East Water Tower, part of the 1902 Bundaberg Waterworks is now an Engineering Heritage Landmark
In the spirit of national reconciliation, I acknowledge Australia's indigenous peoples and notably, the Gurang Gurang people, who lived in this region before European settlement and whose descendants retain a special connection with its fertile lands and waters.
It is with considerable pleasure that I join you today in Bundaberg for this special ceremony to confer a new status on this very familiar landmark - the East Water Tower, part of the 1902 Bundaberg Waterworks. As Queensland's Governor, this is the third such ceremony I have attended in our State in the past nine months, linked to Engineers Australia's imaginative Engineering Heritage program to recognise exceptional engineering works across Australia.
The program is very exacting in its requirements - recognition is not easily conferred - and from the outset I thank and congratulate those who took on the task, who completed the detailed work involved in putting the nomination submission together: former Bundaberg City Council Engineer and Engineers Australia - Local Burnett Group Member, Mr Geoff Bullpit and Mr Aaron Kelly of the Bundaberg Regional Council. I read the submission in its entirety and, as a layman, albeit one with a keen interest in our Queensland history and heritage, I found it not only fascinating but highly persuasive - as obviously did the expert members of the Heritage panel.
It is interesting that all three of the ceremonies I have attended to date have celebrated engineering feats relating to water: systems to store it and mitigate flooding (the Somerset Dam); means of crossing it (the Burdekin Bridge); and now, with the Bundaberg Waterworks and its East Tower, systems to distribute it.
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