Mackay man’s role in historic railway achievement...
Explore Councils by state
UNDER the blistering heat of the Australian sun, Mackay man John Kennell Snr helped lay the tracks of the nation's history.
From the Pilbara to the east coast, past Boulia, Winton and all the way north to Mount Isa, migrants from the Torres Strait Islands worked under backbreaking conditions to build and repair railway lines.
A former foreman, Mr Kennell Snr, was one of the many Torres Strait Island men who migrated to Australia after World War II, in 1955, in search of a better life.
"When we left the island, we were told by the older people 'don't go and sip from one town to the other town on the social service, go and work'," he said.
"From day one when we arrived we worked from that day until we retired."
Despite finding good employment and a thriving Torres Strait Islander community in Mackay, Mr Kennell Snr said it had been hard to leave his family and island home behind.
Before joining the railway, he was a trochus shell diver but when prices fell divers needed to find new employment. While there was seasonal work in the canefields, Mr Kennell Snr said the well-paid work on the rail lines was alluring.
During his years on the railways his leadership and work ethic lead to promotions, despite a lack of good reading and writing skills.
Even with promotion, work on the railways was physical and tough.
North Mackay resident John Kennell Senior was part of a team that broke a world record for laying the greatest length of railway track in a single day.
The achievement he is most proud of is breaking a world record for laying the greatest length of railway track in a single day.
On May 8, 1968 the group of mostly Torres Strait Island men laid seven kilometres of track in 11 hours and 40 minutes on the Port Hedland to Mt Newman railway while contracted to Morrison-KnudsenMannix-Oman.
Fifty-two years after helping to break that record, Mr Kennell Snr lives a quiet life in North Mackay.
"I want to tell the younger generation of the Torres Strait what we have done to build this great country," he said.
"It was my aim, to do something for the younger people and on the railroad they looked to me as a leader.
"Work and education are very important. The youth will look to you and you must show the right example."