grand Central leases.'Cloncurry meeting', Brisbane Courier, 1 November 1906, p.6"Mining gossip", The Australasian, 15 December 1906, p.45Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines, 1906, p.47Kerr, "The Wee MacGregor Tramway", p.293Jane Lennon & Associates, and H Pearce, Mining Heritage Places Study, p.xxvi.
A survey plan from January 1907 shows two shafts on the Wee MacGregor lease, and one shaft on the Wallaroo lease.DNRME Survey Plan MPFOX, transmitted January 1907 By October 1907 there were three prospecting shafts on the Wee MacGregor lease. That year, with a population of 650 miners (almost double that of 1906), the Cloncurry field produced 5.6% of Queensland's copper.'The MacGregor', Evening Telegraph, 1 October 1907, p.2Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines, 1906, p.47 (1906 miner numbers) The Great Australia mine also reopened in 1907 (Jane Lennon & Associates, and H Pearce, Mining Heritage Places Study, p.xxvi).Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines, 1907, pp.15, 20, 21, 24, 44, 46 By July 1908 the MacGregor Company was employing 70 men, not including mine officials, and during 1908 a telephone link with Cloncurry was established and tenders were called for a mail service.Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines, 1908, pp.13, 21,47'Cloncurry notes', Townsville Daily Bulletin, 6 May 1908, p.2 (Telephone service)'Wee MacGregor Notes', Northern Miner, 23 July 1908, p.5 (men employed)'Cloncurry Notes', Northern Miner, 20 November 1908, p.3 (tender for mail service).
By 1909 a settlement, including company offices and a store, was developing near the Wallaroo mine, located about 1 km southeast of the Wee MacGregor mine. That year John Frost constructed the MacGregor Hotel on the site of Hightville.Hightville Information Board The hotel was listed under "Hightville" in Wise's Post Office Directory of 1911, although the town of Hightville was not surveyed until November 1913.'Cloncurry notes', Townsville Daily Bulletin, 6 May 1908, p.2 In early 1909, the main camp for the Wee MacGregor mine was at the Wallaroo mine.'A western trip in the "Reo", Northern Miner, 3 May 1909, p.2 The offices and store at the camp were lit by acetylene gas."In the Cloncurry District", Townsville Daily Bulletin, 2 January 1909, p.3 Edith Edwards was the licensed victualler at the MacGregor Hotel,The Queensland Government Gazette 1911 (p.740) and from 1912 to 1920, Pierce Edwards is at the MacGregor Hotel.Wise's Post Office Directory Hightville was surveyed into quarter acre (0.1ha) blocks in November 1913. The MacGregor Hotel is shown adjacent to the road on a 3-acre block within the town.DNRME Survey Plan H6521, 1913
Isolation threatened the economic viability of the Wee MacGregor group of mines. Ore was first drayed to Cloncurry along a rough road in May 1909, but this form of transport was uneconomic.The Shire of Cloncurry spent £149, 16s and 4p on the MacGregor Road, in the year ended 31 December 1907 (Queensland Government Gazette, 1908: p.260). "Mining. The Cloncurry field", Cairns Morning Post, 28 May 1909, p.9 (drays of Wee MacGregor ore to Cloncurry). One option for the MacGregor Company was to build a private mining railway, as had been done elsewhere in Queensland, e.g. the Chillagoe railway (built 1898–1901), the Mount Garnet railway (1901–02), and the Etheridge railway (1907–10), which were all 3 ft 6in gauge, as well as 2 ft tramways from Boonmoo to Stannary Hills (1901–02), and Stannary Hills to Irvinebank (1906–07).'The Mount Garnet line', Queenslander, 15 March 1902, p.607). Such railways were part of a wider pattern in Queensland during the late 19th-early 20th century: the construction of private and local government railways and tramways to transport the products of mining, as well as timber and agricultural produce.J Kerr, Triumph of the narrow gauge: a history of Queensland railways, Brisbane, Boolarong, 1990, pp.97-106 However, the MacGregor Company could not afford a private railway to "Marabah" (Marraba), the closest point on the Mount Elliott railway, away.Kerr, "The Wee MacGregor Tramway", p. 294'Toward the setting sun', Queenslander, 23 October 1909, p.8
Another option was for the company to contribute towards a state-owned railway, as had occurred with the railway from Cloncurry to Mount Elliott, via Hampden. The cost of this railway, which opened in 1910, was split 50/50 between the Kidston Government and The Mount Elliott Company. The railway ran from Cloncurry via Malbon and Hampden to the town of Selwyn (next to the Mount Elliott mine), 72 miles from Cloncurry.The Hampden Mount Elliott Railway Act 1908'Mount Elliott. Line from Cloncurry', Telegraph, 7 January 1909, p.5'Toward the setting sun', Queenslander, 23 October 1909, p.8. In September 1910 the MacGregor Company proposed a branch line from Malbon, on the Mount Elliott railway, under similar terms, and the government agreed to split the cost of a line survey and plans.Kerr, "The Wee MacGregor Tramway", p. 294.
In June 1911 the MacGregor Company sought government support for a shorter branch line, this time linking to the state railway being built southwest from Malbon towards Sulieman Creek. Government officials were sceptical about the profitability and lifespan of the Wee MacGregor group of mines, despite the company estimating reserves of 100,000 tons of ore (most from the Wee MacGregor mine). Instead of a 50–50 funding arrangement for a state owned branch line, the government agreed to rent the MacGregor Company the rails they needed to construct a private line. By January 1912, a network of railways was spreading out from Cloncurry to the surrounding copper mines: the Mount Elliott Railway served the Hampden and Mount Elliott mines to the south of Cloncurry. The railway to Sulieman Creek was designed to link up with "Great Western Railway", a line from Bourke, New South Wales, to Darwin, Northern Territory, which was never built.Kerr, "The Wee MacGregor Tramway", pp. 294-295Report by State Mining Engineer, CFV Jackson, dated 11 December 1911, in Queensland Government Mining Journal, January 1912, p.13. The Duchess mines, southwest of Cloncurry, were to be served by the Malbon to Sulieman Creek Railway, while a Cloncurry to Mount Cuthbert Railway was planned to the northwest of Cloncurry and the MacGregor line would serve mines west-southwest of Cloncurry.
Queensland's Railways Commissioner, Charles Evans, inspected the proposed route to the Wee MacGregor mine in July 1912, and the Railway Department's Engineer, Percy Ainscow, proposed a "no-frills" railway, with a wide formation, reduced earthworks, less side drainage, cheap concrete culverts and the minimum of bridges.'Northern Railways, Commissioner's tour', Telegraph, 19 August 1912, p.7
The company's branch line was proposed at an opportune time. In 1912, the Cloncurry field produced 45% of Queensland's annual production of copper, with annual copper earnings now exceeding gold's earnings. There were 1485 copper miners on the field, which was the "foremost producer of copper in the State". By July 1912, 7000 tons of ore were sitting on the surface at the Wee MacGregor mine, awaiting transport, along with 1200 tons from other mines.Queensland Government Mining Journal, December 1912, p.620Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines, 1912, pp.3, 8, 18, 21.