Queensland Railway Employees 1889-1940

The Queensland Railway Index 1889-1940 was compiled by the Queensland Family History Society between 1997 and 2003. It indexes almost 370,000 people employed during this period giving name, age, position, district and reference in the Queensland Government Gazette.

This dataset contains images of the original Queensland Government Gazette.

Once you have found an entry of interest, click on the hyperlinked 'year'. You may have to scroll through several pages to see the detail.

The Railway Act of 1888 (Supplement to the Queensland Government Gazette, Wednesday 7th November 1888) required that

The Commissioners shall

• Keep a record of all persons in the railway service, and shall keep record therein the rank, position, or grade, the length of service, salaries, and such other particulars with regard to such persons as they think fit
• Cause entries to be made in such record, of deaths, dismissals, resignations, promotions, and reductions
• In the month of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, and in the same month in each and every third year thereafter, publish in the Gazette a list of persons employed in the railway service up to the thirtieth day of June preceding.

Initially the lists were published each third year though later they became annual lists (from 1897 until 1922) and then every second year (until 1940). They record the

• name
• age (from 1899)
• position
• branch/office, and railway or division,
• rate of pay and qualifications (where applicable)

for each person employed in the railway service in Queensland on 30 June for the year indicated.

The original Government Gazette lists appear to be alphabetical but many entries are out of sequence so you may have to check the entire page reference indicated in the index to find the entry of interest to you.

In addition to the lists of employees, the images of several miscellaneous railway documents are also included.

• Ipswich and Rockhampton Railway Workshops: 1 May 1879 (Votes and Proceedings)
• Report of the Railway Commissioners 1890 (Return of Appointments and Removals)
• Classification List of the Queensland Loco. Enginemen, Firemen & Cleaners July 1912
• Railway Acts (extracts of the Acts and Amendments, from the Queensland Government Gazette, applicable to the Queensland Railways 1888-1940)
• Rules and Regulations (a selection of Rules and Regulations as published in the Queensland Government Gazette)

Please note that the majority of Given Names are just initials and so craft your querys with this in mind.