Coppabella celebrates 50th anniversary of privately owned railway town’s inception

A major engineering feat linking the outback to the coast created ‘the humble beginnings’ of Coppabella. Fifty years on, the camaraderie still rings louder than the coal bins rattling through.

The town was little more than a handful of houses and caravans when Bill O’Connor rolled up in 1973 to drive the coal trains.

“They told us never to get on top of the locos, we’d be killed if we did you know,” the former Coppabella resident said, adding overhead train lines had “cooked (men) from the inside out” in Blackwater the decade before.

Pop Bill O'Connor with daughter Kathleen Stirling and grandchildren Levi Stirling, 7, Indian Stirling, 9, and Dakota Stirling, 5, all of Sarina, at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Coppabella township. Mr O’Connor said he lived in a caravan until Queensland Rail offered him a home at $25 a week including rates and electricity. Picture: Heidi Petith

It was one of countless memories shared at the weekend as hundreds of current and former Coppabella residents reunited to mark the Bowen Basin town’s 50th anniversary as well as the primary school’s 40th.

This included Gladstone mum Chris Rhodes who in the 1980s raised her two children in the “very laid back” town.

“The kids had a lot of freedom,” Ms Rhodes said.

Mitchell Ohl, of Townsville, with Chris Rhodes, of Gladstone celebrating the 50th anniversary of Coppabella. Mr Ohl was born in the Bowen Basin town whereas Ms Rhodes raised two kids there. Picture: Heidi Petith

“There’d be about six or eight of them that would play (at each other’s homes), but you knew they’d get a fairly good kick up the bum if they needed it,” she said with laugh.

Former Queensland Rail fireman Alan Walters, of Home Hill, said the 80s was a turbulent decade as the number of mines surrounding Coppabella doubled.

Rosalea Walters with husband Alan Walters, both of Home Hill, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Coppabella. Picture: Heidi Petith

But as the rattling hum of the coal bins passing through the community intensified, so did the camaraderie.

Wife Rosalea said her favourite memories were the close-knit friendships with other residents, who were mostly Queensland Rail employees.

“We lived in the caravan park, and our next door neighbours … would call out, ‘Smoko’,” she said with a smile.

But like the “shanty” that was the locals’ makeshift pub, the caravan park is a relic of the past.

A flyer from the 25th anniversary of Coppabella. Picture: Heidi Petith

It was removed to make way for what is now QRI Village Accommodation Centre, rows upon rows of dongas for a transient workforce who together with those staying at Civeo Coppabella Village across the highway, far outnumber the town’s resident population.

It is a stark difference to the town’s 1971 inception on November 5, 1971, when then Governor-General Sir Paul Husluck officially opened the Hay Point-Goonyella railway line that thereafter permanently altered the Isaac region’s landscape.

Living in dongas for days at a time is a way of life for the transient workforce staying at the QRI Village Accommodation Centre in Coppabella. Picture: Heidi Petith

Queensland Rail historian Greg Hallam wrote the heavy haulage line was a mammoth 250km project costing more than $100 million and requiring more than 4.5 million cubic metres of excavated earth.

“The Goonyella line took three years to construct,” Mr Hallam said.

“The line involved the major ascent of the Connors Range inland from Hay Point which reached a maximum altitude of 800m … the major engineering difficulty encountered.”

The railway connecting the Bowen Basin coal mines in Central Queensland to Hay Point was a mammoth engineering feat in the late 1960s involving millions of cubic metres of excavated earth. Picture: Vanessa Hunter

The finished railway junction connecting to the Goonyella and Saraji mines was the inspiration for Coppabella’s name which borrowed from Aboriginal language means ‘crossing’ or ‘meeting place’.

At the time, the Queensland Rail-owned town servicing the railway only had four single men’s quarters and five houses.

Five decades on, Coppabella boasts 75 homes with QRI Services responsible for typically council-provided services such as sewerage and water.

QRI Lifestyles general manager Rakesh Shankar celebrating the 50th anniversary of Coppabella. Picture: Heidi Petith

QRI Services general manager Rakesh Shankar — donned the unofficial mayor of Coppabella — said QRI bought the entire town, or that on the right side of the Peak Downs Highway heading east, from Aurizon last year.

Mr Shankar said it was personally important for him to build rapport with the township’s 250 residents who placed their trust in QRI, detailing his commitments to Coppabella’s bright future including ambitions for a new annual rodeo.

The town of Coppabella, built to service the mining industry, has about 250 permanent residents and is privately owned by one business. Picture: Heidi Petith

And while many at the 50th anniversary celebrations no longer lived in the Isaac town, others such as Jodi Kratzmann found themselves gladly tethered.

“I tried moving away but then I came back,” Ms Kratzmann said with a laugh.

“I love the peace and quiet.”

Jodi Kratzmann and Gina Kratzmann, both of Coppabella, with Sarah Brookman and Marley Brookman, 3, of Moranbah, at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Coppabella township. Picture: Heidi Petith

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk credited the residents’ “fantastic community spirit” as the driving force for the town’s success with Resources Minister Scott Stewart adding Coppabella played a major role in the state’s resource sector with more than 20 mines within a two-hour’s drive.

Isaac Regional Council Mayor Anne Baker also congratulated the town on reaching its gold jubilee, growing from “humble beginnings” into a flourishing and thriving community.

Originally published as Coppabella celebrates 50th anniversary of privately owned railway town’s inception