Hansard debates

                        Eltham: historic rail equipment

  Mr HERBERT  (Eltham)  -- I wish  to  raise a matter for  the  attention of the
Minister for Public Transport. The action I  seek  is that he immediately secure
the  preservation of the historic and now defunct  signalling and communications
equipment  at the Eltham railway station. I am hoping the minister  will  ensure
that the equipment for the heritage display, initiated by Labor and I am pleased
to say confirmed  by the current  government, is protected from well-intentioned
souveniring, not flogged off as scrap metal or carved up.
Let  me  make it clear that this is not  a  political attack on the Minister for
Public  Transport. This is  genuinely about securing  what  many members of  the
Eltham community feel passionately about -- that is, ensuring that the equipment
which has served this area well is preserved.

Many  in the local  community  understand that this  century-old equipment is  a
valuable part of our heritage, and they are committed to having a permanent area
housing  a  display  of  the existing  equipment,   along  with  images  of  the
construction of  the railway  line and  a video  display of how the old historic
system worked. The plan has been to establish a  display at  the Eltham  station
and not, as  some have  suggested, shift  it off to some isolated spot elsewhere
down the line.

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In regard to the equipment moving into this interactive  historic display, I ask
the minister to take a personal interest in ensuring that  the integrity  of the
equipment  is  protected,  plans  for  its  preservation are  displayed  and, in
particular,  that  the frame, metal  rods,  mechanical levers and  crank are not
butchered or carved up and that they remain  intact. Further, I ask the minister
to ensure  that the equipment is  secured from well-intentioned  enthusiasts who
wish  to souvenir key  items for personal collections  -- and suspicions already
abound.
For those members who are not aware of the history,  the line from Heidelberg to
Eltham was opened on  5  June 1902. It  was  electrified in 1923, and  the  last
change to the  signalling  equipment  --  up  until  this  weekend  --  was when
interlocking was provided in 1923. The frame has remained intact over all  these
decades.

That is why I said that  there  are widespread rumours among railway enthusiasts
that the century-old levers and signals will be  chopped  in half, ruining their
historic value and not properly representing how things have evolved and changed
over the decades. It would  be an  act of unmitigated vandalism if this historic
old equipment were to be carved up, flogged off or  turned into scrap metal. The
public  needs  to  be reassured that this historic equipment, which has played a
central role in the  development  of  Eltham  and the local communities, will be
secured and preserved.
I  ask  the  minister to take a personal interest  in  this  issue so that he is
comfortable  with  what is proposed  for  the preservation  and  display  of the
equipment and that he displays some plans or holds  discussions  with members of
the public, with the Eltham District Historical Society and with the  many local
railway enthusiasts about what is provided before we move forward.

I  also hope that any excess  equipment can be made available -- not just turned
into scrap -- for local railway enthusiasts, particularly at  the Diamond Valley
Railway, which is visited  annually by  something like  80 000  people who go on
those  fantastic little trains at Eltham Lower Park. Perhaps  they  can  get  an
opportunity to secure some of that equipment before it goes off.