A piece of history from The University of Queensland Ipswich Campus is on track to move from its current location at the Campus to its new home at The Workshops Rail Museum.
As part of its current Boilerhouse redevelopment, the Ipswich Campus has donated one of its Babcock and Wilcox boilers to the Workshops Rail Museum at North Ipswich for possible use in its proposed Powerhouse development.
The boiler is one of two original water-tube boilers that drove the Boilerhouse of the former Challinor Centre site, at which the Ipswich Campus is now located.
Constructed in 1913, the Boilerhouse housed an engine that provided electrical power, and boilers that produced steam for the adjacent laundry of the then Ipswich Hospital for the Insane, renamed the Challinor Centre in 1968.
The Boilerhouse was a single storey building consisting of an engine room, boiler room, coal bunkers and a detached chimney stack 24 metres high.
The Ipswich Campus will retain the other Babcock and Wilcox boiler as a key design feature of the current Boilerhouse redevelopment, which will see the former engine room transformed to contemporary offices and community meeting space.
The Boilerhouse will house the Campus’ UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre, formerly the Community Service and Research Centre, and will provide a dedicated meeting place for community activity and engagement within a focused academic and research environment.
Partly funded by the Bremer Business Park, Swanbank Enterprise Park, Bendigo Bank and Ipswich City Council, the Boilerhouse redevelopment is a collaborative project between the Ipswich community, corporate partners and the University.
The boiler will be delivered to The Workshops Rail Museum on Friday, July 8 for possible use in the Museum’s proposed Powerhouse development. The boiler is believed to be the same model used in the former boiler of the Ipswich Railway Workshops Powerhouse.
Once very common in Queensland, the Babcock and Wilcox boilers demonstrate early boiler technology of the 20th century. Believed to be superior in safety from the fire-tube boiler, the water-tube boiler was designed so that water flows from a header tank or steam drum through tubes incorporated in the furnace.
Currently, both boilers remain in situ with their two chain grate stokers, inspection doors and levers for adjusting the draft in the flue. They will remain a vital element of the site’s history, and are an important part of the region’s industrial heritage.
Media inquiries: Loretta Porche at UQ Ipswich (3381 1068, 0418 772 819). Note: Photographic opportunities are available on Friday for the removal of the boiler – contact Loretta Porche for more information.
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