The Cairncross Dockyard was a shipyard beside the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

at Morningside,

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainl ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It included one of Australia's largest

graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

s with an 8.5 metre deep water access, capable of taking

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

vessels of up to 85,000 dwt, up to 263 metres long x 33.5 metres wide. It is second in size only to the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

's Captain Cook Graving Dock in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Construction of the dockyard began in 1942, and its graving dock opened in 1944. The dockyard closed in 2014, and the land on which it stands is to be sold for residential and commercial redevelopment.

History

The

bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in ...

in February 1942 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

created an urgent need to increase Australia's capacity to service large naval and merchant ships. The South Brisbane dockyards (built in the 1880s) were too small to accommodate many modern ships plus the construction of the

Story Bridge The Story Bridge is a heritage-listed steel cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River that carries vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the northern and the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the long ...

impacted on the access to that dockyard. A larger dockyard downstream of the Story Bridge was needed and an area near Thynne Road, Morningside on the Hamilton Reach was chosen. Although the name was to be the Brisbane Graving Dock, the site of the dockyards was on top of the riverside feature, the Cairncross Rocks, and so it acquired the name ''Cairncross''. Cairncross Rocks in turn were named after one of Brisbane's pioneer businessmen Willam Cairncross who built Colmslie House in Bulimba. The Queensland Government commenced a project to construct what became the Cairncross Dockyard in August 1942. The Commonwealth Government provided funding for the project shortly afterwards, and it became one of the Allied Works Council's highest-priority projects. The total cost of the dockyard was £1,070,470, of which the Commonwealth Government contributed £425,000 and the Queensland Government the remainder. Construction of the Brisbane Graving Dock commenced in September 1942 with workers and equipment redeployed from the

Somerset Dam The Somerset Dam is a mass concrete gravity dam with a gated spillway across the Stanley River in Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset Dam in the Somerset Region in South East Queensland. The main purpose of the dam is ...

project. The project was led by the Queensland Government's Main Roads Commission and

Department of Harbours and Marine Works Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

on behalf of the Allied Works Council. A total of 800 workers were employed on the site, with the workforce being organised into three eight hour shifts to accelerate construction. The first ship entered the dockyard on 22 June 1944. The

official history An official history is a work of history which is sponsored, authorised or endorsed by its subject. The term is most commonly used for histories which are produced for a government. The term also applies to commissions from non-state bodies includin ...

of Australia in World War II states that while the dockyard was "constructed at a remarkable rate", by the time it was ready the peak demand for ship repair facilities had passed. Nevertheless, by 31 May 1946 the graving dock had been used by 128 ships, including the British aircraft carriers and as well as large numbers of other warships and merchant vessels. The opening of the Cairncross Dockyard led to a decline in use of the smaller

South Brisbane Dry Dock South Brisbane Dry Dock is a heritage-listed dry dock at 412 Stanley Street, South Brisbane, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William David Nisbet and built from 1876 to 1887. It is also known as the Government Grav ...

, which eventually closed in 1972 and became part of the

Queensland Maritime Museum The Queensland Maritime Museum is located on the southern bank of the Brisbane River just south of the South Bank Parklands and Queensland Cultural Centre precinct of Brisbane, and close to the Goodwill Bridge. The museum was founded in 1971 an ...

. Although owned by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

, the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

controlled its use until after World War II. A major refurbishment of the dockyard occurred in the 1970s. However, frequent industrial action at the dockyard caused many large ships to be out of service far longer than needed and large ship owners became reluctant to use the dockyard. This was a major factor in the dockyard being unprofitable, leading to its closure in 1987. In August 1995, the dock was re-opened by a private consortion, the Keppel Cairnscross Shipyard Limited, who undertook a major refurbishment. In 2000 it was purchased by

Forgacs Group Forgacs Marine and Defence (Forgacs), former Forgacs Group, is a major Australian engineering and shipbuilding company. It has facilities at Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane and Gladstone. The company employs 1000 people. The Forgacs Group acquired ...

s. However, the dockyard closed again on 4 July 2014, saying there was not enough work as ship owners were deterred from using it due to the high Australian dollar and a reputation for industrial unrest and government over-regulation. In April 2016, Forgacs announced that the site with of river frontage would be sold for residential housing, although it would need to rezoned first. Forgacs attributed the sale to their contract to build destroyers coming to an end.

Engineering heritage

The graving dock received a Historic Engineering Marker from

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...

as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.

References

{{coord, -27.4485, 153.0766, type:landmark_region:AU-QLD, display=title Shipyards of Australia History of Brisbane Queensland in World War II Transport buildings and structures in Queensland Brisbane River