Gladstone History Timeline

1845    William Ewart Gladstone – named Gladstone “Port Curtis”

1860    Customs House built

1864    First school built

1880    Gladstone Observer& Port Curtis Advertiser begun publication

1885    Gladstone’s first wharf built

1896    Gladstone Meat Works opned its doors – Gladstone depended on Swifts meatworks for employment up until

the 1960’s

1897    Wharf connected to Brisbane by rail

1901    Census shows Gladstone/Calliope district has 3007 people

(Photo Caption – Right: General View of Gladstone and main street – 1901)

1906    Port Curtis Dairy Cooperative commenced

1929    Goondoon and Auckland Streets received first bit of bitumen road

1950    Gladstone population 5000

1960    Gladstone population 7288  (Photo Caption – Below: Goondoon Street 1960’s)

1961    Gladstone remained relatively small port serving the local cattle industry until the export of coal from the Moura fields resulted in a huge increase in both population and port activity

1962    Swifts Meatworks shut down

1963    Calliope shire population is 3500

1963    Queensland Alumina Refinery (QAL) announced, creating an atmosphere of hope and excitement, Gladstone was not prepared     for what was to come (peak workforce 2800)

1964– 1967  QAL Stage 1 Construction –  In the next five years Gladstone’s population nearly doubled with construction workers and their families. Local infrastructure could not keep up with the rapid growth and many social problems arose due to living conditions and soaring prices

1967    Production at refinery began & by 1973 two expansions had made it the largest alumina refinery in the world

1967    First phase of Gladstone Power Station commissioned and eventually generated over half of Qld’s power supply

1970’s Gladstone reached a situation were one in four people lived in a caravan park, the local Council has to introduce by-laws to allow temporary accommodation in the local showgrounds, while the Boles Street caravan park has 1250 people living almost on top of one another.

1979    In December, Gladstone’s population is 26,250

1980Ray White Gladstone commenced (previously known as Allen’s Real Estate) – the Gladstone office was the first Ray White office franchise outside of the White family – there are now over 1000 offices worldwide

1980    Clinton coal ‘Reg Tanna’ facility developed

1981    Reports show multilevel buildings are “going up all over the place”

1982    Boyne Aluminium Smelter commenced

1990’s  The coal industry boomed, giving Gladstone another boom in property prices

1990-1994   New housing estates of Seaview Heights, Golf Course Estate and Telina are developed, becoming the most popular areas of Gladstone

1996    Third pot line of Boyne Smelter

2003    Rio Tinto announce Yarwun Alumina Refinery – thousands of people move into Gladstone

2003    An enormous hail storm hits Gladstone causing immense damage to homes. Repairs take 2 years to complete due to shortage of tradespeople

2004    Aldoga Alumina Smelter announced. Fails to proceed

2007    Rio Tinto announce Yarwun Stage 2 – thousands of construction jobs created

2008-2009  Global financial crisis – Gladstone property prices remained relatively steady

2009    Gladstone Pacific Nickel backed by Clive Palmer announces Nickel Processing Plant

2010    Boulder Steel announces plans to develop a steel plant north of Gladstone

2010    BG Group announces a 2 train LNG plant to be built on Curtis Island. For the next year Gladstone has booming property prices, with $100B worth of projects in the pipeline

2010    Origin Energy and Santos announce LNG facilities (Photo Caption: Curtis Island LNG Construction Sites, 2012)

2011    Wiggins Island Coal Terminal begins construction

Dec 2011  Sixty workers have moved into a workers camp on the QGC Curtis Island LNG project. GLNG plans to move fifty workers in by late January. By late March it will house about 288 workers. GLNG’s camp will have a final capacity of about 2100.

Oct 2013  The all new Gladstone Entertainment and Convention Centre opens its doors

Dec 2013 Completions of hundreds of new high rise complex apartments

Dec 2013  Gladstone has received a boost of confidence with the Federal Government announcing environmental approval for the multi-billion dollar Arrow Energy LNG facility. A final investment decision for the construction of the plant is expected in the first half of 2014.