![]() The rail service was closed due to lack of patronage, the state government claimed. It is now called Mornington Central.Īnother reader wrote: “It’s come to the sad point in time when the only chance of seeing what Mornington was like is from a smartphone…”. Mornington Centro shopping centre finally opened in 2000. More than 1000 people wearing red marched down the Main St in one protest, which was led by a minister of religion.Īttempts to build a larger shopping centre also caused long delays. He faced opposition from residents, who formed the Save Mornington Alliance, which challenged the plan in the state planning tribunal. This first attempt to build a shopping centre failed and the land was sold to a Hampton-based developer. “Signs soon went up at the site of the demolished station announcing the erection of the Schnapper Point shopping complex.” Roderick Smith in Mornington Peninsula Railways states the station and track land was sold in five parcels in the late 1980s. Huge community uproar – station demolished in early hours one morning to avoid protesters. “Several people made lots of money as the sale price grew throughout the process of getting permits, etc. This finally put an end to any hope of the train being reinstated. There was a reference by one reader to the turbulent time when the state government demolished the station and sold the land as well as rail track land between the old station and Nepean Highway, including for homes, roads, car parking, walking tracks, a shopping centre and expansion of The Bays Hospital. One reader said a relative by marriage had “fought long and hard to at least get the steam train down into the old station, but there were those in the town who were too short-sighted to see the advantage of keeping our rail and station”. One wrote: “Citizens of the 19th century would … be astonished to find out we no longer had a train service.” Another stated: “Absolutely! Because rail is considered to be so 19th century – except in more progressive nations.” Several readers decried the loss of the train, which was stopped by the state government in 1981. QR codes are on signs near 18 historic places and scanning one with a smartphone or tablet downloads a podcast as well as images and the audio script. The audio tour has been produced by Mornington and District Historical Society. ( ‘Main St history on a smartphone’, The News, 10/11/15) included an early 20th century photo of the station at the end of Blake St with both cars and horse-drawn carriages parked out front, and people of all ages walking out of the entrance after the arrival of a train. THE story about the new audio tour of Mornington’s historic buildings generated comment from readers lamenting the loss of the railway and its historic station. Picture courtesy Mornington and District Historical Society’s book Mornington Peninsula Railways (editor: Joan Patrick) Steam days: A vintage train arrives at Mornington station during a Sunday summer excursion in 1966. ![]()
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