Historic Engineering Plaques in Queensland
Awarded to 1st January 2006
Nine engineering works have been awarded plaques as part of the Australian Engineering
Heritage Plaquing Program of Engineers Australia. Over 110 works in Australia have been
awarded plaques and the complete list is available on our national website. Five types of
plaques have been awarded to Queensland works.
CFPP
Centenary of Federation Plaquing Program. In 2001 a special program was conducted that awarded
plaques to ten engineering works or developments that occurred around the time of Federation and
contributed to the development of the Australian nation. The plaques bear the words “2001 - The
Centenary of Federation”.
HEM
Historic Engineering Marker. A rectangular plaque awarded to works of local, regional or state
heritage significance. The text describes the work, its designer and its significance.
HLAE
Historic Landmark in Agricultural Engineering. A rectangular plaque awarded prior to
commencement of the current plaquing program.
IP
Information Plaque. These rectangular plaques are placed beside National Engineering Landmark
plaques to describe the work, its designer, and its significance.
NEL
National Engineering Landmark. This circular plaque has a large Engineers Australia logo. It is our
premium award and indicates that the work is of national or international significance. It is accompanied
by a rectangular Information Plaque.
Date
Work
Location
Aug
1984
Sugar Cane
Harvesting
Machines
Aug
1986
Winding
Engine
Number 756
May
1988
Story Bridge
4 Aug
1995
Cairncross
Graving
Dock
Buss Park, Bourbong St, Bundaberg. (The park is
almost opposite the Post Office). This was Australia’s
first Historic Engineering plaque. It celebrates the
development of the world’s first successful commercial
sugar cane harvesters by Toft Brothers and Massey
Ferguson in Bundaberg in 1970. Unfortunately there
are no examples of these machines in the park.
Historical and Gold Mining Museum, Brisbane Road,
Gympie. (The museum is on the eastern side of
Highway 1 on the southern approach to Gympie). This
was Australia’s 4th plaque and is on the wall adjacent to
the steam engine and winding drums. Walkers Ltd in
nearby Maryborough built the engine in 1899. After 25
years in Gympie it served for 58 years at the Rhondda
coal mine in Ipswich, before being placed in the Gympie
Museum. The engine is still operated for tourists and is
significant for its size, age, and local manufacture.
Capt. Burke Park, Holman St, Kangaroo Point,
Brisbane. This is the largest steel cantilever bridge in
Australia and was opened in 1940 as a toll bridge.
Queensland engineers, Sir James Holt and consultant
Dr JJC Bradfield designed the bridge, and a local
consortium, Evans Deakin-Hornibrook, constructed it.
The bridge was the focus of a major maintenance and
refurbishment program during the 1990s.
Thynne Road, Morningside, Brisbane. (The dock is 3km
upriver from the Gateway Bridge). One week after the
bombing of Darwin the decision was made to build this
graving dock. Despite wartime shortages a workforce of
850 under engineers from Somerset Dam and Main
Roads had the dock operational twenty-eight months
later! Modernised between 1969 and 1976, it was
mothballed in 1987 but reopened in 1994. Forgacs
Cairncross Dockyard now operates the dock which is
264m long and can service ships of up to 85000 tonnes.
Plaque
Type
HLAE
HEM
HEM
HEM
Date
Oct
1996
Work
Lamington
Bridge
23 Oct
2001
Wallangarra
Railway
Station
30 Sept
2003
Southern
Cross
Windmill
26 July
2004
Victoria
Swing
Bridge
3 Sept
2005
Kuranda
Range
Railway
Location
Ferry St, Maryborough. (The bridge is over the Mary
River. It is 2km along the southern Maryborough exit
from Highway 1). This low level submersible bridge was
opened in 1896 replacing a higher bridge destroyed in
the legendry 1893 floods. It is a reinforced concrete
structure of eleven 16.6m spans. Rails spliced with
fishplates provide continuous reinforcement. The
Lamington Bridge is one of the world's first reinforced
concrete girder bridges and was designed by a
Queensland engineer A. P. Brady. It was widened in
1970 but the handrails are original.
Rockwell Street, Wallangarra, Queensland. (The station
is on the eastern side of Highway 15 at the NSW/Qld
border crossing). This station building was built in
stages between 1887 and 1920. It was part of a
complex of buildings and goods yards. At the station
customs duties were levied, passengers fed, and mail
and goods transferred between the colonial railway
systems. The Queensland 1067mm gauge line is on the
west side and the NSW 1435mm line is on the east.
Though the opening of the Kyogle line reduced its
importance, Wallangarra was an extremely busy base
and a critical rail junction in World War 2.
Toowoomba visitor information centre, 86 James St,
Toowoomba on the Southern side of Highway 54. Since
1903 Toowoomba Foundry and its successors have
manufactured about 250000 of these iconic wind
pumps. The ceremony was a highlight of the 2003
National Engineering Heritage Conference. This 12th
conference celebrated a quarter century of these
important conferences.
Ogden St, Townsville. This bridge was designed by JH
Daniels Engineer for Bridges and built between 1886
and 1889. The approach spans are supported by screw
piles and the 46m swing span was operated by
hydraulic rams. The oil reservoir had a 63tonne weight.
A 4kW Otto-Crossley, gas fuelled, four stroke engine
drove 3 oil pumps which pressurised the oil. This engine
is on display at the north end of the bridge and is the
second oldest 4 stroke engine in Australia.
Kuranda Railway Station, about 600m SW of Highway 1.
Probably the most dramatic railway in Australia. The line
climbs 323 m in 21.7 km through World Heritage
rainforest and across the 45°cross slopes of the Barron
Gorge. It includes 15 tunnels, and the much
photographed curved bridge across the face of Stoney
Creek falls. The railway was designed by Government
engineers W Hannam and T Annett and built by J Robb,
a Victorian contractor.
Plaque
Type
HEM
HEM
(CFPP)
HEM
HEM
NEL