Pichi Richi Railway

Quorn railway station

Like many towns and cities in mid-north South Australia, Quorn is largely a child of the age of steam, when the railway lines from the south and the east snaked out to connect with far-flung settlements their intersections and junctions forming the bases for busy railways towns.
The town, named for the town of Quorn in Leicestershire, England, sits at the northern end of the Pichi Richi railway, that was once the first leg of the Great Northern Railway. Four years after it was established the Pichi Richi railway line was built to Port Augusta to carry ore from the busy mines to the north; today it is the only line that still operates here and it has the distinction of being one of the oldest intact railway systems in the world. So active is the Railway Preservation Society that it issues a detailed timetable listing the dates when it unleashes its barrage of historic, narrow-gauge engines, motor coaches and rolling stock on excursions to Woolshed Flat and back to Quorn.
The Pichi Richi Railway opened in 1879, and was the first stage of The Ghan, a railway intended to link Port Augusta with Darwin. The Ghan name originated in Quorn in 1923 when the Great Northern Express was dubbed The Afghan Express by railwaymen. In 1929 this line reached Alice Springs.
The East-West Transcontinental railway across the Nullarbor Plain was completed in 1917, and the Pichi Richi Railway became part of the East-West route for the next 20 years. Quorn was a vital railway junction, especially during World War II when military, coal and other traffic placed sizeable demands on the railway.
Washaways in the north and the incapacity of the railway to handle expanding traffic saw a new standard-gauge railway constructed from Stirling North to Brachina, and the Pichi Richi Railway was closed to regular traffic in 1957.
The railway heritage is reflected in the expansive names of some of the old hotels. The Grand Junction and the Transcontinental are among the many unchanged historic buildings which are still in use. The elaborately gabled, limestone railway station (1914-16), the old, thee-storey mill (1878), the town hall (1891) and an assortment of stone cottages and verandahed shops add to the period charm.
The town's buildings have made Quorn a popular location for feature films and commercials. The first one was Bitter Springs, filmed in nearby Warren Gorge in 1949. It starred Chips Rafferty, Tommy Trinder, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Michael Pate and Gordon Jackson. The day's scenes were rushed in film cans by motorcycle all the way to Parafield airport in Adelaide to be sent to Sydney for processing. The Hollywood movie, The Sundowners, which starred Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov and Chips Rafferty, was filmed at Quorn in 1961. Horses, sulkies and even fake rain were brought to the streets of the town for the shoot. Ironically, the day they packed up and left, real rain fell. Quorn's hotels are clearly identifiable in the movie.
Quorn was used as the location for the 1952 drama, Kangaroo, starring Peter Lawford, Maureen O'Hara, Chips Rafferty, Richard Boone and Finlay Currie. Some exterior scenes were shot in nearby Buckaringa Gorge and Queensland.
Sunday Too Far Away (1975), starring Jack Thompson, Reg Lye and John Ewart, was filmed in the Flinders Ranges near the town with Quorn and Peterborough both featuring in it. Sunday Too Far Away was the first film produced by the South Australian Film Corporation. On his trips to 'town' in the movie, a young Jack Thompson visited at least three of the town's hotels. The railway station's nameboards were changed to "Gimmel" and it was there where the strikebreakers arrived and the action started. It is a memorable Australian film sequence, as the new team hops off the train to be met by Jack Thompson and the steadfast band of shearers holding out for better pay. "We're just the welcoming committee!" shouted Jack's character as the arrivals walked off towards the unchanged station building. "You're scabs! That's what you are."
The 1986 Bryan Brown and young Rebecca Smart carried their swags into town past the ornate nineteenth century Town Hall, playing father and daughter in 1986 TV mini-series, The Shiralee.
A few months later, the bar of the Austral would feature prominently in footage for the TV mini-series The Last Frontier. In it, Hollywood star Linda Evans played an American who married an outback station owner. The series co-starred a number of Australian actors, including Tony Bonner, Beth Buchanan, Les Dayman, Peter Ford, Judy Morris, David Ravenswood, John Ewart, Toni Lamond and Jack Thompson.
In the same year, a youthful Mel Gibson was filmed at the same hotel, running down the stairs and onto Railway Terrace in a scene in the movie, Gallipoli. Many of the town's historic building had supporting roles in the film. The hospital featured in a dramatic sequence in which little "Buster" became gravely ill, the railway station made a cameo appearance, the old bakery corner shop which is now "The Church on the Corner" was converted into a hotel and the town's cemetery was also featured. Quorn is also featured in the 2001 documentary, The Last Mail From Birdsville.
Coincidentally, the English town of Quorndon after which Quorn is named, is also a popular location for television shows and feature films. Enigma, a romantic thriller based on the international best-selling novel by Robert Harris, directed by Michael Apted and starring Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet, was shot there.

View Larger Map