The Canberra Engineering Heritage Committee was pleased to host its second, fully booked Engineering Heritage Bus Tour on Saturday 27 April.

The highly anticipated event took place on a beautiful sunny morning, and was attended by a gratifyingly diverse group of people on the tour – not  limited to professional or practicing engineers.

Like last year's event, the tour provided attendees with a snapshot of the Self-guided Tour as set down in the ACT Engineering Heritage Tour (City, Yarralumla andnd Northside) formal brochure. 

The Bus Tour visited five of the ten sites listed in the brochure across the City, Yarralumla and Northside, stopping at Mal Meninga Stand and Black Mountain Tower to give guests a chance to stretch their legs. A copy of the brochure was handed to each participant, which sets down a brief history and description of each site.  

Rob Breen, a long-standing member of the Canberra Engineering Heritage Committee, gave an excellent, informative and entertaining commentary throughout which included Lake Burley Griffin (a National Engineering Landmark (NEL)), and the extensions to the ANU Nuclear Physics Department as seen from the Parkway. An explanation of naval communications methods was also provided and included reference to the Transmitting Station's involvement in the Falklands war.

The commentary was supplemented by additional, much appreciated information from a participant who had been the project manager for the construction of the Mal Meninga Stand, as well as the driver who had been involved with tourism excursions to the Black Mountain Tower.

This project was supported with the funding made available by the ACT Government under the ACT Heritage Grants Program.

You can download a copy of the ACT Engineering Heritage Tour brochure here.