Serviceton, Victoria

Serviceton is a town in rural western Victoria, Australia. It is near the Victorian–South Australian border, 437 kilometres (272 miles) north-west of Melbourne. Named after James Service, who was Premier of Victoria in 1880 and from 1883 to 1886, it was established when the inter-colonial railway line between Adelaide and Melbourne was completed in 1887. The railway station served as the change-over point for train crews and locomotives of the Victorian Railways and South Australian Railways since neither could operate in the other colony.[2]

Serviceton
Victoria
Serviceton in 2020
Serviceton is located in Victoria
Serviceton
Serviceton
Coordinates36°22′32″S 140°59′17″E
Population120 (2016)[1]
Established1887
Postcode(s)3420
Elevation121 m (397 ft)
Location
LGA(s)Shire of West Wimmera
State electorate(s)Lowan
Federal division(s)Mallee
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
21.2 °C
70 °F		 8.1 °C
47 °F		 490 mm
19.3 in

The 2016 census recorded a population in Serviceton and the surrounding area of 120; there were 77 dwellings.[1]

The town is the subject of a Tom Waits song entitled "Town With No Cheer" from his album Swordfishtrombones.[3]

Serviceton Post Office opened in 1886; from 1908 to 1911 it was known as Serviceton Railway Station post office. A Serviceton South office was open in 1926–1927, and Serviceton North office, on the Western Highway, operated from 1911 until 1954.[4]

Golfers play at the course of the Serviceton Golf Club on the Western Highway.[5]

Border dispute
Main article: South Australia–Victoria border dispute

The eastern border of South Australia was declared in 1834 to be the meridian of the 141st degree of east longitude.[6] In 1847, however, owing to the limitations of technology used for the first survey, markers were placed in error. Subsequently, the border was understood by both colonies to be about 2.25 miles (3.62 kilometres) west of the meridian.[7]: 5  Nevertheless, a border was not formalised and it was reported that "a number of bad characters resort to this neutral ground, knowing that the police cannot interfere with them until the question of jurisdiction is determined."[7]: 9  Seventy-five years of legal dispute were only resolved in 1914, with the judgement of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that the erroneously surveyed line was to be the legal border. Serviceton was thus placed within Victoria.[7]: 28  Modern technology shows the border to be 1.94 miles (3.13 km) west of the 141st meridian and Serviceton 0.65 miles (1.04 km) west of the meridian.[8]

Railway station
Main article: Serviceton railway station

The railway station was completed in 1889 as the point at which the Serviceton railway line of Victoria and the Adelaide-Wolseley railway line of South Australia – together comprising the Inter-colonial Railway line – joined.[9] The station building, for which the cost was shared between the two colonies, had 15 main rooms, including a large refreshment room and two customs offices and two booking offices for the separate systems.[10] When Australia federated in 1901, inter-state customs collection ceased, but locomotives continued to be changed until the 1980s. As of the 2010s, the building was leased by V/Line to the Shire of West Wimmera and managed by a committee elected from the local community to voluntarily operate, maintain and preserve it.[9]

As of 2004, passenger trains, including The Overland interstate service, did not stop at the station.[11]

Notes
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Serviceton (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  2. "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1839 – 1900". railwaymuseum.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  3. "LYRICS: Swordfishtrombones: Town With No Cheer". Tom Waits Library. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  4. Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. Golf Select. "Serviceton". Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  6. "The South Australia Act (1834)", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 15 August 1834, c. 95, retrieved 28 August 2021.
  7. State of South Australia v State of Victoria [1914] UKPC 3, [1914] AC 283; [1914] UKPCHCA 1, (1914) 18 CLR 115 (28 January 1914), Privy Council (on appeal from Australia)
  8. Google Earth search for Serviceton.
  9. "Serviceton Railway Station | West Wimmera Shire". www.westwimmera.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  10. Serviceton Railway Station West Wimmera Shire Council
  11. "Serviceton". Travel. The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2007.


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