100 Years of Transport and Main Roads

At the end of the war, Queenslanders went on a spending spree, and car numbers rose as fast as the factories could supply them. Many people had learned to drive as a result of their wartime experiences, and with full employment and high wages, more people than ever before could afford to own a car.

It was a windfall to Main Roads in the form of increased revenue from registrations. In a single year, 1951–1952, car registrations rose by 14,269 to 253,361, one vehicle for every 4.8 people in the state.

Cook Highway between Cairns and Port Douglas, Douglas Shire. Widened water bound macadam pavement being consolidated by traffic prior to bitumen surfacing. The road carries bagged sugar traffic from Mossman sugar mill to wharves at Cairns, skirting the Pacific coastline for many miles en route.

In 1953, a prestressed concrete bridge was built over Tenthill Creek on the Gatton to Mt Sylvia road, only the second such prestressed concrete bridge to be opened to traffic in Australia. By 1955, the emphasis on extending the road network as cheaply as possible was changing. The state entered the second phase where construction provided the traffic of the day and future in such a way that roads and bridges could carry heavier loads than those of the past.

Wooden bridges such as the Carmila Creek Bridge, built by Broadsound Shire out of Commonwealth funds, were still single lane wooden constructions.

The Burdekin River Bridge officially opened in 1957.

Wooden bridges such as the Carmila Creek Bridge, built by Broadsound Shire out of Commonwealth funds, were still single lane wooden constructions.

The Burdekin River Bridge officially opened in 1957.

It was during this period many of the characteristics of today’s roads were first introduced including road line marking, reflector discs, warning signposts, and the introduction of a national system of numbering roads.

Line marking machine used by the department after the war. Notice the driver of the buggy – no shirt, no hat, no seatbelt!

The number and size of trucks on the roads also significantly increased. The road system was inadequate to cope with the increased traffic of heavier and faster vehicles.

The state saw a greater need to bitumen roads as soon as possible with the increasing traffic density and speed. In 1955, a bitumen refinery was opened at Bulwer Island at the mouth of the Brisbane River providing local refined bitumen alleviating the bitumen shortage after the war years.

Laying asphalt with a Hollandia hot mix machine on the Bruce Highway Redcliffe June 1951. The Hollandia was invented by Mr H.W. Wood Stone and bitumen were mixed together and laid on the prepared road base. A roller then compacted the surface to create a road known as a macadam road.

Redcliffe Road under construction

On 1 February 1951, the Main Roads Commission became the Main Roads Department.

Front entrance, of the Main Roads Department Building in Albert Street Brisbane

Main Roads truck carrying Main Roads display for May Day procession

Queensland Number plates were first introduced in 1921. The classic Q Plates featured a bold black Q, with white numerals on a black background. The black and white plates were simple, striking and most importantly- standardised.

Embossed plates were released in 1955. Combinations were now available in a 3-letter, 3-number format. As plates rolled off the assembly line, combinations needed more diversification due to demand. 1955 also brought the introduction of the diamond separator, a subtle addition to any ‘50s housewife’s Cadillac.

Issue of first alpha numerical number plate (1955) Left to Right: Mr. Leo. J. Feenaghty (Secretary of Main Roads), others unknown.

During the 1950s, droving began to disappear with the competition of the new road trains. The state government developed a plan to provide roads for transporting cattle between the breeding and fattening areas of the state, and for the quicker transport of fat cattle from the fattening areas to the railhead and the export meat-works along the eastern seaboard.

Beef train on Landsborough Highway between Longreach and Winton

The Main Roads Department was one of the biggest employers in small country towns and played an important economic and social role.

Main Roads Department camp just outside of Ipswich

Johnnie Lawlor, day labour owner truck driver. Arthur Hartwig is driver of diesel bulldozer (Mt Whitestone)

Highway between Cairns and Port Douglas showing washouts as a result of cyclonic disturbance. Like all nature disaster events, Main Roads prioritised the reconstruction of damaged roads and transport routes.

previous decade

next decade