May 2025

The engineering giant that helped build Queensland

30 May 2025 / 5 Comments

Nations are not built by those who sit down and ask for doles or alms, but by the daring and the bold. They are not built by the timid, but by the dauntless and adventurous.

R. S. Maynard

Maryborough was truly an essential industrial city in Queensland’s early history. It served as a pivotal distribution centre that supported three major industries: agriculture, manufacturing, and timber.

The greatest piscatorial event in the world

22 May 2025 / 5 Comments

The beginnings

Sir Reginald (Reg) Barnewall’s ambitious dream of developing a resort on Fraser Island is a fascinating chapter in the island’s history. In the 1960s, Barnewall envisioned creating a high-end resort that would attract visitors to the island’s natural beauty, which was then known more for its timber industry and fishing than for tourism.

The man who walked the Bass Strait

9 May 2025 / 10 Comments

The Bass Strait submarine cables

In 1859, the first underwater telegraph cable in the Southern Hemisphere and the longest in the world was laid across Bass Strait.

Planning began in 1853 when discussions were held to build an overland line from Hobart in the south to Launceston in the north of Tasmania, extending across Bass Strait to Victoria.

Hello darkness, my old friend – Australia’s reckless closure of coal-fired power plants

2 May 2025 / 7 Comments

Australia has been actively closing its major coal power plants despite their clear advantages in terms of low operating costs and the ability to provide continuous baseload power, regardless of weather conditions. This reckless policy experiment has led to soaring energy prices and jeopardised reliability.

Despite clear warnings, governments and regulators have doubled down on forcing coal out of the market, despite its ability to provide dependable, dispatchable power in favour of intermittent renewables that cannot.