There’s something unforgettable about the sound of a steam engine roaring back to life. In May 1982, Queensland Museum’s historic Garrett Steam Traction Engine billowed steam across the grounds of the Old Museum as staff and volunteers fired up the 12-tonne giant for one of its first test drives after restoration, to the delight of Queensland Museum staff and a few lucky visitors.
More than four decades later, those moments have been brought back into focus thanks to a remarkable collection of colour slides captured by photographer Geoff Thompson. Geoff had just started as a technician in the insect section. He was very much an amateur photographer at the time, before developing more professional skills in micro and macro photography later in his career at Queensland Museum.
A Steam Giant Returns to Life
Built in England in December 1911 by Richard Garrett & Sons, this impressive 6 horsepower compound steam traction engine was manufactured at the famed Leiston Works in Suffolk. Known for producing agricultural machinery and steam engines during the height of the industrial era, Garrett’s engineering innovations helped shape mechanised transport and industry across the world.
Queensland Museum’s engine – Engine No. 29788 – was imported to Australia in 1914 by Brisbane machinery agents Clark & Fauset. Originally sold to the Normanby Shire Council at Harrisville, south-west of Ipswich, the engine powered a rock crusher and hauled loads of crushed stone for road construction projects throughout the region.
Over the decades, the steam engine lived many lives. From the 1930s through to the 1960s, it changed hands several times and was used in sawmills, timber hauling operations and land clearing across South East Queensland.
By the late 1970s, the historic engine had found its way to Crows Nest before being purchased by Queensland Museum in 1979. With assistance from the Australian Army, the massive machine was transported back to Brisbane for restoration.
Its first public steaming after restoration took place on 18 May 1982, a milestone moment captured on film by Geoff Thompson.
Rediscovering 1982 Through Film
Geoff recently revisited his original slides from the day the engine was fired up on the museum grounds.
“I photographed them with my own camera on the day Monty and Co. fired up and test drove the Garrett traction engine in the grounds of the old museum,” Geoff said.
The slide mounts are stamped “May 82” and, remarkably, the images have survived the decades with their colours still vivid and bright.
To preserve the collection, Geoff carefully digitised the transparencies using a Canon R5 Mk I mirrorless camera mounted on a copy stand with a 100mm macro lens and a “Skier III” LED copy box. The images were then restored and enhanced using Photoshop and Topaz software.
The result is a striking visual time capsule and a glimpse into a hands-on era of museum conservation, steaming machinery and history.
Engineering on a Monumental Scale
The Garrett Steam Traction Engine remains one of the most significant large transport and industrial objects in Queensland Museum’s collection.
Weighing approximately 12 tonnes and measuring 3.7 metres long and 3.5 metres high, the engine features two cylinders, two forward gears and one reverse gear. Unlike many British steam engines of the period, this colonial model was designed to burn wood rather than coal – an adaptation for Australian conditions.
Originally operating at 180 pounds per square inch (p.s.i.), the engine is now restricted to 100 p.s.i. for preservation and safety purposes.
Cast plates across the machine still proudly display the name:
“R. GARRETT & SONS Ltd – Engineers – Leiston Works – England”
While the tractor has been on display at Queensland Museum Rail Workshop’s Might and Muscle exhibition, it is available to view online. The traction engine was regularly displayed in steam by museum staff over the years at events in South East Queensland, but the traction engine is not currently operational and would require some work to recertify it for steaming again.
A Queensland Museum Flashback
These newly digitised photographs offer more than nostalgia – they document the ongoing care, restoration and preservation work that keeps Queensland’s transport history alive for future generations.
From roadworks south of Ipswich to steaming across the old museum grounds in 1982, the Garrett traction engine has travelled an extraordinary journey through Queensland history.
And thanks to Geoff Thompson’s photographs, that moment in steam has come roaring back to life once again.
Leave a Reply