Jubilee Rail Tunnel
[ The Well Covered Secret of Adelaide ]
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Okay, the famous Jubilee Rail Tunnel was built in the late 1800's and decommissioned in the 1930s, finally backfilled some time before 1950 (please help to fill in these details more precisely!!!!). The Jubilee Rail Tunnel once ran from the Fire Booster Pump located behind the Adelaide Festival Centre on Elder Park - the tunnel became submerged where the first lane of traffic now travels down King William Road, running due East between Government House and the Military Parade Grounds (you can still walk this part of the path on top of the tunnel) and all the way to what was once called Jubilee Park (behind the Botanic Gardens) where Adelaide's Horseback Division of the Australian Corps used to gather.
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In the above image you will see the
Jubilee Rail Tunnel, running underneath King William Road. On the bottom
left hand side of the image is the Military Parade Grounds, then looking
up from there is sheep grazing above the Jubilee Tunnel, above that is
Government House - then city sprawl. On the bottom left hand side of the
image is Elder Park and the Elder Park Rotunda, then the Jubilee Tunnel,
then the site of the Festival Centre - and where the Baths once were,
Parliament House, Old Parliament House, and the Adelaide Railway Station.The
tall skinny building infront is the old State Government Paper Mill. We
are unsure of when this photo was taken but we're presuming it was in
the 1930s at some time.
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This was one of Adelaide's first rail tunnels built in the days when steam engines ruled, the tunnel consisted of a single line approximately four meters wide by five meters high, arched, with exhaust overhead approximately one point eight meters high by one meter wide, more than likely with large one meter diameter ventilation holes situated all along the shaft - but this is mere speculation. Part of the Jubilee Rail Tunnel was uncovered in works at the Adelaide Festival Centre in November 2003, creating some confusion at the time because the bricks were too far away from Parliament House to be part of the Baths but old enough to be a part of some old infrastructure. After some confusion and consultation it was soon realised that the entry embankments to the old Jubilee Rail Tunnel had been struck, sadly they were covered over again - leaving a major part of Adelaide's heritage still unseen. Being a rail tunnel there is no other access other than the known entrance and exit - there is rumoured to be a station accessible from Govt House and also the Parade Grounds but these rumours are more than likely mere speculation and even if access were available from such buildings arrangements would prove rather difficult. If you have any other information regarding the Jubilee Rail Tunnel, feel free to e-mail adelaide@caveclan.org and we will verify and update the information on this site. |