Rocky rocks! Thank you to our hosts, Rockhampton Regional Council for providing an exceptional venue – the Heritage Village – for our 2019 CQ Branch Conference. 165 delegates – a record for a CQ Branch conference – joined us for a memorable program.

The Best Paper award was won by Dan Toon, Livingstone Shire Council who delivered a presentation on the Scenic Highway, Statue Bay – Cyclone Marcia Reconstruction Project. Other papers in the running for the award included: Colin Strydom (design+architecture) for the Mt Archer Elevated Boardwalk and a presentation on the South Rockhampton Flood Levee by Andrew Collins (Rockhampton Regional Council) and Ben McMaster (AECOM).

A finalist for the 2018 Futures Challenge, Lindsay Stafford, who is now employed with AECOM delivered a presentation on her reflections as a graduate engineer. Lindsay’s presentation and similar presentations delivered at other branch conferences will soon be accessible in a new Community in the IPWEAQ Knowledge Centre specifically for our younger professionals.  

The conference social program was also exceptional commencing with barefoot bowls at the Rockhampton Bowls Club on Wednesday night. However the highlight was the Cardno-sponsored pre-dinner drinks at the Great Western Hotel – a typical, historical old Rockhampton pub – followed by a Dinner Rodeo sponsored by Dileigh Consulting Engineers. This is a night we will well remember.

We also hosted the inaugural Alumni dinner – a special dinner for our retired and Emeritus members and their wives and partners. The Alumni then joined us for the rodeo.

A huge thank you to our overall conference sponsor, AECOM and other event sponsors: GHD, McMurtrie, Premise and Shepherd: asset management solutions (formerly Shepherd Services).

Our Tech Tour this year was quite unique with a tour of the Rockhampton Heritage Village, a township museum showcasing the rich, colourful history of the Rockhampton distract from 1850-1950.

And golf returned with 12 players teeing off Friday afternoon at the Yeppoon Golf Club.

$1,215 was raised for the President’s Charity – thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets, played bowls and golf, and incurred fines for errant phones. And thank you to our exhibitors for donating prizes for our MSQ raffle.

IPWEAQ members will be able to access all presentations from the 2019 CQ Branch Conference in IPWEAQ's globally recognised Knowledge Centre.

We look forward to seeing you again in October at the IPWEAQ Annual Conference in Brisbane!



Celisa Faulkner

CQ Branch President