2017 $1 Centenary of Trans-Australian Railway PNC

The 1,690-kilometre transcontinental railway between Port Augusta, in South Australia, and Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, was officially opened on 22 October 1917. The promise of a transcontinental link was made prior to Federation, in 1901, to encourage a reluctant Western Australia to join the new Commonwealth of Australia. The first sod was turned at Port Augusta on 14 September 1912, the beginning of five years of arduous construction work across the Nullarbor desert.