THE Ballarat Tramway Museum has released a short film to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the night the city\u2019s tram network ceased operation.<\/p>\n
BTM assistant operations manager Sam Boon has produced the video which recounts tram 40\u2019s final trip from the Royal Mail Hotel in Sebastopol, through the city, to the depot in Lake Wendouree on 19 September, 1971.<\/p>\n
Approximately 180 people were on board the last tram. It was steered by the network\u2019s longest-serving driver of 37 years, Lou Walker, and hundreds of locals attended sites along the route.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s significant for us as a Tramway Museum because it marks the beginning of the next 50 years of preserving a section of the original network at the Gardens, preserving tram 40, and other trams that we\u2019ve managed to save, restore and bring back,\u201d Mr Boon said.<\/p>\n
The video, which includes unseen WIN Television archival footage of the last tram trip, has been released to not only educate the wider community about this part of local transport history, but to fill a gap while the BTM\u2019s postponed 50th celebrations – a dinner and festival – can\u2019t go ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of Ballarat hasn\u2019t seen this film for 50 years. Everyone at WIN, especially Andrew Sculley, has been helpful in sharing those old reels of film of the last days of the trams, in good Ballarat spirit,\u201d Mr Boon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not only used footage from them, but also footage the Museum had to form the bulk of the video. The main part is that I conducted phone interviews with a lot of our foundation members; Richard Gilbert, Carolyn Cleak, Warren Doubleday and Graeme Cleak.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear them recalling memories of the last days of the trams, why they got involved, and the early days of the Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Boon said the production champions community members who worked hard behind the scenes, \u201cin the face of adversity,\u201d to keep elements of the city\u2019s historic tramway alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trams used to go all the way around the lake. Our tramway as it is now is all we could save at the time, but from there, we\u2019ve grown from strength to strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering its sixth decade, the Ballarat Tramway Museum has reached another exciting moment in its life, with a new display building opening later in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a great place, and are pleased to be generating more awareness for this special part of Ballarat\u2019s living history,\u201d Mr Boon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can still ride on a 100-year-old tram today, like you could in 1971.\u201d<\/p>\n