Tough Tactics At The Border
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday October 31, 1998
THE boffins who were running the Colonies of NSW and Queensland came up with a beaut idea to augment their respective coffers back in the 1880s: they whacked a Customs charge on just about everything that crossed the border from one colony to the other.
Not surprisingly the idea was met with anything but howling joy from farmers, business people and general travellers.
And while NSW stuck its Customs Officer in an office on the railway station that served the twin border towns of Jennings (NSW) and Wallangarra (Queensland) to levy Customs on major freight, the Queenslanders set up of a purpose-built Customs House on what is now the New England Highway, and at which everyone was required to present themselves.
The Wallangarra Customs House was actually gazetted 113 years ago this month (October 24, 1885.) The first Queensland Customs Excise Agent was a Mr James Long who, in his enthusiasm, began slapping excise on everything going into Queensland from a temporary office before his Customs House was even finished.
So keen was Queensland's enthusiasm that farmers who sent wheat from Queensland to Tenterfield in NSW for milling paid no duty on it as a primary product. But when it came back across the border as flour, their own government slugged them Customs duty.
The two governments also feuded over the railway station at Wallangarra. Queensland terminated its 3ft, 6in gauge line from Brisbane on one side of the platform, and NSW terminated its 4ft, 81/2in line on the other side of the same station.
This meant passengers had to change trains, and all goods carried by rail had to be transhipped from one railway to the other. Even more bizarre, passengers who got off the Queensland trains found themselves standing under a verandah canopy of rounded bull-nosed iron - while those who got off the NSW trains did so under a flat-iron canopy that gave the station a most lop-sided look.
On October 24, 1889, Sir Henry Parkes was one of those passengers travelling from Queensland back to his own colony who had to change trains under this mish-mash of architecture.
So annoyed was he that on the trip home he began penning his famous Father of Federation Address that he delivered soon after at Tenterfield.
Today the railway station still stands at Wallangarra, a forlorn and abandoned structure that once proudly featured a dining room that could seat a few hundred, an underground wine cellar, a tea room, ladies' lounge and other amenities.
But for travellers driving the New England Highway to Queensland, it's the old Customs House that's more than worth a visit. Here Suzie and Mark van Laarhoven have turned the abandoned and dilapidated building they bought in 1993 into a delightful piece of authentic living history and a fine BYO cafe, serving ``flavours of Australia" cuisine at lunch and dinner (closed Mondays.).
They're quick to insist this fare is not ``bush tucker", but rather a combination of traditional dishes with careful use of Australian herbs and flavourings.
A recent menu featured warm lamb loin salad with a wattleseed and macadamia-nut crust, a pie of seasonal vegetables on rosemary, roasted bunya nuts, chicken breast with pepperleaf and bush honey and lemon, ``Bushmans Bacon" with sundried tomatoes and bush tomato sauce....
For desert ``Drunken Smuggler" - an oven-baked banana, raisin and Bundaberg rum filo parcel with sugarbag ice cream. Or white chocolate with a frozen raspberry pate.
Suzie's creations make for a wonderful finale to a tour of the twin-towns that Mark runs as part of a yesteryear nostalgia package they call The Federation Trail Alongside the Rail.
And he'll point out that things haven't changed all that much when it comes to decision making between the two States: with just 650 people between them, Wallangarra and Jennings have two police stations, two schools, two pubs, two general stores - and from last weekend, two time zones.
For details phone (07)46843488.
© 1998 Illawarra Mercury