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Australia is a clever country and for such a young country we can proudly lay claim to some pretty remarkable engineering successes of our own. From planes, trains and automobiles and much more…

Sydney Harbour Bridge
Gateway Bridge
Sydney Harbour Tunnel
Tilt Train
Burdekin Dam
Kuranda Scenic Railway
Zig Zag Railway
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
Snowy Mountain Scheme
Tallest Building
Longest Road Tunnels
Longest Road Network

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Australia’s best known landmarks and the world’s largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge – the top of the bridge stands 134 metres above the harbour. Fondly known by locals as the 'Coathanger', the bridge was officially opened in 1932.

Gateway Bridge [TOP]

Twenty years ago 100,000 people walked across the Gateway Bridge, which spans the Brisbane River linking the cities eastern suburbs, to celebrate its opening. At the time the bridge was heralded as a great engineering triumph and a reflection of the river city's progress. In 1986, the Gateway Bridge boasted the longest cantilevered box girder main span in the world, measuring 260 metres from end to end. More than 100,000 vehicles currently travel across the bridge daily - a far cry from the 12,500 vehicles that used it when it opened.

Sydney Harbour Tunnel [TOP]

The Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened in 1992, was developed as the most effective, economic and environmental solution to cope with ever increasing harbour traffic problems. Constructed at a cost of A$554 million, it carries around 75,000 vehicles a day. The Tunnel is a 2.3km long, four-lane eastern-city bypass that took over 4.5 years to build and is strong enough to withstand the impact of eathquakes and sinking ships.

Tilt Train [TOP]

QR's high-speed Tilt Train connects visitors to major tourist destinations from South East to Central Queensland. As the fastest train in Australia, the Tilt Train travels at speeds of up to 160km per hour. Trains that tilt can go up to 25% to 40% faster around curves than conventional trains without upsetting the passengers, a factor that can significantly increase average speeds and cut journey times. To make it tilt, the bogie acts a fulcrum in the centre, so the carriage is free to tilt either side. Pistons control how much the carriage tilts, and are in turn controlled by a small computer, which uses a spirit level.

Burdekin Dam [TOP]

If the lifeblood of the Burdekin is water, then the Burdekin Falls Dam is the heart that pumps the blood. Located west of Ayr, the dam was finished in 1987 and is the largest in Queensland. It controls the flow of water down the river and when full, has four times the amount of water in Sydney Harbor. The dam wall is 876 meters long with a 504-metre spillway, which drops 37 metres to the riverbed. It's a spectacular sight when water is gushing over the spillway and happens regularly, especially during wet season.

Kuranda Scenic Railway[TOP]

The original Kuranda Scenic Railway is a spectacular journey comprising unsurpassed views of World Heritage Listed rainforest, steep ravines and picturesque waterfalls within the Barron Gorge National Park. Constructed between 1882 and 1891 this amazing engineering feat stands as a monument to the pioneers of tropical North Queensland. Hundreds of men were employed to build the 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges that rise from sea level to 328 metres.

Zig Zag Railway [TOP]

The Lithgow Zig Zag was the second of two zig zags (switch-backs) constructed to carry the Western Railway over the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Opened in 1869, it was by-passed in 1910 by a series of 10 tunnels, but in the 1980's was re-opened by a railway preservation group. The zig zag attracted a great deal of attention both in Australia and overseas and it is said that, with two or three exceptions, the work was without parallel in the world. Its construction was so hazardous that in some places, surveyors being suspended by ropes from the cliff-tops. Two blasts were carried out, with great publicity and ceremony, to remove some 85,000 tons of rock. The zig zag has a gradient of 1 in 42, and the descent from Clarence Tunnel to the valley floor is 156 metres.

Australian Overland Telegraph Line [TOP]

The project proved to be an epic 2 years of construction teams struggling with shortages of food and essentials, battling the harsh conditions of the arid centre and the tropical north, and even facing the menace of hostile natives in some parts. One unanticipated difficulty was white ants eating the wooden poles, which required iron poles to be imported from Great Britain. Some men lost their lives, others their health, others gave up and deserted – so it’s fair to say the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line was an heroic achievement. Completed on 22nd August 1872 with an almost 2,000-mile strand of wire (2900 kilometres) on 36,000 poles at the then staggering cost of 300,000 Pounds – the line required 11 repeater stations along the route to relay the traffic, each station staffed by two telegraphists and four linesmen.

Snowy Mountains Scheme [TOP]

The Snowy Mountains (Australia) Hydro-Electric Scheme, far and away the largest engineering project in Australia’s history, began in 1949 and was 25 years in construction. Its goal was not only to generate hydro-electricity, but to irrigate Australia’s arid interior for food production. But it also succeeded in changing Australia’s culture. Over 100,000 workers, displaced after World War II and from more than 30 countries, were brought in during the course of the scheme – the beginnings of Australia’s multi-culturalism. The men who gave so much to building the scheme (sometimes their lives as more than 120 people died during construction) weren’t thought of as being of one nationality or another – they were referred to as “men of the Snowy".

Tallest Building [TOP]

Melbourne is definitely a city that aspires to great heights! The city has an impressive history of tall buildings which has included many of the world's first skyscrapers in the late 19th Century - the city once had the world's 3rd tallest skyscraper in the Australian Building 1889 (demolished in the 1980s). Today, Melbourne is home to 5 out of the 10 tallest buildings in Australia, and Australia's tallest since 1980 in the Rialto (as well as the title of tallest in the southern hemisphere). More recently, the Eureka Tower is set to retain that title for many years to come, and gain a new title as the world's tallest residential tower.

Longest Road Tunnels [TOP]

The M5 East is a 10-kilometre, 4 lane freeway in Sydney that cost $794 million to build. Known as a ‘smart road’, the M5 East comes with a range of hi-tech features including special sensors, intelligent lighting and ventilation systems that automatically adjust to suit conditions, and all managed from a start-of-the-art control centre. A key feature of the M5 East is Australia's longest road tunnels - twin 4 km, two-lane tunnels and a 550 metre tunnel that passes under the Cooks River. Sydney's road tunnels are built to strict safety standards. To minimise the risk to motorists in the unlikely event of a serious incident, the M5 East includes safety features such as emergency passages and barriers, electronic message signs, radio broadcast facilities, deluge sprays, fire extinguishers and emergency phones.

Longest Road Network [TOP]

Australia’s road network is the 7th longest in the world – a total of 913,000 kilometres. Local roads comprise 85% by length of Australia's total road network and have an estimated value of about $75 billion.