Making history: Torres strait islander railway workers and the 1968 Mt Newman track-laying record

Abstract

On 8 May 1968, in the red desert of Western Australia's Pilbara region, workers on the Mt Newman railway construction project, contracted to Morrison-Knudsen- Mannix-Oman (MKMO), broke the world record in track laying. In one day they laid, spiked, and anchored 4.35 miles (about 7 kilometres) of track, breaking the previous record of 2.88 miles (4.6 kilometres) set in the United States in 1962. The Hedland Times reported that this historic event was due to 'the talents of [MKMO's] engineers in developing new machines and techniques with the best skills of its rail laying crew'. Most significantly, the article pointed out that this crew was 'largely composed of Thursday Islanders'.