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This work is protected under the Copyright Act 1968
This work was created after 1st January 1955. It is protected by the Copyright Act 1968. Copyright duration is for the life of the creator plus 70 years. The creator retains ownership of the copyright of this work. The creator has granted Picture Ipswich a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use and reproduce this work. Under the Fair Dealing exception of the Copyright Act 1968, you can use this work for research or study, criticism or review, and parody or satire. Moral rights remain and the work MUST be correctly attributed to its creator (photographer, studio, author, etc.) with acknowledgement of Picture Ipswich as the source of the work. You CANNOT use this work for any other purpose (including redistribution on social media platforms) without seeking permission first. For more information, or if you require a higher resolution copy of this work, please contact Picture Ipswich.

Central and North Ipswich Engineering Heritage: A Walk / Drive Tour, Judith Nissen & Brian Becconsall, 2022

TXT

Central and North Ipswich Engineering Heritage[...]
Acknowledgments
This tour has been researched and developed by historian Judith Nissen MPHA, with significant
input and assistance from Engineering Heritage Queensland ([...]rchward FIEAust, Paul Coghlan MIEAust, Ken Grubb, and the late Ray Whitmore
FIEAust; QR Historian Greg[...]CC Team Coordinator (Cultural Heritage) Tanya Jen and ICC Library Digital
Archivist Melanie Rush.
Most images have been sourced from the excellent and extensive collection of Picture Ipswich;
all sour[...]engineering has made to the
history of Australia, and is part of Engineering Heritage Australia, a key[...]https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Communities-And-
Groups/Special-Interest-Groups/Engineering-Herit[...]In addition, the publication contains references and links to other publications and web sites
over which the authors have no responsi[...]ts of the publication or of any of the references and links.
Accordingly, the authors expressly disclai[...]d on
the information contained in the publication and any consequences of any such act or omission.


C[...]Ipswich Technical College, corner of Limestone and Ellenborough Streets, 1930s
(Pictur[...]
[...]............................. 5
The Tour: Central and North Ipswich....................................[...].................................. 22
Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: East ..[...].................................. 23
Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: South .[...].................................. 25
Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: West ..[...]...................................... 26
Sources and References................................[...]
[...]e. Ipswich became a busy port on the Bremer River and grew in importance because
of its coal mines, as well as its transport connections to the rich grazing and farming areas of the
Darling Downs and thence to the interior.
By 1845 the Bremer hosted[...]vigation was
also impacted by tidal bars. Bridges and roads were few, and travelling on them was subject to
the vagaries of[...]in August 1863 to heated debate
about cost, route and construction of the proposed line. Rarely does a[...]cult. Irish engineer Abram Fitzgibbon was engaged and recommended a narrow-gauge light-
railway track f[...]dge
over the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer was completed.
The first recorded coal mine in the area was opened in 1843 by John Willi[...]y, over a thousand men were
employed in the local mining industry which was responsible for 80% of the state’s coal
production.
By the end of the nineteenth century Ipswich was also the centre of a thriving agricultural and
dairying industry. It was Queensland’s second largest city.


The Tour: Central and North Ipswich
This tour covers the central and near northern areas of Ipswich. Most of the groun[...]ldings with intact facades.
Places of engineering and industrial heritage interest further afiel[...]
[...]n 1882. Outside Brisbane, colleges
were initiated and run by independent boards; the Ipswich Technical[...]. 2013 the buildings were converted into offices, and brewery, bar and restaurant.
CONTINUE UP ELLENBOROUGH ST, THROUGH THE DOGLEG (RIGHT INTO RODERICK ST THEN
LEFT INTO ELLENBOROUGH ST); TURN RIGHT INTO CHELM[...]painted in camouflage colours.
A second reservoir now stands adjacent.
CLIMB THE 62 STEPS TO THE TOP OF THE RESERVOIR FOR INFORMATION PANELS AND
PANORAMIC VIEWS TO UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSL[...]r includes
dinosaur footprints found in the local coal mines. The Quarry Circuit follows part of the former
tramway along which coal skips were hauled. Coal can be seen beside the track, and concrete and
metal remnants lie near the western end of Quarry Street. The track has a natural surface, with
stairs and hills. Download a guide from the Ipswich City Cou[...]e. However, the mine had problems including fires and an unsafe
roof. More tunnels were opened in later years, with little success. Mining ceased in 1952.
EXITING THE CARPARK, CONTINUE SOU[...]f Street in c. 1910, supplying castings for
mines and pipes for Council work. After the Second World War Scott’s was sold to Queensland
Industries, and later to Hadfields Steelworks. By the mid-1960s S[...]is site, in
addition to its Wharf Street foundry, and was involved in large-scale fabrication, including coal-
washing plants, coal dump trucks, and railway carriages and wagons here.
In 1965, the David Trumpy Bridge ove[...]sland Railway Centenary Memorial
plaque (Item 8), now mounted on the eastern pier face of the 1865 Brem[...]The parent company went into
receivership in 1969 and was purchased in 1973 by Vickers Ruwolt. B[...]
a global manufacturer and supplier of cast iron and steel products which continues to work out[...]
[...]TO END OF TIGER ST. TURN RIGHT INTO GLADSTONE RD
AND STOP AT THE RAILWAY UNDERPASS.

4 – Sadliers Cr[...]n the Ipswich to Bigge's Camp (Grandchester) line and
spanning Tallon Street and the Bremer River, is a steel truss, concrete and timber bridge
designed by the Railways Chief Engineer Henry Charles Stanley and constructed by J
McCormick and Sons. Completed in March 1902, it is the second bridge at this site and at 45.7
metres is second longest span of its type[...]ion Pratt”), a design favoured for its rigidity and strength. The stylish
concrete piers are cement r[...]s (the crosswise beams carrying the bridge deck), and
dropping into the space below. The footboards on[...]idge such as this allowed
staff to safely inspect and walk along the bridge in an era before catwalks and places of refuge
were standard.
CONTINUE UNDER RA[...]LON ST. DRIVE TO END, TURN LEFT
ONTO HERBERT ST & THEN RIGHT INTO BURNETT ST AT THE LIGHTS. TURN LEFT AT[...]as Queensland’s first official secondary school and first grammar school,
notable alumni include Dr J[...]Bradfield, designer of Brisbane’s Story Bridge and
Chief Engineer for construction of the Syd[...]
[...]Sir Charles Fox & Son, prefabricated in England, and assembled by railway
contractors Peto, Brassey and Betts. The unusually wide sandstone abutments pro[...]constructed upstream to cater for growing volumes and weights of
rail traffic. This was Queensland’s first through-Pratt truss bridge and would be the forerunner
of many such spans.




T[...]a pleasant riverside walk, interpretation
panels, and viewing platforms.
LEAVING CARPARK, GO THR[...]
[...]se shop was in Brisbane Street in
the Top of Town and are a remnant from when St Mary’s congregation[...]1902, the main mill building comprised a basement and three milling
floors, all constructed of ornament[...]ica; the “colonial” boiler used North Ipswich coal.
At the rear was a large corrugated galvanised iron and timber shed for grain storage, connected
to a rai[...]ction, used as a flour store.
By 1905 “Wigfull and Bland, Ipswich Flour Mills” were using t[...]
Two clocks for Brisbane Street – Ipswich Town Hall and the taller Post Office clock tower, c. 1905
(Roby[...]n left), footpath walls, terracing, rock gardens, and
Queen’s Park fences and gateways.
CONTINUE DRIVING EAST. TURN RIGHT INTO CHERMSIDE RD THEN RIGHT INTO GRIFFITH RD.
IN APPROX. 100M TURN LEFT[...]ronze memorial wall features the names of 186 men and boys who lost their
lives in local mines, from 18[...]e wall with their name, age, location of incident and date of passing etched alongside.
The 'torch hole[...]lumns present stratigraphic images of the Ipswich and
Rosewood coalfield seams.[...]
[...]ral miners lost their lives at Tivoli’s Eclipse coal mine, pictured here before 1925. (Picture Ipswich[...]001)
EXIT THE CARPARK TURN LEFT INTO GRIFFITH RD, THEN ENTER QUEEN’S PARK VIA BURLEY
GRIFFIN DV[...]
[...]or was designed by noted architect,
American-born and trained Walter Burley Griffin, who also designed[...]r of the incinerator including the residue tunnel and skip (Picture Ipswich qips-2009-06-03-0001)
During the Depression, work for architects was severely reduced and Griffin and his partner,
Eric Nicholls, gained the bul[...]
[...]e a foundation plate listing the names of
council and engineering officials involved, and even (briefly) took a hand at the stoking.
The bu[...]d with one chimney, but adding a second work unit and
chimney in 1940 extended its capacity.
The incine[...]sidered demolishing it, but after a public outcry and extensive efforts by volunteers, in
November 1969[...]rsion works designed
by civil engineer Ian Pullar and construction by contractor Henk Groenenberg, incl[...]adway was constructed during the 1930s Depression and opened to traffic in May 1933.
This serpentine dr[...]the centre of the Park, to the corner of Milford and Limestone Streets and was a
entry point to the city. The road was later[...]hopping centre,
marks the site of the Ipswich Gas and Coke Company’s gasworks constructed in 1877. By[...]here, was constructed in the early
1950s to store coal gas (later converted for natural gas in c.[...]
[...]vessels to turn around, facilitating the loading
and unloading of shipped goods and providing a reliable water source for the mill’[...]70s timber factory was replaced by spacious brick and iron buildings which, by
1919, were Ipswich’s f[...]of concrete foundations between Lamington Parade and the River are the remains of
a sawmill and flour mill established here in 1866 by James Reilly. In 1872 the Hancock company
purchased the site and developed a comprehensive timber processing complex, including
sawmill, plywood factory, power station and a wharf.[...]
[...]g woollen mills in 1984. The factory was extended
and upgraded several times during the 1990s, and new products were introduced including
plywood de[...]The Pommer
brothers opened the North Ipswich Ice and Butter Factory here in 1903, pasteurising milk,
making butter and ice, and providing cold storage to local butchers.[...]
[...]Built in 1878-9 by Ipswich contractors, McGregor and Brown it was initially used as a
store. Later used for administration and then as a tarpaulin shop, in 1990 it was converted into
the Railway Historical Centre and housed archival material. It now hosts commercial activities.
Internally, the uppe[...]ntre trusses for hoisting
goods between the upper and lower levels through a timber trapdoor.
From the[...]Behind more modern buildings can be seen the roof and part of one building remaining from
Barbat’s foundry. The foundry was established by F.G. Springall and J. Frost who were
responsible for the first local[...]he Queensland Railways in October 1889.
Springall and Frost became Phoenix Engineering Company but shor[...]“Acme” range of corn-
huskers, chaff-cutters and other agricultural equipment. The works covered two hectares and had
its own railway siding. In 1910, the foundry employed 120 men.




Barbat’s employees and a sea of scrap outside the foundry, 1910s (Pictur[...]Cast here were locomotive brake blocks, firebars,
and wagon and carriage axle boxes, cylinders and sundry fittings for marine engines, distilling
machinery for defence force ships, and lathe beds for production of gun barrels.
FOLLOW[...]URNS RIGHT INTO DOWNS ST; TURN LEFT INTO LOWRY ST AND
PARK AS CLOSE TO THE CORNER AS POSSIBLE. S[...]
[...]world’s first, reached
Bigge’s Camp in 1865, and Toowoomba in 1867. The stretch from Roma Street ([...]ecognisable by the crescent-shaped balance weight
and the eccentric crank, has a steel tyre. Such tyres[...]e wore,
or when cracks were detected, thus saving and reusing the costly inner wheel.
RETURN TO DOWNS S[...]hooling
here at the predecessor Infants’ School and Boys’ School before attending Ipswich Grammar
S[...]he original Ipswich to Bigges Camp railway track, now includes a
pedestrian and bike bridge crossing the Mihi Creek where a timbe[...]ons from 1869 onwards, to supply the ore-smelting and iron-making industries.
Coke was initially produc[...]uction ceased in the early 1950s when the pit’s coal supply was exhausted.
A beehive coke oven compris[...]mall circular opening (an exit flue) at the
apex, and a larger arched opening at one side to permit charging and drawing. The ovens were
usually constructed in do[...]ies, the space between usually filled with
rubble and earth to provide insulation, and the entire battery surrounded by a stone retainin[...]around 3.45 metres in diameter, 1.65 metres high and with an
individual flue, were arranged in[...]
[...]rkshops include an extensive complex of buildings and linking
rail tracks constructed between 1878 and the 1980s.




A somewhat romanticised view of th[...]re Ipswich qips- 2009-04-07-
0021)
The complex is now a campus of the Queensland Museum and tells the story of rail in
Queensland. Queensland[...]useum website for opening hours, admission prices and visiting arrangements. The
Queensland Muse[...]
[...]ed by a bronze digger
sculpture by John Whitehead and Sons of London, was designed by Queensland Railways
architect Vincent Price and honours some 300 local men who left the workshops[...]of the war 31 of these men had died.
The grandeur and comparatively high cost (£1400 – equivalent to[...]r River bridge northwards, through the Workshops, and thence
across Mihi and Ironpot Creeks, to Wulkuraka. This was the route[...]e (John Wright), Abermain (W.R. Black), Haighmoor
and Rothwell Haig (Stafford Bros), the line closed in[...]f Queensland's first section of
main line railway and is therefore one of Queensland earliest known rai[...]tunnel, about 1.2m wide. It is lined on the floor and to about a third of its
height with rustic[...]
Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: East
E1[...]1923 with the
opening of the Mines Rescue Station and instructor’s residence, Australia’s first fully-equipped
and independent rescue station. The current station b[...]erted the business to
manufacturing timber frames and windows. In 1969 a grandson opened a cabinet maki[...]ginal workshop remains here, along with his house now used as an
office.
E3: Campbells Brickworks, 11 M[...]the double-chambered kiln. Constructed in 1933 by then-owners, the
Milner family, it is believed to be Queensland’s only remaining kiln of its type. Originally coal-
fired, the kiln was later converted to oil. The brickworks here produced Queensland’s first
industrial and electrical porcelain.
E4: Stone kerbing & gutteri[...]Cole & Tile Sts)
This carefully-prepared kerbing and guttering is constructed of fine to coarse graine[...]loop line
opened in May 1904 handling significant coal traffic made the Redbank Station even more
import[...]ildings of the time, suffered from termite damage and was re-
constructed largely to the same design in[...]bank is the site of Queensland’s first recorded coal mine, started by John Williams in
1843 to supply the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company with coal for its paddle steamers.
In 1857 John “Tinker” Campbell and Robert Towns opened a boiling down works here. In 1880
William Kellett purchased the property and after unsuccessfully mining for coal here, built a
works providing packing and storage of chilled meat. The facility included an ammonia cooling
plant, digesting and refining vats, and an Evans Anderson & Co power station.
At its peak in c. 1910 the plant processed 320 cattle and 1000 sheep daily. In 1934 John Morris
of the Ipswich Woollen Mill at East Ipswich bought the site and converted it to a woollen mill.
During the Second[...]ill operated around the clock, supplying blankets and
uniform fabric. Post-war, it reverted to production of clothing materials and knitting yarns.
Cheap imports reduced demand, until in 1981 the weaving and dyeing facilities were closed.
Wool scouri[...]
[...]own as the "Redbank Centre
of Excellence", but is now the site of Progress Rail’s locomotive rebuild and refurbishment
facility.
E8: Woogaroo Creek Railwa[...]engineer Ian Nibloe, built by Queensland Railways and opened on 22 July 1962, this
five-span bridge was[...], the Gladstone to Moura Short Line (4,000 feet), and
the Goonyella and Peak Downs lines (5,200 feet).
E9: Miners’ Memo[...]memorial, designed by local artist Scott Maxwell and unveiled in September 2017,
honours those who lost their lives in coal and metalliferous mines and quarries. Miners’
Memorial Day is held annually[...]ember, the anniversary of the 1921 Mount Mulligan
coal mine explosion. Killing 75 miners, it remains Queensland’s worst mining disaster.
E10: Strike Monument, Goupong Park, Nam[...]took place at the Redbank Mine owned by Campbell
and Towns. On 7 June 1861, a deputation of miners con[...]ll rejected the claims, the miners went on strike
and were later arrested and tried for illegally conspiring to injure Campbell[...]late
1860s), the former Rhondda Colliery offices and a number of buildings moved to the site to
house[...]founded in 1900 to work the high-quality
New Chum coal seam. The Rhondda No. 1 mine would become the most enduring and efficient
on the Ipswich coalfield, with a life s[...]o its various operations. The new office building and adjoining
carport were designed by Robin Spencer Architects and constructed in c. 1976-7. In 1978 the
building wa[...]the Ipswich Historical Society’s local history and
mining museum. Local history, and coal mining and mines rescue memorabilia are on display
inside the museum; outside is a static display of mining machinery. Open several days a week, a
sma[...]
Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: South
S[...]injuries. After the explosion the mine was closed and tunnel entrances
sealed, entombing the 14 men killed underground.
Ipswich’s first electric coal cutters were used at Box Flat, in 1905.
S2: Swanb[...]in southeast Queensland to be situated next to a
coal field supply. It was commissioned by SEAQ progres[...]ast Queensland. It
was the first outside Brisbane and had coal supplied directly from the adjacent Box Flat mine[...]ion to natural gas meant that the line saw little coal
traffic in later years. Swanbank A was decommissioned in 2005 and fully removed from site by
2007.
A coal-fired Swanbank B Power Station, comprising four 120MW units, was commissioned by
SEAQ from 1971 to 1973, then the largest generating units in the state. They s[...]southeast Queensland, predominantly burning black
coal mined locally (including from Oakleigh, Jeebropilly and Acland). Two units were closed in
2010, and a third in 2011. Finally decommissioned in 2012 by CS Energy, the power station and
most of the structures, plant, equipment and associated infrastructure were demolished by 2015,
leaving only some workshops and stores.
Swanbank C was a 30 MW open cycle gas tur[...]9 by SEAQ to
provide quick starting peaking power and emergency black start power into the existing 110 kV
grid. It was decommissioned by CS Energy and removed in 1997.
Swanbank D was a 37 MW open cycl[...]ted until 2003, after which it was decommissioned and removed.
S3: Swanbank E Power Station, 116 Swanbank Coal Rd, Swanbank
A 385 MW combined cycle gas turbine was commissioned by CS Energy in 2003. One of the
largest and most advanced gas turbines in Australia, the turb[...]as less than half the
greenhouse gas emissions of coal fired power stations.
In 2011, ownership was transferred to Stanwell Corporation, and in 2014, it was withdrawn from
service and mothballed. In January 2018, it returned to servi[...]improved.
S4: Swanbank Railway Station, Swanbank Coal Rd, Swanbank
In 1881, Lewis Thomas constructed a[...]m Bundamba on the main line to his
Blackleg Gully coal mine. Further extensions followed, in 1886 to the West Moreton Colliery at
Swanbank, and further, to the New Swanbank Colliery in 1895. Th[...]am Railway operates steam trains between Swanbank and
Racecourse Stations. See the website for f[...]
[...]was built in 1887 at Bendigo’s Victoria Foundry and is Australia’s sole surviving
example. At the t[...]hter of Peter Brown, Chairman of the West Moreton Coal and Coke
Company Ltd, the “Jessie Brown” was a 22[...]ng the drums, bearings, brakes, level
indicators, and partial frame of the engine. The winding drums were the largest built by the
company.
This winder and foundations remain in their original location ove[...]at was sunk to a depth of 900 feet.


Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites further afield: West
W1[...]d by H.T. Hooper in 1901, the
works supplied soap and soda to the community and Government institutions for decades.
W2: RAAF Amb[...]ey, acquired by the Commonwealth in December 1938 andand a range of aircraft re-assembled after arrival in crates from the USA. US and
Australian personnel are estimated to have re-ass[...], WWII vehicles, fully restored
engines, weapons, and medals. Check the Heritage Centre website for acc[...]building
is of a standard country station design now becoming rare in Queensland.
W4: Rosewood Railway[...]includes a 1918 precast concrete station building and timber overhead footbridge.
W5: Grandchester Rail[...]tern terminus for the first railway in
Queensland and the first section of the Main Line to Toowoomba,[...]omplex includes the 1870s timber station building and 1910 station master’s
house, signal cabin, two-tier water tank, pumphouse, equipment and machinery. A locomotive
was stationed here from 1[...]for details.
In 1965 a C18 class locomotive axle and driving wheels were installed to commemorate the[...]same days as the station complex.
W6: Railway Dam and Weir, off Clancy’s Rd, Grandchester
Gran[...]
and its capacity doubled in 1913 by raising the wall height by 2 feet and also excavating the gully.
The concrete weir, wit[...]powered by a steam engine built by
Marshall Sons and Co Ltd, Engineers, Gainsborough England pre 1908 and used at the Nestle
Condensed Milk Factory at Toogoolawah, followed by Lowood Butter Factory, and then Hoods
Sawmill at Gatton. The railway locomotive b[...]fire in the 1990s destroyed the original building and the sawmill is now electrically
operated, manufacturing survey pegs and garden stakes. A small timber building directly i[...]) was once a petrol station. The boiler survives, and may be
seen from the road (note that this is priv[...]nvolved careful placement of larger stones, which then had smaller
stones wedged between to form a heavy[...]ed by John MacAdam, a British engineer.


Sources andCoal Mining Then and Now”, Ipswich City Council fact sheet, n.d.[...]

MD

Central and North Ipswich Engineering Heritage: A Walk[...]
[...]ch a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use and reproduce this work.

Under the Fair Dealing ex[...]work for research or study, criticism or review, and parody or satire. Moral rights remain and the work MUST be correctly attributed to i[...]
Swanbank Coal Road
From the introduction:
This tour covers the central and near northern areas of Ipswich. Most of th[...]