Anakie Railway Station

Anakie Railway Station and Bottle Tree, 1991 Image courtesy of Jan Ward

ANAKIE: a small town with many tales to tell

The township of Anakie… Anakie by name, not (anarchy) by nature!

Children fossicking in the creek, Anakie, circa 1896 – Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland, Negative No. 33600
Queensland Troop Trains, circa 1914-1918 – Images courtesy of State Library of Queensland, Negative No. 115202 and 115186
World War I Troop Trains transported soldiers throughout Queensland

The small town of Anakie is a large piece in the Sapphire Gemfields puzzle. With a history dating back to 1884 when the railway line was being constructed on its way out west, Anakie was proclaimed a township in 1887. The Anakie Provisional School opened in 1885 with just 16 students. In 1909, it became the Anakie State School and today is the only remaining school on the Sapphire Gemfields.

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Post Office services began in 1894 and the Anakie Hotel was built in 1902. The hotel quickly became a social hub where gem fortunes were celebrated and missed fortunes commiserated. The pub, which had to be partially rebuilt in 1971 after a disgruntled patron blew out the front section with gelignite, remains central to community life.

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Anakie Railway Station and Dam

Anakie Railway Station opened on 15 March 1884 during the rail expansion into western Queensland, providing vital services to remote central and outback towns. To cater for the huge water demand of the steam engines, a six-metre-deep dam was constructed.

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This entire dam was dug by pick and shovel, the earth being carried away by horse-drawn dump drays! Today, this dam lies within a Landcare Reserve, serving as a popular recreational spot and bird-watching haven. The station building is believed to be the original structure.

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Anakie Bottle Tree

During the Great War, Anakie was a staging and departure post for young men waiting for the train to take them off to war. Beside the rail platform once stood a Bottle Tree of great significance. Local mining and farming lads, along with schoolchildren, carved their initials into its trunk while they waited for the train.

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Cared for by generations of local residents, the Anakie Bottle Tree stood for decades as a living commemoration of those who went off to war and the sacrifices that were made. Though the tree is no longer standing, its memory endures as a cherished symbol of Anakie’s wartime history.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Despite their bulbous trunks, the Queensland Bottle Tree (Brachychiton rupestris) isn’t actually related to the Boab Tree found in Western Australia and South Africa.

Location

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Where to next?

Boom and Bust Anakie – ///vegan.conjured.footwork

Gemfest – Anakie – ///outhouse.bloke.grew

Welcome to Anakie – ///typecast.revisiting.bribe

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