Transforming Travel
Inspired by the Australian landscape, Journey Beyond’s iconic train carriages are being transformed.
WORDS Fleur Bainger
“We wanted a succinct story that ran through all those spaces."
How do you bring the colours of Australia, and inspiration from its Aboriginal culture and its vast landscapes into the train carriages that pass through it? How do you honour the historic romance of rail with contemporary style while travelling the country’s most iconic railway lines? When architecture and design firm Woods Bagot was tasked with bringing Journey Beyond’s Gold train carriages into the modern era, the brief was for a new style of travel that incorporated a genuine sense of place. In April 2024, the first guests to venture onto Journey Beyond’s new Gold Premium cabins, lounge and dining carriages will get to experience just that along with a range of enhanced benefits, such as all-inclusive dining, premium beverages and fascinating off-train experiences.
The designer behind the transformation, Bonnie Hamilton, says she was inspired by the Australian outback and its Traditional Owners. “We wanted a succinct story that ran through all those spaces, so the narrative flowed from one area to another,” she says. “We looked at landscape artist Albert Namatjira, who’s quite well known, and his beautiful paintings of the areas the train travels through.” The Central Australian hues captured in the acclaimed Arrernte artist’s works have informed the interior tones, with his depictions of ghost gums standing before the brooding MacDonnell Ranges (Tjoritja), west of Alice Springs (Mparntwe), influencing the look of the sleeper cabins. Grey-blue tones have been blended into bespoke carpeting, melding with a lighter bark colour in the plush seats, which contrast with walnut timber panelling. “We tried to use lighter tones, so it feels bigger in that space,” explains Hamilton. “The cabins feel more spacious than you would assume.” The new-look cabins will also welcome in a sense of special occasion via a host of special touches, like silk eye masks, premium amenities and several additional benefits that aim to surprise and delight.
Another watercolour of Namatjira’s favourite trees, called Twin Ghosts, inspired the colourway found in the new lounge and diner spaces. “There, we use more terracotta, red earth colours; they’re warmer, and when you’re sitting in those spaces with others it has an inviting feel,” says Hamilton.
The nod to Aboriginal art goes further, with Aboriginal prints woven into the Gold carriage upholstery. The Gold Premium cabins use Jilamara by the late Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, a pale, dotted and cross-hatched work drawn from her home on the Tiwi Islands. It references the ochre patterning traditionally painted on dancers’ bodies and carved poles during Pukumani ceremonies. The lounge and diner banquette seating is textured with Durrmu (KK) by Peppimenarti artist, Kathleen Korda. The printed fabric shows an intricate pattern of fine dots and elliptical shapes that represent traditional body paint designs applied for ceremonial dance. Hamilton says the materials were sourced from Melbourne (Naarm)-based company Willie Weston, a profit-for-purpose business that converts the work of contemporary First Nations artists into commercial-grade textiles and pays them per metre sold. “It’s a company that supports Indigenous artists,” says Hamilton. “A share of the net profits from the purchasing of the fabric goes back to the artist.”
Woods Bagot began working on the Gold Premium at the end of 2022, following a successful rejuvenation of Journey Beyond’s platinum carriages in 2019. Hamilton says designing for train-shaped spaces is an interesting challenge. “It makes you think outside the box because you have limitations in terms of the materials you can use, but it’s really about the experience of the people on the train and it’s all in macro because everything’s so close,” she says. Creating a special feel with a keen sense of rail romance via art-deco detailing was key for the designer. “We wanted to make it feel modern, but we’ve kept some quirky bits that are a nod to the history of the train and travel,” says Hamilton. “When it comes to detailing, finishes and how things feel, it’s important thats it’s really special for the people experiencing it.”
The carriages in use were originally constructed between 1966 and 1975 by Commonwealth Engineering in Sydney and have undergone numerous renovations over time. Back then, they were owned by the New South Wales Government Railways, Commonwealth Railways, and the Western Australian Government Railways. The mid-70s brought a change of ownership to Australian National and then, in 1997, to Great Southern Rail, which eventually became Journey Beyond.
The most recent major overhaul of carriage interiors was back in the 1990s, under Australian National ownership, with subsequent tweaks to lounges, diners and sleepers made between mid-2000 and the early 2010s. That nearly 60-year history gifted the designers with some characterful elements to play with.
“We’ve retained the gold-plated door handles and cabin lighting switches that illuminate when you press for service, those things you just can’t get anymore,” says Hamilton, who delighted in retaining such nostalgic portals into the past.
The Gold Premium carriages will be rolled out across The Ghan, Indian Pacific, and Great Southern in stages, signalling the introduction of a new class of rail travel. The first Gold Premium carriages, including cabins, lounges and restaurant cars, will grace The Ghan in 2024.