In this Issue :
 

1. From President's Desk
 

2. Editorial
 

3. Queensland Economic and Industry Outlook
 

4. Burdekin River Bridge Rehabilitation Project
 

5. Chapter Events
 

 

7. New Safety Legislation - Queensland
 

8. IESL News

9. Queensland Engineers Showcase

10. Send us feedback
 

1. From President's Desk

TOWARDS A FUTURE WITH SOLIDARITY AND BENEFICIAL  ENGAGEMENT

It is just over a year since establishing an IESL Chapter in Queensland. The focus of the Chapter in the last year (2017) was to establish a proper governance structure & a funding base, driving the membership, setting up a framework for a newsletter and releasing the first few issues and delivering CPD activities for the benefit of the engineering community living in Queensland.

It is a pleasure to share with you that we have established five dedicated sub committees that have delivered the following outcomes in 2017 along our path of progress to the future.

 

   
                                                                                                                                        

Compared with 2017 the beginning of 2018 for Queensland seems to herald an increased level of confidence in growth and engineering employment generation in several sectors. Some resurgence in global commodity prices of mining products is already having a positive impact in the north of the state and the trend is likely to continue.
2018 also signals the end of the major investment cycle for the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) business in Qld that commenced in 2012. The production facilities and export infrastructure in Central Queensland will reach full operational capacity this year.

http://statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/industry-development/industry-roadmaps.html
 

The engineering and affiliated technical recruitment market has also evidenced some buoyancy in the fourth quarter of 2017 indicative of trends that are likely to continue into the early months of 2018

https://www.australiawide.com.au/blog/technical-engineering-recruitment-market-commentary-october-2017/
 

The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games to be held in April – is perhaps the most significant event in the Queensland calendar for 2018 showcasing the state to the world. The engineering fraternity has been heavily involved in the planning and construction of the facility and transport infrastructure and continue to play a significant role in the successful staging of this event.

https://www.gc2018.com/
 

Some resources to enable our members gain more specific insight into the 2018 outlook in the Infrastructure, Energy and Resources sectors are provided in section 3 below.
In future newsletters we intend to showcase and serialise major industrial hubs and townships of this vast state. Members who currently work in or have previously worked possessing good knowledge of the current activities and demography of these centres are cordially invited to contribute.
Please await a separate invitation on this request

This year we anticipate active participation of the general membership in the conduct of the Chapter’s business inclusive of the publication of the Newsletter.

More communications will be issued as the Management Committee discusses and establishes a road map for 2018 activities indicating how you can participate.

In the meanwhile, please feel free to send in any of your feedback including innovative suggestions, constructive criticism and timely and novel ideas to improve the conduct of the Chapter’s business in 2018.

 

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All Professions are conspiracies against the laity.
George Bernard Shaw - English Philosopher

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4. Burdekin River Bridge Rehabilitation Project by Semba Jayaratne

 

Burdekin River Bridge built in 1947 at a cost of AUD $6m is a vital and indispensable piece of transport infrastructure in North Qld linking the townships of Home Hill & Ayr (south of Townsville) on the Bruce Highway and is currently the longest operational public bridge in Australia.

Approximately 1km in length and carrying single lane dual  motor carriage ways  a single railway track  and a pedestrian walk way over its ten spans the construction of this high level dual-purpose steel truss bridge was a unique feat of engineering innovation of its time that utilised unorthodox procurement and construction strategies to overcome the challenges of the post World War II and Korean War periods.

Jointly owned by the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail the Bridge has been sustained in operation by a maintenance contract awarded to RoadTek,  the internal commercial unit of Main Roads from 1991. The most recent major rehabilitation work under this contract is due for completion in 2018 using innovative and cost effective reinforcement and painting techniques in adherence to current environmental regulations.
 
One of our members Semba Jayaratna a Senior Engineer and Construction Manager of Road Tek based in Townsville has significant involvement in the current and past rehabilitation works.

Please read on for an interesting summary he has provided on the state-of-the-art project management techniques and construction methodologies adopted in overcoming the unique challenges of this critical project of vital significance to the North Queensland economy. Read more...

 

 
The more you know – more you come to know – how little you know - Aristotle

5. Chapter Events
 

5.1 Last CPD event - Medical Diagnosis through Smart Phone Applications
 

 

The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) Queensland Chapter conducted its second Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Activity on 24^th September 2017 at the Brisbane City Council (BCC) library meeting room, Mount Ommaney.  The presenter was Dr. Udantha Abeyratne - an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, who currently serves as the Director of the Master of Engineering Science programs.  He presented drawing from two decades of experience covering academic research from ideation to commercial development of mobile and accessible technologies for the diagnosis of sleep and respiratory diseases. This was a very interesting presentation as he demonstrated how the mobile phone revolution has provided the mankind with an unprecedented opportunity to solve tough medical problems affecting every corner of the globe - from remote African villages to the urban centres of the developed world. The event was attended by 20 Engineers and was an immense success eliciting a lively discussion among the participants. The Management Committee of the Chapter takes this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the event, 4EB Sri Lankan Radio Group for media coverage and BCC for their continued support.

 

 

5.3 Raffle Draw Report – Oct 2017  

	Prize	Sponsor	Winning Ticket	Winner
1st Prize	$ 500 Flight Centre Travel Gift voucher	Kasina Consultants, Brisbane	328	Winner from Toowoomba
2nd Prize	$250 Coles - Myers Gift Voucher	Stela Reality, Wishart	161	Winner from Brisbane
3rd Prize	$150 Motor Car Service Gift Voucher	SSR Mechanical Coopers Plain	051	Winner from Parkinson
4th Prize	$100 Office Works Gift Voucher	Probity Investments, Milton	122	Winner from Bardon
5th Prize	$50 Dinner for Two Gift Voucher	Fire and Spice Restaurant, Coorparoo	301	Winner from Rockhampton

Abdul Ziyath
Chair – Social Sub Committee
 

The post-colonial period of development in Sri Lanka is hallmarked with several eminent engineering personalities who rank foremost in their respective fields for the indelible impressions they have left behind in history.

These great citizens are remembered and respected not only for their engineering prowess and innovative capabilities but for the visionaries they were in forging pathways suited to the post-colonial times for the development of the country utilizing local resources and manpower. Their professional lives are also often characterized by the unorthodox styles of leadership they displayed in achieving difficult goals.

Some of them excelled at national policy level too commanding respect from the governments of their times for their robust, practical and progressive thinking and vision devoid of political biases.

One such personality we feature today is the eminent former general manager of Sri Lankan Railways (CGR – Ceylon Government Railways) Mr. B.D. Rampala whose name is synonymous with the institution that reached the pinnacle of its service efficiency as the essential transport service of the country during his tenure.

Those members that have spent time at CGR at some point in their past career would remember the many interesting and inspiring and amusing anecdotes that the employees used to narrate about the “Rampala Times”.

The following commemorative excerpts from his biography are reproduced below by courtesy of the   Daily Mirror newspaper of Sri Lanka.
 
http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/The-glorious-Mr-Railway-Remembering-Rampala-140358.html 
 
Editor’s Comment:
  
In future issues we intend to serialise the achievements of more of the pioneering engineering personalities of Sri Lanka of yester year - such as Ms Wimalasurendra (Hydropower), Kulasinghe (Structural Engineering), Prof. Evans Hardy (Engineering Education), Rajagopal (Railways), Ponraja (Irrigation) and more. Expressions of interest are invited from those in the membership who can write about any of them with authenticity for publication in future issues.

 

• http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2017/10/12/new-industrial-manslaughter-laws-to-protect-queenslanders-on-the-job
• https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/forms-and-resources/newsletter/esafe-newsletters/esafe-editions/esafe/october-2017/new-industrial-manslaughter-laws-to-protect-queenslanders

8. IESL News
 

A new council has been elected in Colombo Oct 2017

Please refer to the website for an update on other activities
http://www.iesl.lk/

9. Queensland Engineers Showcase
 

Nihal Palipane, one of our members and a Brisbane City Council Senior Engineer has developed a much-needed low cost, long lasting seal surfacing for council roads and has won the Lord Mayor’s award for his work.  The picture shows Nihal receiving the Lord Mayor’s award. 

Nihal has contributed significantly to this research work and the new surfacing is now been used in the maintenance of council roads. A paper on this work was presented to an international conference held in Melbourne last October. You are free to contact Nihal (palipane@tpg.com.au) if you are interested to know more about the technical details of his work.

We congratulate Nihal on this noteworthy achievement.

Derrick P Fernando
A Member of the Editorial Board

10. Send us your feedback
 

We will appreciate your feedback on the content and format of the newsletter for future improvements of this newsletter. Please email your feedback to info@ieslqld.org