Narrabri: passing through by night

Narrabri Railway Station is located 569 kilometres by rail from Sydney along the North West line. Officially opened in 1897, the main station building was rebuilt in 1908 and is still in use today. Along with all the passing grain traffic that frequents the north-west of the state, Narrabri is also serviced by a daily passenger train to and from Sydney in the form of the Moree Xplorer.

Narrabri Railway Station by night, long after the Moree Xplorer had passed through on a September evening in 2011.

Narrabri once boasted three railway stations, Narrabri, Narrabri Junction and Narrabri West. Narrabri West was the first of these to open, way back in 1882. Of course Narrabri West was located on the line that continued west to Wee Waa and Burren Junction, the dividing point for the Walgett and Pokataroo branch lines. When a new line was built north to Moree in 1897, the new line left the existing railway just prior to Narrabri West Railway Station at Narrabri Junction and crossed the Namoi River into Narrabri where a new station was built. Today, Narrabri Railway Station remains as the only station still open for passengers to catch a train.

I love travelling overnight by car. I think its because there is a sense of excitement when the lights of an approaching town come into view over the horizon. That is especially the case if you are traveling on the Newell Highway. By day the road is flat, straight and monotonous. By night, each approaching town shines like the lights of a circus. And that was certainly the case with Narrabri. Spotting a McDonald's as we entered town from the north, it was the chance to stop for a coffee and some supper for the kids before they settled in the back seat for the night and left Dad to drive straight through to morning. There was just one more thing left for me to do before gunning it all night long on the highway. That's right, I had to find the railway station.

Don't ask me how, but I have a knack for finding railway stations in country towns that I've never been to before. Just ask my wife. Thankfully Narrabri railway station didn't prove hard to find, (thanks mostly to a well spotted sign on my wife's part). Maybe after all these years she has learnt to play along and speed up the process. A few moments later I was standing on the platform of Narrabri Railway Station with a hot cup of coffee and a camera in hand. There was nothing to see, but I saw it all anyway. For that one brief moment, I was the only person standing beneath that time-honoured awning, staring down at the timber sleepers that slumbered peacefully between the rails 114 years after the rails first came to town. And just as quickly I was gone again, driving south into the night.

Moree: north by north-west

Moree, (simply pronounced more-ee), is an outback town in the north-west of New South Wales. Located 666 kilometres by rail from Sydney's Central Station, (or 665.6 km to be precise if you want to avoid superstitious numbers), you could be forgiven for thinking that the town is appropriately positioned in the middle of a dry and desolate outback hell. But that's far from the truth. Moree is the hub of a thriving cotton and grain producing area that sees plenty of trains regularly loading from the many silos located along the rails, and a daily Xplorer train service to and from Sydney that brings plenty of tourists to Moree's artesian spas.

Moree Railway Station in New South Wales as I photographed it on sunset in September of 2011. Countrylink operates a daily Xplorer passenger train to and from Sydney to this typical looking, although now unattended country railway station, in the north-west of the state.

My stop in Moree was a brief one. Having followed the Newell Highway south from the Queensland border at Goondiwindi, I was racing fading daylight and a sunset rendezvous with the arriving Moree Xplorer. But, as is often the case, the train was running late. With an overnight drive south to Victoria ahead of me, there was just enough remaining daylight to snap a few photos of the sad and lonely platform, much to the amusement of the locals who sat in their cars waiting for the train to bring their friends or loved ones to town.

You see, Moree was once an important railway hub despite the town only boasting a modest population of 9,729. The railway station opened in 1897, and just north at the town of Camura the rails once forked in three directions, west to Mungindi, north to Boggabilla and east to Inverell. Today the Inverell branchline is closed, the line to Boggabilla ends at North Star and the Mungindi branchline is closed beyond Weemeelah. Export cotton handled in shipping containers and grain railed in covered hopper wagons make up the majority of traffic on the North West line. The railway station is now unattended.

Sunset at the edge of the outback. Moree Railway Station, just off the Newell Highway, 2011.

Five minutes later I was back behind the wheel, heading south into the darkness. My next destination south along the Newell Highway was the town of Narrabri. A few miles south of Moree however, a bright shining light suddenly appeared out on the plains. It seemed the Moree Xplorer wasn't running that late after all.  As the highway swung parallel to the railway line, we caught a view of the train as it rushed by in the opposite direction, all two carriages of it. With the windows all illuminated in that timeless shimmery green tint that epitomizes train travel by night, we could see all the passengers inside settled back in their seats. Their journey would soon come to an end.

One person does make a difference

I've heard a lot of arguments for why people don't believe in sponsoring a child from a developing country, and usually they all center around one thing; the inability to see how one person can truly make a difference. Aren't you just creating a generation that is reliant on hand-outs? What difference does it make by helping one under-privileged child out of millions? Isn't that their country's problem anyway? Recently, after 13 years of my wife and I sponsoring a young boy in Uganda, I received an amazing phone call from the staff at Compassion Australia. It seemed that young boy had become a man, thanks largely to someone believing that one person can make a difference.

Compassion Australia is a child sponsorship organization that is Faith-orientated, Church-based and supported by many individuals who believe they are called to make a difference on this earth. Together it's supporters believe that it is simply not enough to feed a starving child, there is a greater need to also nurture and support the hope that exists in each and every one of God's children to impact their lives for eternity. Man, that is one big task! And how does it all work? By getting one person, family, school or Church to believe that they are capable of making a difference in the life of just one person.

13 years after sponsoring an 8 year-old boy called Mark, that phone call put our decision into perspective. Mark had graduated from the Compassion program. Having lived with his brother and Uncle in a village in Kyamakanda since his mother passed away, Mark had recently graduated year 12. At 21 years of age, he now plans to study to become an accountant. More importantly, the Compassion officer on the other end of the phone wanted to share the thoughts of the Compassion workers in Kyamakanda, Uganda who had worked closely with Mark's development. Mark was a lovely child who always got along well with the other children. Not just those his age, but the younger ones who loved him teaching Sunday School. Not surprisingly, Mark was a devoted Christian who loved God. He often spoke of God's love and shared his testimony of how his sponsor family had supported him with his schooling and prayers. He shared this testimony at his Church, at other Churches and even at conferences. He always dressed smartly. He took great pride in the trousers, shoes and shirts that he would be given as Christmas and birthday gifts from us. He wanted to thank us personally, which he did every time he wrote us a letter, and hoped to still keep in touch. He is very actively involved in his Church and wants to make a difference to others in his community. And his brother, who is now working in Kampala, is going to support his studies to become an accountant.

"By believing that we could make a difference in just one person's life, that person is now able to make a difference in the lives of many."

That's how God's love works. Through one person, many are reached. My wife and I feel honored to have answered that call all those years ago. Even when there were times during that 13 year period that our budget didn't allow for the $44 a month we had pledged in sponsorship, we made do. Now as I finish writing this entry, I feel that we have made a difference. Mark feels like a son that I've never met, only corresponded with through letters and photographs in the mail. But it's also sad to think that where I live in Australia, there are fathers and sons that have less of a relationship than that. No matter what your thoughts still are on child sponsorship programs, simply acknowledging a problem is never enough. There are many children facing a life of poverty, hunger, despair and prostitution that need to be provided with real hope for the future. You have to start somewhere. One person does make a difference!