The Queanbeyan Railway Station is an excellent example of a Victorian era station complex.

It adds to a continuity of buildings along the Goulburn to Cooma line and reflects the importance of the location even before the construction of Canberra.

There was a long drawn out campaign to secure a railway service to Queanbeyan and finally in 1887 the line and the main building were completed.

Oaks Estate became the site of a working class suburb as the construction of the line, the station and the stationmaster's cottage provided immediate employment with the promise of it becoming the hub of economic activity fostered by the railway.

The coming of the railway line did have a major economic impact on Queanbeyan, but not all benefited.

As happened in many small towns around New South Wales and elsewhere, the opening up of communications with the wider world meant that local manufacturers were exposed to competition from Sydney and the rest of the world.

A number were forced out of business.

Queanbeyan Museum has a fine sketch of the station by Christopher O'Rourke.

- John McGlynn