How a brave boilermaker from the Ipswich Railway Workshops captured the Amiens Rail Gun Continue reading The Brave Boilermaker – how a man from the Ipswich Railway Workshops captured the Amiens Rail Gun
Why did a railway workers’ strike prompt Queensland Police to develop a Special Bureau and launch surveillance and investigations? Running for nine weeks and drawing in over 20,000 railway employees and thousands of workers in other industries, the Railway Strike of 1948 was one of the largest and longest strikes in Queensland history. The actions of trade unions, protestors and the halt of railway activity prompted the Queensland government to declare a state of emergency on 27 February, granting the police extra-ordinary powers. The exhibition, Spy: Espionage in Australia at The Workshops Rail Museum presents an opportunity to reflect on the 1948 strike and the formation of intelligence operations. Continue reading Under surveillance: the 1948 Railway Strike
What do manual arts students, dentists, domestic science students and leprosy patients all have in common? At one point in Queensland’s history they have all had custom railway carriages built for them. When railways were the most dominant means of transporting goods and people on land, some of the rolling stock used had to be customised to accommodate all sorts of passenger and freight needs. … Continue reading You could build a railway carriage for that!
With the museum temporarily closed and with many of us now having to work from home, I decided to do some research on a large donation of old Queensland Railway Institute (QRI) sporting trophies that we received last year. The one that instantly caught my eye was a 1942 Victory Cup Reserve Grade Rugby League Premiers trophy. As I started looking into how the Brisbane … Continue reading Season of Adversity – The 1942 Brisbane Rugby League Season
Written by: Geraldine Mate, Senior Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum In the last two months, the grounds at The Workshops Rail Museum have been reminiscent of scenes almost 100 years ago. Our heritage listed War Memorial has been undergoing a face-lift, with the installation of new paving and walkways. Watching the transformation, the busyness of the construction workers has evoked the activities that would have … Continue reading Remembrance Day… Ipswich Railway Workshops Memorial
Written by: Rob Shiels, Assistant Collection Manager, The Workshops Rail Museum In July 2016, Pompey, the black locomotive in the grounds at The Workshops Rail Museum will be moved to an undercover area at the Museum. Pompey has been a popular display item since the Museum opened in 2002 and has been climbed on by thousands of adults and children alike in the last 14 … Continue reading Pompey’s next chapter
Written by: David Mews, Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum Whenever I drive over the Bremer River bridge on the Warrego Highway, I imagine the little paddle steamers as they chugged their way to Ipswich or back to Brisbane. This year celebrates the 150 years of Queensland Rail and my imagination takes me back in time trying to picture what it must have been like. Ipswich … Continue reading Anticipation in Ipswich
Written by: Geraldine Mate, Senior Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
One of the most exciting parts of pulling an exhibition together is seeing an idea that has been in your head turn into a full colour, three-dimensional solid entity. A lot of time goes into the writing of text for labels and panels, the identification and selection of objects and choosing from the myriad of photographs available.
Continue reading “Behind the scenes of exhibition development: In three dimensions and full colour”
Written by: David Mewes, Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
During my holidays in August 1968 I had the opportunity to see and hear the famed 610 mm gauge Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 steam locomotives used by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company at their sugar mills in Queensland and Fiji. The last ten of these locomotives at that time worked in the Ingham District at the CSR Victoria and Macknade mills. The oldest was also the smallest, the Homebush, built in 1914. The remainder ranged in size and weight with the last built in 1953 being the largest and most powerful. Continue reading “Homebush turns 100”
Written by: Dr Geraldine Mate, Senior Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
As a Curator, I am often asked “What’s your favourite object?”. Now to me this is a difficult question to answer – it’s a bit like being asked “who’s your favourite child?”. There are so many great objects in the collection that it’s impossible to pick one.
Written by: David Mewes, Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
No, this is not about famous sleuths solving a puzzling crime. Agatha Christies’ characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have never been involved in cases involving Queensland Railways although they have solved murders on famous European trains like the Orient Express or the Blue Train.
Written by: David Mewes, Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
“Billy Sheen and his C16” was the title of a song recorded by Brisbane folk group The Moreton Bay Bushwhackers in 1959 as part of Queensland’s Centenary celebrations. I often think of this song whenever I come across references to Queensland Railways’ C16 Class locomotives, the prototype of which was designed and built here at the Ipswich Railway Workshops in 1903.
Written by: Rob Sheils, Assistant Collection Manager, The Workshops Rail Museum
In May 2012 “I’ve Been Working on the Railway – Stories and experiences of Torres Strait Islanders, Aboriginal people and Australian South Sea Islanders” opened at The Workshops Rail Museum. We were lucky enough to later receive a grant from the Australian Government through the Australian Council for the Arts, its funding and advisory body, to travel the exhibition around Australia between 2013-2015.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, yet the haunting images of the Remember Me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt exhibition currently on at the Queensland Museum seem to be worth so many more. Continue reading “Lost Love Letters inspire Gallipoli Art Prize”
Written by: Geraldine Mate, Senior Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
Each year on ANZAC Day the Memorial on the grounds of The Workshops Rail Museum is the scene of ANZAC Day commemorations by the Ipswich Railway RSL Sub-branch.
Continue reading “ANZAC Day and the Ipswich Railway Workshops Memorial”
Written by: Geraldine Mate, Senior Curator, The Workshops Rail Museum
Every day when I walk into The Workshops Rail Museum, I look at the buildings! It sounds a bit obvious, I know, but how often do you walk into work, look at your watch, greet colleagues and not think about the place you are going into?
Written by: Rob Shiels, Assistant Collection Manager, The Workshops Rail Museum
The Workshops Rail Museum was honoured to accept into our collection a recent donation of objects showcasing Staff Sergeant-Major Arthur G Bennett’s First World War experiences.
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