Brisbane central business district
The Brisbane central business district gazetted as the suburb of Brisbane City and colloquially referred to as'the city', is the heart of the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River; the triangular shaped area is bounded by the Brisbane River to the east and west. The point, known at its tip as Gardens Point, slopes upward to the north-west where the city is bounded by parkland and the inner city suburb of Spring Hill to the north; the CBD is bounded to the north-east by the suburb of Fortitude Valley. To the west the CBD is bounded by Petrie Terrace; the Brisbane central business district is an area of densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings, interspersed by several parks such as Roma Street Parklands, City Botanic Gardens and Wickham Park. It occupies an area of 1.367 km². The City is laid out according to a grid pattern surveyed during the city's early colonial days, a feature typical of most Australian street patterns.
As a general rule, the streets aligned northwest-south east are named after male members of the House of Hanover, while the northeast-south west aligned streets are named after female members. Queen Street was the central roadway, turned into a pedestrian mall, it forms the pivotal axis for the grid of roads within the district. The Brisbane central business district was built on a spur of the Taylor Range with the highest spot in the suburb being Wickham Terrace. North Quay is an area in the CBD, a landing point during the first European exploration of the Brisbane River. Petrie Bight is a reach of the Brisbane River, which gives its name to the small pocket of land centred on the area under the Story Bridge's northern point, around the Brisbane River to Admiralty Towers II; the location was known as Petrie Gardens and was an early settlement farm, one of two that provided food for the colony. The site was named after Andrew Petrie and has been the base for water police and in earlier times wharves.
The location of Customs House and the preference for wharves was due to site being directly downstream from the central business district. The Brisbane City Library opened in 1965, moving into Brisbane Square in 2006. Up until 1964, a Brisbane City Council regulation limited building heights to 132 ft; some of the first skyscrapers built in the CBD include the SGIO building in 1970 and AMP Place in 1977. In the last few decades the number of apartment buildings that have been constructed has increased substantially. Brisbane is home to several of Australia's tallest buildings. Brisbane's tallest buildings are Skytower at 270 metres, One William Street at 260 metres, Soleil at 243 metres, Aurora Tower at 207 metres, Riparian Plaza at 200 metres, One One One Eagle Street at 195 metres, Infinity at 249 metres, completed in 2014; the Brisbane CBD is one of the major business hubs in Australia. The City contains many tall office buildings occupied by organisations and all three levels of government that have emerged into a number of precincts.
The areas around the Queen Street Mall and Adelaide Street is a retail precinct. A legal precinct exists around the various court buildings located around the intersections of George Street and Adelaide and Ann Streets; the government precinct is an area centred on the Executive Building that includes many Queensland Government offices. 111 George Street, Mineral House, Education House are located here. The Brisbane CBD has only one third the number of premium hotel rooms that either Sydney or Melbourne's central business districts have; the city is serviced by a number of schools in the surrounding suburbs including the Petrie Terrace State School in Paddington and The Albert Park Flexi School in Petrie Terrace. Like most other Australian capital cities, Brisbane has experienced dramatic rises in rental prices for residential and office space before the global financial crisis. At the beginning of 2008, the Brisbane central business district contained 1.7 million square metres of office space.
High demand in the office market had pushed vacancy rates in the Brisbane CBD to 0.7% by January 2008, the lowest in Australia. Premium grade office space was less vacant with an occupancy rate of 99.9%. By the end of 2009 the situation had reversed. In mid 2013 the market for office space had declined to its worst position in two decades with a vacancy rate of just under 13%. In the CBD there many attractions; the Queens Gardens, Post Office Square, King George Square and the City Botanic Gardens are open public spaces located here. The Brisbane City Council operates a public library in Brisbane Square at 266 George Street. Brisbane has many heritage-listed sites, including: a number of properties in Adelaide Street, Brisbane a number of properties in Albert Street, Brisbane a number of properties in Alice Street, Brisbane a number of properties in Ann Street, Brisbane Boundary Street: Howard Smith Wharves a number of properties in Charlotte Street, Brisbane Coronation Drive: Coronation Drive retaining wall 15 Countess Street: Roma Street railway station a number of properties in Creek Street, Brisbane 118 Eagle Street: Mooney Memorial Fountain 118A Eagle Street: Eagle Street Fig Trees a number of properties in Edward Street, Brisbane a number of properties in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane a number of properties in Margaret Street, Brisbane 20-30 Market Street: Wenley House a number of properties in Mary Street, Brisbane a number of properties in North Quay, Brisb
Queensland
Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland; the state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres. As of 15 May 2018, Queensland has a population of 5,000,000, concentrated along the coast and in the state's South East; the capital and largest city in the state is Australia's third-largest city. Referred to as the "Sunshine State", Queensland is home to 10 of Australia's 30 largest cities and is the nation's third-largest economy. Tourism in the state, fuelled by its warm tropical climate, is a major industry. Queensland was first inhabited by Torres Strait Islanders.
The first European to land in Queensland was Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606, who explored the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula near present-day Weipa. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain; the colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades until the establishment of a penal colony at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Penal transportation ceased in 1839 and free settlement was allowed from 1842; the state was named in honour of Queen Victoria, who on 6 June 1859 signed Letters Patent separating the colony from New South Wales. Queensland Day is celebrated annually statewide on 6 June. Queensland was one of the six colonies which became the founding states of Australia with federation on 1 January 1901; the history of Queensland spans thousands of years, encompassing both a lengthy indigenous presence, as well as the eventful times of post-European settlement.
The north-eastern Australian region was explored by Dutch and French navigators before being encountered by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. The state has witnessed frontier warfare between European settlers and Indigenous inhabitants, as well as the exploitation of cheap Kanaka labour sourced from the South Pacific through a form of forced recruitment known at the time as "blackbirding"; the Australian Labor Party has its origin as a formal organisation in Queensland and the town of Barcaldine is the symbolic birthplace of the party. June 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of its creation as a separate colony from New South Wales. A rare record of early settler life in north Queensland can be seen in a set of ten photographic glass plates taken in the 1860s by Richard Daintree, in the collection of the National Museum of Australia; the Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait, became divided into over 90 different language groups.
During the last ice age Queensland's landscape became more arid and desolate, making food and other supplies scarce. This led to the world's first seed-grinding technology. Warming again made the land hospitable, which brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the state's tropical rainforests. In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa, on the western shore of Cape York; this was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia, it marked the first reported contact between European and Aboriginal Australian people. The region was explored by French and Spanish explorers prior to the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of the United Kingdom on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming Eastern Australia, including Queensland,'New South Wales'; the Aboriginal population declined after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century. In 1823, John Oxley, a British explorer, sailed north from what is now Sydney to scout possible penal colony sites in Gladstone and Moreton Bay.
At Moreton Bay, he found the Brisbane River. He established a settlement at what is now Redcliffe; the settlement known as Edenglassie, was transferred to the current location of the Brisbane city centre. Edmund Lockyer discovered outcrops of coal along the banks of the upper Brisbane River in 1825. In 1839 transportation of convicts was ceased, culminating in the closure of the Brisbane penal settlement. In 1842 free settlement was permitted. In 1847, the Port of Maryborough was opened as a wool port; the first free immigrant ship to arrive in Moreton Bay was the Artemisia, in 1848. In 1857, Queensland's first lighthouse was built at Cape Moreton. A war, sometimes called a "war of extermination", erupted between Aborigines and settlers in colonial Queensland; the Frontier War was notable for being the most bloody in Australia due to Queensland's larger pre-contact indigenous population when compared to the other Australian colonies. About 1,500 European settlers and their alli
County of Stanley, Queensland
The County of Stanley is a cadastral division centred on the city of Brisbane in Queensland, used for the purpose of registering land titles. It was named after Edward Stanley, three times British prime minister in the 1850s and 1860s, it is bounded by the Logan River in the south, the Brisbane River at what is now Lake Wivenhoe in the west, the Stanley River at what is now Lake Somerset in the north-west, Caboolture River in the north. It includes Moreton Island and Stradbroke Island, extends west to Ipswich's CBD, south to Loganlea and north to Morayfield. Stanley was a county in New South Wales between the establishment of Brisbane in 1826, the formation of Queensland as a separate colony in 1859, was established by proclamation on 27 February 1843, it was understood to include the land between the 27th and 28th parallels of latitude, Moreton Bay and the western ranges, covering an area of 1,724 square miles. In 1852 it had a population of 2,000. Wheat, coffee and tobacco were described as being important crops.
By 1863, the county had contracted to its present boundaries. On 7 March 1901, the Governor of Queensland proclaimed new boundaries under the Land Act 1897, Stanley was described as follows: Bounded on the south by the county of Ward. Stanley is divided into parishes, listed as follows: Local government in Australia County
Bramble Bay
Bramble Bay is an embayment of Moreton Bay in South East Queensland, Australia. The Brisway map reference see page 91 G19 in Refidex; the Houghton Highway, Hornibrook Bridge and Ted Smout Memorial Bridge span Bramble Bay, connecting Redcliffe with Brisbane. The Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race begins in Bramble Bay. Activities for the annual race are centred on nearby foreshore. Bramble Bay is the most environmentally degraded part of Moreton Bay; because the bay is so close to the urban populations of Brisbane and Redcliffe the collection of shelled marine animals such as oysters and limpets is banned. Fishing within bay's closed waters, risks on the spot fines at all times under Queensland's closed water fishing regulations. North of Bramble Bay the shoreline forms the southern peninsula shape of the Redcliffe City suburbs of Clontarf and Woody Point; the southern shoreline follows Brisbane City suburbs of Brighton and the northern Shorncliffe shoreline. The former suburb of Cribb Island was found on the southern shoreline of the bay until it was disbanded for the construction of the Brisbane Airport.
Bramble Bay flows into Hays Inlet to the north-west, Pine River flows into Bramble Bay to the south-west. Some definitions place the Boondall Wetlands in Bramble Bay; this would place the mouths of a number of smaller creeks south of Shorncliffe, including Cabbage Tree Creek, Nundah Creek and Kedron Brook, within the Bramble Bay catchment. Both rivers flowing into Bramble Bay carry high loads of suspended sediments. Water in the bay is turbid. At times two sewerage plumes from the rivers are visible in Bramble Bay; the residence time for Bramble Bay, that is, the period of time that a parcel of water remains at a particular location, is 59 to 62 days, the longest for any part of Moreton Bay. In 2009, the annual Healthy Waterways Partnership Report Card rated Bramble Bay an F from a previous C; the rating deteriorated because of an increase in phytoplankton and nitrogen concentrations, as well as decreases in water clarity and salinity. During the past the bay contained large areas of seagrass which attracted feeding dugongs, however there are no seagrass beds in the bay today.
This is due to a lack of sunlight reaching the seabed. Moreton Bay Marine Park Google Maps Satellite Photo SEQ Waterways
Houghton Highway
The Houghton Highway is a 2.74 km reinforced concrete viaduct, the second bridge to be built across Bramble Bay connecting the cities of Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. The bridge, along with the third bridge, the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge, were the longest bridges in the country until 27 March 2013, when the Macleay River Bridge opened in Kempsey, NSW. Built to duplicate the crossing capacity immediately after opening it was converted to a three lane roadway with'peak flow' lane control as a result of the proposed upgrading of the Hornibrook Bridge being deemed uneconomic; the intended crossing capacity was provided with the opening of the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge in 2010. With rising traffic levels on the two-lane Hornibrook Bridge in the 1970s, the Department of Main Roads investigated the construction of another structure to increase capacity and cope with future demand. Authorisation by the department was given to construct a new bridge in 1977, the new Houghton Highway opened on 20 December 1979, by the Premier of Queensland, The Hon Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
The Houghton Highway is named after Member for Redcliffe and speaker. Houghton resigned from parliament on 7 August; the all-concrete Houghton Highway consists of 99 spans atop of some 400 T-beams, supported close to sea level by headstocks connected to five octagonal piles each. A notable characteristic of the Houghton Highway until 2010, other than its significant length, was the rough surface and therefore ride quality; each concrete span has a slight concave curve, so a distinct corrugated ride was felt when driving over the bridge. These ride characteristics were due to the absence of a bitumen overlay prior to 2010, when the bridge was upgraded in conjunction with the construction of the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge. In February 2004, an RACQ survey recognised the Houghton Highway as the number one "pain in the neck" with Queensland motorists; some 1200 members responded to the survey, asking them to nominate problem roads and intersections in the state. Respondents identified problems including insufficient capacity, the tidal flow or an accident/breakdown on the bridge causing major congestion, an inappropriate speed limit, the lack of consideration given by authorities to another bridge crossing.
The original intention of the Houghton Highway was to provide two lanes of southbound traffic, with the Hornibrook Bridge to be refurbished to provide two lanes of northbound traffic, doubling original capacity. When the Houghton Highway opened, it provided one lane in each direction, intended to temporarily replace the Hornibrook Bridge while its proposed refurbishment was conducted; the initial deck layout consisted of two 3,700 mm lanes, an 1,800 mm shoulder or "breakdown lane", a 1,900 mm footway. With just a diminutive reinforced concrete kerb to separate pedestrians from 80 km/h passing traffic, the use of the footway was minimal; the bridge had a southbound breakdown lane, on the basis that the two-way traffic flow was only meant to be temporary. With the Hornibrook Bridge closed for refurbishment, engineers were able to make a closer examination to determine more the extent of work required, they found that deterioration of the bridge was worse than first expected, the cost to bring the bridge up to an acceptable standard, its continued maintenance, would be far greater than original predictions.
At the same time, the state government believed that Redcliffe's future growth would be in its western areas, therefore the connections of Redcliffe to the Bruce Highway should receive more attention – the original land-based and much longer route to Brisbane before the Hornibrook Bridge opened in 1935. With the proposed refurbishment of the Hornibrook Bridge cancelled, in October 1982 the Department of Main Roads investigated modification of the Houghton Highway, only ten months after it opened. Facing an unintended situation where the new bridge as built would not deliver any increased capacity, the modification of the bridge was completed within twelve months; the modifications involved the removal of the pedestrian footway, addition of a third lane and a tidal flow arrangement to provide two lanes for peak traffic flow – southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon and evening. As breakdown lanes could not be provided, emergency telephones and overhead lighting were fitted to the bridge at the same time.
The Houghton Highway did not include overhead lighting, whereas the old bridge did. Modifications to the bridge commenced in March 1982, were completed by 3 September the same year, at a total cost of $435,000; the upgrade included six gantries, eight switchable message signs, 54 traffic signals, two mast arms, 51 overhead lights, 12 emergency telephones, 27.5 km of power cable and 2 km of communication cable. A routine inspection of Houghton Highway in 1991 found an alkali-silica reaction in the pre-stressed concrete piles; this reaction caused internal cracking of the concrete, crumbling and spalling of the concrete leaving the reinforcing steel exposed to the marine environment. 500 piles were encased in concrete below the water surface and up to 500 mm above the high water level. Above this point, an externally bonded carbon fibre reinforced polymer was applied, wrapping the column to cover the damage and contain and conceal the existing cracks, it was believed that such composites offered re-strengthening and a protection of the piles through encapsulated resin during the l
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Sunshine Coast is a peri-urban area and the third most populated area in the Australian state of Queensland. Located 100 km north of the state capital Brisbane in South East Queensland on the Pacific Ocean coastline, its urban area spans 60 km of coastline and hinterland from Pelican Waters to Tewantin; the estimated urban population of Sunshine Coast as at June 2015 was 302,122, making it the 9th most populous in the country. The area was first settled by Europeans in the 19th century with development progressing until tourism became an important industry; the area has several coastal hubs at Caloundra, Kawana Waters and Noosa Heads. Nambour and Maleny have developed as primary commercial centres for the hinterland, although Maleny falls outside the urban area defined by the ABS that this article refers to; the Sunshine Coast, as a term recognised by most Australians, is the district defined in 1967 as "the area contained in the Shires of Landsborough and Noosa, but excluding Bribie Island".
Its use is colloquial however. Since 2014, the Sunshine Coast district has been split into two local government areas, the Sunshine Coast Region and the Shire of Noosa, which administer the southern and northern parts of the Sunshine Coast respectively. James Cook on the deck of HM Bark Endeavour in 1770 became the first known white person to sight the Glass House Mountains, located south-west of Caloundra. In the 1820s, the Sunshine Coast saw its first white inhabitants: three castaways who shared the life of the local Aborigines for eight months. Thereafter, during the 1830s to 1840s, the district became home to numerous runaway convicts from the Moreton Bay penal colony to the south. In 1842, Governor George Gipps had the entire Sunshine Coast and hinterland from Mt Beerwah north to Eumundi declared a "Bunya Bunya Reserve" for the protection of the bunya tree after Andrew Petrie advised him of the importance of bunya groves in Aboriginal culture. However, during the 1840s and 1850s, the Bunya Bunya Reserve and its vicinity became the scene of some of the most bitter skirmishes of Australia's "Black War".
The Blackall Range, on account of the tri-annual Bunya Festival, served as both a hideout and rallying point for attacks against white settlement. By the 1850s timber cutters and cattlemen had started exploiting the area. Many of the Sunshine Coast's towns began as simple ports or jetties for the timber industry during the 1860s and 1870s, as the area once had magnificent stands of forest; the region's roads began as snigging tracks for hauling timber. Timbergetters used the region's creeks and lakes as seaways to float out their logs of cedar – the resultant wood being shipped as far afield as Europe. During the Gympie Gold Rush, prospectors scaled the Sunshine Coast mountains to develop easier roadways to and from the gold fields of Gympie. After construction of the railway line to Gympie, the coastal and river towns, being ports for the early river-trade, were bypassed. By the 1890s diverse small-farming had replaced the cattle-and-timber economy of earlier decades. Sugar cane and pineapples proved important produce for the district.
Many small hamlets and towns now emerged. Produce was taken by horse to Landsborough to Eudlo in 1891. After World War II, the Sunshine Coast grew into a favoured holiday and surfing destination; this tendency was further expanded in the development boom of the 1970s. Around the same time, various tourist/theme parks were created – the most iconic being the Big Pineapple in Woombye. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Sunshine Coast attracted persons drawn to alternative lifestyles; these newcomers developed a range of craft industries, co-operatives and spiritual centres in the hinterlands. After the 1980s, the Sunshine Coast experienced rapid population growth; as of 2016 it had become one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia. As the region becomes residential, most of the district's distinctive small farms – tropical-fruit and sugar-cane farms have disappeared, as have most of its theme parks; the Moreton sugar mills closure in 2003 removed a market for the district's 120 cane growers, harvesting cane in the region.
Instead, businesses concerned with retail and tourism have assumed increasing importance. In 2008, The Shire of Noosa, Shire of Maroochy and City of Caloundra merged to form the Sunshine Coast Region; the 2007 referendum conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission and leading to the merger remained controversial in Noosa Shire, where 95% of voters had rejected amalgamation. In March 2013, a second referendum resulted in 81% of residents voted to leave the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Region. On 9 November 2013 an election resulted in Noel Playford being elected to take office as mayor on 1 January 2014 with the new council; the Shire of Noosa was re-established on 1 January 2014. This resulted in two geopolitical areas occupying the area recognised as'The Sunshine Coast'; the Sunshine Coast Region, governed by the Sunshine Coast Council and the Shire of Noosa, governed by Noosa Shire Council. Major rivers of the Sunshine Coast include Noosa River, Maroochy River, Mooloolah River and the Stanley River.
The region includes several lakes such as Lake Weyba. Ewen Maddock Dam, Wappa Dam and Baroon Pocket Dam have been built for water storage. Several stretches of the Sunshine Coast are lined with unbroken beaches – from Sunshine Beach near Noosa to Coolum Beach.
Hornibrook Bridge
Hornibrook Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge on the Hornibrook Highway over Bramble Bay from Brighton, City of Brisbane to Clontarf, Moreton Bay Region, Australia. It was built from 1932 to 1935 by Manuel Hornibrook, it was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 October 1994. Handsome art-deco concrete abutment arches frame the entry and exit approaches. Construction of the bridge was important for the growth of the Redcliffe City peninsula and made the commute to Brisbane shorter and quicker, increasing population growth and the number of visitors to the seaside location; the bridge was known colloquially by the locals as the "Humpity Bump" because the road surface of the bridge was so buckled. During king tides, waves would crash into the bridge spraying the cars; the bridge was operated and maintained by a private company and a toll applied until 1975, with toll booths located on the Clontarf end. The Hornibrook Bridge was the first of three bridges to cross Bramble Bay; the second bridge is the publicly funded Houghton Highway bridge, built with the intention of duplicating the crossing capacity of the two-lane Hornibrook Bridge in the 1970s, but the upgrading of the original Hornibrook Bridge was subsequently found to be uneconomic.
The bridge closed to traffic in 1979 with the opening of the Houghton Highway, intended to provide a duplicated crossing. The third bridge, the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge opened to traffic in July 2010, delivering the desired capacity increase and resulting in the demolition of the original Hornibrook Bridge, used as a pedestrian and bicycle only bridge since 1979; the Hornibrook Highway Bridge was constructed in the years 1932-1935, by the firm of M. R. Hornibrook. Conceived as a response to high unemployment during the Great Depression, it represented an opportunity to end the isolation of the residents of the Redcliffe Peninsula. Prior to the construction of the Hornibrook Viaduct, the Redcliffe Peninsula was accessed via two main methods of transport: ferry and road. Road transportation in particular was of great concern to the residents of the Redcliffe area. During times of wet weather, the Redcliffe road running via Petrie became impassable to vehicles. Several schemes had been drafted to improve the accessibility of the Redcliffe area to vehicle owners and to the growing day-tripper market, having seaside holidays at Redcliffe.
These schemes favoured the construction of a new road link across Hays Inlet and the mouth of the South Pine River. In 1926, the Redcliffe Town Council had proposed such a project be considered by the Main Roads Board; such a road link would involve crossing 2.7 kilometres of water by viaduct at a cost of £120,000. This road would connect with the main road from Sandgate to Brisbane, avoiding the long drive via Petrie. M. R. Hornibrook had holidayed in this area and saw the development potential of the Redcliffe area being linked by road to Brisbane; the onset of the financial depression of 1929-1933 gave Hornibrook the impetus to plan and construct a road viaduct across from Redcliffe to Sandgate. Major contracts for construction diminished with the deepening depression, the decline in public spending. Hornibrook believed a major project was needed to keep together the construction force built up by his company during twenty-five years of work. In 1931, Hornibrook approached the Queensland Government with a proposal to construct a toll bridge linking the southern part of Redcliffe with the Sandgate area.
This proposal was rejected. After further consultation with the Queensland Government, an Act of Parliament was pushed through allowing for the involvement of private enterprise in the construction of toll facilities. Note that the Queensland Government was in discussions with Walter Taylor regarding his proposal to construct a toll bridge across the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer; the terms of the contract with the Queensland Government set the toll price, as well as stipulating the length of lease. Hornibrook negotiated for a forty-year lease on the projected road bridge; the full extent of the project involved a road viaduct 2.68 kilometres in length plus associated roadworks. To finance such a major construction, a prospectus was issued to encourage local investment in Hornibrook Highway Ltd. Work commenced on the project on 8 June 1932, but in its first eighteen months progress was limited, due to a lack of financing; the entry portals at either end of the bridge were completed in early 1933.
Continuing financial difficulties forced Hornibrook to attempt to re-finance the company to finish the work as planned by 1935. The major flotation was assisted by a £100,000 loan from the AMP Society, guaranteed by the Queensland Government. Work recommenced at a faster pace from July 1934; the portals were designed by architect John Beebe. A Bendigo-based architect, Beebe moved to Queensland in 1916, worked at the Queensland Works Department until 1926, he moved into private practice in Brisbane until 1936. Over 2.5 million superfeet of timber was needed to provide decking on the bridge. Two sawmills were bought specially to process timber from Conondale Range. 250 timbergetters were employed to cut the required amount of timber. Timber for the construction of the bridge was transported down the North Pine and Pine rivers on barges; the hardwood used in piles and girders came from a timber mill owned by the Hornibrook Construction Company at Mapleton, transported from there to Nambour on the Mapleton Tramway, by Queensland Rail trains.
Concrete was supplied from the QCL works at
Japan – Sanyō-Onoda, Yamaguchi*
Australia – Winton, Queensland*
