Engineers Australia (Queensland Division) and Engineering Heritage Australia - Queensland
Unveiling of Engineering Heritage National Marker, Blackall Woolscour
Speech by Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley AC Governor of Queensland
19th May, 2014
Blackall-Tambo Regional Council Mayor, Barry Muir,
Deputy Mayor Richelle Johnson,
Councillors: Jeremy Barron, Terry Brennan, Neville Dolinski, Tom Johnstone and Megan Prow,
Council officers and staff,
Engineers Australia, Queensland Division President, Mr Blake Harvey,
Chairman, Barcaldine (Central Western) Regional Group, Mr Brian Duffy, and Operations Manager,
Ms Jenny Hutchens, representing General Manager Mr Ian McEwan,
Engineering Heritage Australia - Queensland Chairman, Mr Andrew Barnes, and Panel Member, Mr
Brian McGrath PSM,
President, Blackall Historic Woolscour Association, Mr Bob Harvey, and Association members,
Blackall Woolscour supporters and volunteers,
Site supervisor, Annette Richardson,
President, Blackall Historical Society, Ms Christine Campbell,
Members of Engineering Australia, Engineering Heritage Australia and of the wider engineering
fraternity,
Blackall community members,
Ladies and Gentlemen, students, girls and boys,
Good afternoon to you all - and what a special pleasure it is to be once again in Blackall and in this
striking location.
I acknowledge the Bidjara people, whose ancestors cared for the lands of this region for many
centuries before explorers and pastoralists first opened these vast western plains to European
settlement; and I thank you, Mayor Muir, for welcoming me back so warmly to Blackall and to the
Woolscour, which I know has been a personal passion for you since early 1987, when the very first
moves were made by the then Blackall Shire Council to begin the transformation of this then derelict
original building and its machinery into the deservedly famous tourist attraction and education facility
that it is today.
I extend my thanks also to Andrew Barnes, who has been a constant guide on the journey of
discovery of Queensland's engineering marvels I have undertaken as Governor over the past almost
six years or so and with whom I shared the podium just two months ago when, together, we unveiled
another award to commemorate the engineering significance of another heritage site, the Gairloch
Bridge in Ingham.
That was the ninth such plaque I have unveiled during my term as Governor of Queensland and I am
very pleased that today's event enables me once more to notch up number ten, but most importantly,
to honour the rich engineering history of Queensland, through the outstanding Heritage Recognition
Program of Engineers Australia.
In the thirty years since that program began, it has given both Australians and international visitors an
unprecedented opportunity to learn more about the role of engineers in the development of Australia,
and it is particularly fitting that the contribution of engineering to the wool industry should be
commemorated here, in "Jackie Howe country". I'm sure the world's greatest-ever blade shearer
would be very pleased and proud to see that, in recognising the engineering heritage of this site, we
are also honouring Blackall's own story, as well as the cultural and industrial history of the nation.
Earlier this month, as Patron of the Queensland Merino Stud Sheepbreeders' Association, presenting
trophies to the winners at the State Sheep Show in Barcaldine, I was reminded yet again of just how
vital innovation and enterprise have been to the wool industry since the visionary John Macarthur
acquired those first three merino rams and five ewes and began the patient work of building his
merino flock on Elizabeth Farm at Parramatta, over two hundred years ago.
To my mind, the adoption and development of machine scouring ranks among the most important of
those innovations for the industry - exceeded, it could be argued, only by the invention of mechanical
shears. When more than fifty per cent of the fleece on a sheep consists of grease and dirt, and when
the markets for Australian wool were thousands of kilometres away and sheep properties many days'
journey from coastal ports, the weight of a fleece was critical to the economic viability of the industry.
The traditional method of washing the wool on the sheep's back in a creek before shearing was not
possible in the parched sheep country of Australia with its unreliable water supply, and even the
adoption of more sophisticated methods of cleaning the wool after shearing were labour-intensive and
earned a reputation for scouring (along with its companion industries of tanning and fellmongering) as
a noxious industry, even in an age more tolerant of pollution than we are today.
In this situation, soft artesian water, emerging from the ground already heated, was an absolute
godsend - small wonder then, that the bore at this site was sunk before the scour was built, and it is
wonderful to see it still flowing, uncapped, more than a century on, as a symbol of continuity and of
the success of one of the few secondary industries ever to be adopted in rural and remote Australia;
and as yet another tribute to the tenacity and capability of our early engineers.
I was delighted to discover in the nomination documents submitted by EHA's Queensland Panel and
prepared so painstakingly by Brian McGrath, details of this perseverance and, at the same, have
another encounter with one of the great names of Queensland engineering history - ‘Hydraulic
Henderson' - whose exploits I have come to know quite well, as I have travelled around Queensland
supporting the engineering heritage program.
The first drilling for artesian water in Blackall was begun in 1885, under the guidance of that
Queensland water resources pioneer, engineer John Baillie Henderson. The first attempt was
unsuccessful, but a second attempt, in 1888, resulted - at a depth of 501metres - in "an abundant
supply of overflowing, sparkling, fresh artesian water, excellently adapted for domestic purposes".
I can imagine the excitement on that day! And again, in 1907, when the bore for the woolscour was
completed, assuring that reliable supply of water critical to its successful operation.
As I say, it is wonderful that the original flowing artesian bore still exists on this site along with the
generators, relics of the railway spur line, numerous buildings and within them, the boilers, pumps,
drive shafts, pulleys and tanks, the rollers, the dryers, and, of course, what is for many the jewel in the
crown of this treasure trove of engineering riches, the initial steam engine installed to drive the scour
lines, thought to be the only one of its type still operating in the world.
With all of these riches, little wonder that this site has earned one of the highest awards it is possible
to receive under the engineering heritage awards scheme - that of National Marker.
I applaud the Queensland Division of Engineers Australia and the Engineering Heritage Australia
interest group in Queensland on achieving this national heritage status for the Woolscour and I thank
everyone involved - especially Brian McGrath - for the effort invested in preparing the nomination and
steering it through the awards system. It is a demanding process, requiring the presentation of
detailed material, meticulously verified and documented, requiring considerable time and - as I have
come to appreciate, reading numerous such nominations - considerable dedication.
I know the Queensland engineers who support the Engineering Heritage scheme have this dedication
in spades (borrowing an expression from a very different kind of bridge to that known to our engineers
- unless, someone of them also enjoy playing cards!), but I also want to recognise today another
equally dedicated group. The Woolscour would never have been able to achieve this honour had it
not been for the tireless efforts of the Blackall Historical Woolscour Association in lobbying for funding
for its restoration, and in working as volunteers to undertake that equally laborious, painstaking work
of restoration and ongoing care.
It would also not have been achieved without the foresight and commitment of the Blackall-Tambo
Regional Council and its predecessor, or the financial contributions of successive State and Federal
governments which have enabled the dream of the Blackall Woolscour to become the superb reality it
is today, drawing visitors from across Australia to discover its fascinating features and to go away
proclaiming it as a truly ‘national treasure', one that every Australian should experience and see for
themselves.
I believe that the award of this marker will assist that process and it now gives me great pleasure to
invite Mayor Barry Muir and Mr Blake Harvey to join me to conduct the official unveiling of the Blackall
Woolscour Engineering Heritage National Marker.
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