Stabat Railway Station in North Sumatra, 1900s

Photo: Carl Josef Kleingrothe/National Gallery of Australia

Transport routes are like blood vessels for the economy, and the most efficient transportation route on land is rail. The photo above is of the Stabat Railway Station in Langkat, North Sumatra which opened in 1903.

This photo was taken by Carl Josef Kleingrothe, a German citizen living in Medan, and is in the archives of the National Gallery of Australia.