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The Age
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘I've travelled the world and seen nothing like this': The man behind Brisbane's most beautiful station
At the start of 2024, Queensland Rail closed Morningside Station on the Cleveland line for an upgrade, and I was obliged to shift my morning commute to Norman Park. So one morning I marched down the long pathway, past a colourful mural of blue skies and fruit bats, and crossed under the tunnel to Platform 2. Poking my head into the station's waiting room, something caught my eye immediately. It was a poster for the old Marilyn Monroe movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – in German (Blondinen bevorzugt). The entire wallspace of the room, in fact, was covered in curiosities: historical photos of trains and trams in Brisbane; a poster for the 1988 Bathurst 1000; a retro ad for Kellogg's Banana Flakes. Artificial flowers sat in vases, cheering the space up. Part railway museum, part garage rumpus room, it was unexpected, and utterly delightful. The next day I noticed the care with which the garden along the station's southern slope had been tended: with bromeliads, aloe, succulents and elkhorn nailed to palm trees. An old bike and several old lawnmowers were positioned as sculptural items. It's safe to say that no other train station in Brisbane is so decorated and well looked after. But then, no other station has Anthony Vethecan as station master. Today Vethecan, who celebrates ten years with Queensland Rail in June, points out to me the waiting room's latest addition. It's a photograph of a cable tram in Kew, Melbourne, circa 1880. Vethecan lived in Kew when he first came to Australia in 1972. 'A lady gave it to me, saying her husband passed away, she found it under the house and she doesn't know where to put it,' he says. Customers give him things all the time. 'The problem is, if I don't put it up in here, they get offended!' Nearby is the photo of a train guard's kit bag of the kind first issued in the 1930s. 'I used to have that kit bag! It has a lamp, you've got flags, you've got detonators.' Detonators? 'In the old days, you didn't have [two-way] radio. So if a train is stopped at the platform, the guard walks back 100 metres, drops three detonators on the track. The next train coming behind, if the driver runs over them, he knows there's a train in front of him.' The station's spacious toilet is adorned with art prints, and it is immaculate. A notice tells people not to steal the rolls of toilet paper: if they are in need of takeaways, they only have to ask at the office. (They never do.) Murals decorating the pedestrian tunnel, like the one on the fence, were created by the local state school. If they are vandalised, Anthony sends in a report, and a retoucher comes to fix it. But the station's main claim to fame is its garden. It featured in a 2018 episode of Gardening Australia, and got Vethecan a nomination for a Queensland Day Award that year. Anthony tends it before and after his shifts, and sometimes during. 'When I work on a Sunday, it's half an hour between trains, so I come down here.' 'He's rostered every second Sunday,' Queensland Rail's Group Station Master, David Sturgess, explains. 'But there's many occasions where he'll notify me that he's going to be in on the weekend anyway, to tidy up the garden.' Ten years ago the garden was just dirt and a couple of boulders. 'I was getting the train early in the morning every Friday and noticed that he was making this nice garden,' recalls local resident Ruth Blair. 'I said, 'would you like some plants?'' Two of Blair's pink frangipanis now live in the garden in pots. It was originally lush with flowers, but Vethecan has focused on drought-proofing the garden lately, with self-watering bromeliads. 'It's a lovely old station, and he's made it a beautiful space,' Blair says. 'I hope to God they're not going to upgrade it.' Vethecan is a dapper little man, fit and well groomed, white hair stylishly cut. You can imagine him in the role of Agatha Christie's Poirot. He has performed, in fact, in amateur productions of The Full Monty and The Mikado, and his quickstep has won him ballroom dancing prizes. He grew up the son of an engine driver in Kandy, the once-royal city in what used to be called Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). 'I had a privileged childhood because my dad worked in the railways. We had servants. My mother didn't work at all, I was a boarder in a private school.' Thousands died as a result of the 1971 insurgency in Sri Lanka, fuelling a diaspora. Vethecan decamped for Melbourne; his entire family would follow. It was quite the culture shock. 'I didn't even know how to fry an egg. I told my mum I wanted to come back,' he laughs. He got a job as a tram driver, then a conductor. He worked alongside Greek immigrants at the Ford Motor Company in Broadmeadows, and in payroll for government road construction, before joining VicRail as a guard and signalman. On relocating to Brisbane he managed a supermarket in Woodridge for 13 years before joining QR as a porter on June 1, 2015. He became station master of Norman Park within a year. 'What I always try to do is encourage the station masters, and especially when they're new, to take ownership of their station,' Sturgess says. 'When I mentioned that to Anthony, well, he took that to a whole new level.' 'I don't like to be idle,' Vethecan says. Loading Over in the station's office, one of the porters, Luka Ruckels, has good news. 'Someone left us a good review yesterday,' he says. We gather around the computer to have a look. '[Vethecan] was so kind and helpful in his information on travel,' the satisfied customer wrote, 'and I was so, so, so super impressed with his artistic train station presentation. 'I've travelled the world and I've seen nothing like this at any train station … has already made my day this early in the day.' Customer numbers have increased dramatically since 50¢ fares came in, Vethecan says. 'A while back I had a platform packed with people. This guy was riding his bike in between them. I said, 'you can't ride your bike because you could knock someone off'. He told me to 'eff off' and said 'you coloured bastard', things like that. It's rare, but occasionally you get that.' In the garden, facing the ramp, Vethecan has installed a sign. It says Smile and Have a Great Day. 'Whenever I don't see anyone smiling – because they never smile – I say 'you haven't seen my sign.'' When I tell Vethecan that I discovered his station by accident, he says he's heard that a lot. 'Customers from Morningside said, 'From now on, I'm coming here. Because it's a good feeling, walking up the ramp to see your garden. It's very relaxing.''
Sydney Morning Herald
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I've travelled the world and seen nothing like this': The man behind Brisbane's most beautiful station
At the start of 2024, Queensland Rail closed Morningside Station on the Cleveland line for an upgrade, and I was obliged to shift my morning commute to Norman Park. So one morning I marched down the long pathway, past a colourful mural of blue skies and fruit bats, and crossed under the tunnel to Platform 2. Poking my head into the station's waiting room, something caught my eye immediately. It was a poster for the old Marilyn Monroe movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – in German (Blondinen bevorzugt). The entire wallspace of the room, in fact, was covered in curiosities: historical photos of trains and trams in Brisbane; a poster for the 1988 Bathurst 1000; a retro ad for Kellogg's Banana Flakes. Artificial flowers sat in vases, cheering the space up. Part railway museum, part garage rumpus room, it was unexpected, and utterly delightful. The next day I noticed the care with which the garden along the station's southern slope had been tended: with bromeliads, aloe, succulents and elkhorn nailed to palm trees. An old bike and several old lawnmowers were positioned as sculptural items. It's safe to say that no other train station in Brisbane is so decorated and well looked after. But then, no other station has Anthony Vethecan as station master. Today Vethecan, who celebrates ten years with Queensland Rail in June, points out to me the waiting room's latest addition. It's a photograph of a cable tram in Kew, Melbourne, circa 1880. Vethecan lived in Kew when he first came to Australia in 1972. 'A lady gave it to me, saying her husband passed away, she found it under the house and she doesn't know where to put it,' he says. Customers give him things all the time. 'The problem is, if I don't put it up in here, they get offended!' Nearby is the photo of a train guard's kit bag of the kind first issued in the 1930s. 'I used to have that kit bag! It has a lamp, you've got flags, you've got detonators.' Detonators? 'In the old days, you didn't have [two-way] radio. So if a train is stopped at the platform, the guard walks back 100 metres, drops three detonators on the track. The next train coming behind, if the driver runs over them, he knows there's a train in front of him.' The station's spacious toilet is adorned with art prints, and it is immaculate. A notice tells people not to steal the rolls of toilet paper: if they are in need of takeaways, they only have to ask at the office. (They never do.) Murals decorating the pedestrian tunnel, like the one on the fence, were created by the local state school. If they are vandalised, Anthony sends in a report, and a retoucher comes to fix it. But the station's main claim to fame is its garden. It featured in a 2018 episode of Gardening Australia, and got Vethecan a nomination for a Queensland Day Award that year. Anthony tends it before and after his shifts, and sometimes during. 'When I work on a Sunday, it's half an hour between trains, so I come down here.' 'He's rostered every second Sunday,' Queensland Rail's Group Station Master, David Sturgess, explains. 'But there's many occasions where he'll notify me that he's going to be in on the weekend anyway, to tidy up the garden.' Ten years ago the garden was just dirt and a couple of boulders. 'I was getting the train early in the morning every Friday and noticed that he was making this nice garden,' recalls local resident Ruth Blair. 'I said, 'would you like some plants?'' Two of Blair's pink frangipanis now live in the garden in pots. It was originally lush with flowers, but Vethecan has focused on drought-proofing the garden lately, with self-watering bromeliads. 'It's a lovely old station, and he's made it a beautiful space,' Blair says. 'I hope to God they're not going to upgrade it.' Vethecan is a dapper little man, fit and well groomed, white hair stylishly cut. You can imagine him in the role of Agatha Christie's Poirot. He has performed, in fact, in amateur productions of The Full Monty and The Mikado, and his quickstep has won him ballroom dancing prizes. He grew up the son of an engine driver in Kandy, the once-royal city in what used to be called Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). 'I had a privileged childhood because my dad worked in the railways. We had servants. My mother didn't work at all, I was a boarder in a private school.' Thousands died as a result of the 1971 insurgency in Sri Lanka, fuelling a diaspora. Vethecan decamped for Melbourne; his entire family would follow. It was quite the culture shock. 'I didn't even know how to fry an egg. I told my mum I wanted to come back,' he laughs. He got a job as a tram driver, then a conductor. He worked alongside Greek immigrants at the Ford Motor Company in Broadmeadows, and in payroll for government road construction, before joining VicRail as a guard and signalman. On relocating to Brisbane he managed a supermarket in Woodridge for 13 years before joining QR as a porter on June 1, 2015. He became station master of Norman Park within a year. 'What I always try to do is encourage the station masters, and especially when they're new, to take ownership of their station,' Sturgess says. 'When I mentioned that to Anthony, well, he took that to a whole new level.' 'I don't like to be idle,' Vethecan says. Loading Over in the station's office, one of the porters, Luka Ruckels, has good news. 'Someone left us a good review yesterday,' he says. We gather around the computer to have a look. '[Vethecan] was so kind and helpful in his information on travel,' the satisfied customer wrote, 'and I was so, so, so super impressed with his artistic train station presentation. 'I've travelled the world and I've seen nothing like this at any train station … has already made my day this early in the day.' Customer numbers have increased dramatically since 50¢ fares came in, Vethecan says. 'A while back I had a platform packed with people. This guy was riding his bike in between them. I said, 'you can't ride your bike because you could knock someone off'. He told me to 'eff off' and said 'you coloured bastard', things like that. It's rare, but occasionally you get that.' In the garden, facing the ramp, Vethecan has installed a sign. It says Smile and Have a Great Day. 'Whenever I don't see anyone smiling – because they never smile – I say 'you haven't seen my sign.'' When I tell Vethecan that I discovered his station by accident, he says he's heard that a lot. 'Customers from Morningside said, 'From now on, I'm coming here. Because it's a good feeling, walking up the ramp to see your garden. It's very relaxing.''
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
More than 120 Downer jobs at risk after Queensland Rail rejects tilt train proposal
As the fate of more than 120 manufacturing workers hangs in the balance, Queensland Rail says it is "re-scoping" its search for who will carry out significant works on its diesel tilt trains. Manufacturing powerhouse Downer, which is building trains for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, announced earlier this month that a reduced workload had prompted "potential" redundancy talks with staff. The company has more than 250 employees in the city of Maryborough, three hours north of Brisbane, and 122 of those are at risk. On Tuesday Manufacturing Minister Dale Last said workers facing redundancies would be offered jobs at Downer's new Torbanlea facility, where 65 trains for the Olympics are to be built. He said that project would create about 800 jobs, some of which would become available this year. "Certainly the employees that are engaged here in the construction of [the Torbanlea] facility and the employees at the facility in Maryborough, they will be offered those jobs first and foremost," Mr Last said. Queensland Rail's (QR) rejection of a direct proposal from Downer to overhaul the diesel tilt train fleet is believed to be a reason behind the regional company's reduced workload. "Downer's original proposal under a partnership alliance to undertake a major overhaul of the diesel tilt train fleet was unable to be approved by Queensland Rail as it did not represent value for money," a QR spokesperson said. "This was verified by an independent estimator." QR said it was working with Downer on other major manufacturing projects, including the South East Queensland fleet. The spokesperson said there would be another opportunity for the Maryborough facility to win the contract. "Queensland Rail is now re-scoping the diesel tilt train overhaul project," they said. The company made its announcement on May 1 and a week later Opposition Leader Steven Miles blamed the LNP for the "terrible implications" of job losses in Maryborough. But Transport Minister Brett Mickelberg rejected that accusation. "I've had no role in this decision … operational decisions for Queensland Rail are a matter for the board," he said. University of Queensland transport engineering professor Mark Hickman said state legislation gave free rein to the QR board to make decisions in the best interests of Queenslanders. "I think the interpretation that the minister bears responsibility for this kind of a decision is not true in light of the way that the Queensland Rail board functions," he said. State legislation requires the board to comply with a direction from the minister, but Dr Hickman said it would be unusual for Mr Mickelberg to use this power to force the rejection of the Downer proposal to be overturned. "They are required statutorily to follow the directions of the minister," Dr Hickman said. "But that is a fairly rare occurrence that only happens in very rare cases." Mr Mickelberg said the government would "fight every single day" to protect the at-risk jobs. "We will do whatever it takes and work with whoever we need to work with to ensure that jobs remain here in Maryborough," he said. On Tuesday Mr Last announced that a full-scale replica of an Olympic train was on display in Brisbane for public feedback. He said the government was seeking feedback, in particular, from people living with disabilities or limited mobility. "We want to ensure that that replica is assessed rigorously by the disabled community, because we're absolutely committed to getting this right," Mr Last said.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Worst of wild weather yet to come
Residents in Far North Queensland have been forced to evacuate after the state was battered by severe rain, storms and flash flooding overnight. Overnight, heavy rain smashed areas of northern Queensland, with Cairns to Mackay being inundated with more than 100mm of rainfall on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. In the past 48 hours, more than 300mm of rainfall was recorded in Cairns and its surroundings, including 346mm at the Boulders and 321mm at Cairns Racecourse. 'Over the past three days, since Monday morning, some locations about Tropical North Queensland have received more than 600mm-700mm of rainfall,' Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said. The heavy rain and blistering winds are driven by one of five tropical lows being monitored in the northern regions of Australia that the bureau said could develop into cyclones over the next week. While rain is set to ease across Cairns and its surrounds on Thursday morning, the bureau warned that more wet weather was to come later in the afternoon, bringing thunderstorms, flash flooding and gusty winds with it. The bureau confirmed all immediate severe weather warnings had been cancelled, though several minor and moderate flood watch warnings for residents remained in place. Moderate flood warnings include the Mulgrave and Russell rivers, and minor flooding for the Tully River in Far North Queensland. Another flood watch warning was issued between Cairns and Townsville. 'After heavy rainfall in the region over the past couple of days, the catchments are quite saturated, so any new rainfall can cause new river rises,' Mr How said. 'We will see more widespread rain redevelop.' While the wild weather is nothing unusual for Queenslanders in summer, Mr How told NewsWire the wet season began much later than expected. 'This year has been the latest monsoon onset in our history,' he said. 'Normally, monsoon season develops in late December, but the fact that it hasn't developed yet in late January makes it late-onset, so it's a very late monsoon onset for Northern Queensland and the Top End.' However, as the low pressure system continues to develop, residents could be in for monsoon season as soon as Friday. Monsoon season usually brings 'widespread cloud cover, lots of rain (and) cooler temperatures', Mr How said. Far North Queensland residents been evacuated from flooded streets as heavy rain lashed parts of the state, leaving up to 20 roads blocked and train lines disrupted as water submerged roads and tracks. A Queensland Rail spokesman told NewsWire that crews were working to get services back up and running. North Coast lines have been closed between north of Townsville and south of Cairns due to 'worsening conditions expected from the rain event'. It is not yet known when the tracks will be cleared, though the spokesman said track inspections would take place when it was safe to do so. Parts of the Bruce Highway and Silkwood Japoon Rd have been shut, with long delays expected as water washes over the roads.
