wharfs

Gladstone, city, eastern Queensland, eastern Australia, on Port Curtis, an inlet of the Coral Sea. Originally settled in 1847 as a colony by the New South Wales government, it was abandoned in 1848 but was resettled by squatters in 1853. It was named for the British chancellor of the Exchequer (later prime minister) William Ewart Gladstone and became a municipality in 1863. Source: www.britannica.com/place/Gladstone-Queensland

* Prior to the settlement of Europeans the area around Gladstone was occupied by the Gureng Gureng Aboriginal people. * The Gladstone coastline was first explored by Captain Cook in 1770. He sighted and named Bustard Head to the south of the city at Town of 1770. * In 1802 Matthew Flinders reached the area and named Port Curtis after Sir Roger Curtis, the Commandant of the Cape of Good Hope. * In 1823 John Oxley explored the coastline. * By 1856 the town had a population of 200. * The town was connected to Brisbane by rail in 1896. * By 1903 the town's population was around 1,500. * In 2011 the city's population was 32,000. * In 2015 the first shipment of liquified gas left for Asia from the Gladstone port. Source: www.aussietowns.com.au/town/gladstone-qld

The Port of Gladstone (PoG) is one of Australia’s finest natural deepwater harbours and Queensland’s largest multi-commodity port. The port has eight main wharf centres, comprising 20 wharves in total: RG Tanna Coal Terminal — four wharves owned and operated by GPC Barney Point Terminal — one wharf owned and operated by GPC Auckland Point Terminal — four wharves owned by GPC and operated by others Fisherman’s Landing — four wharves operated by multiple companies South Trees — two wharves operated by Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) Boyne Wharf — one wharf operated by Boyne Smelters Limited (BSL) Curtis Island — three wharves operated by LNG companies; Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG), Santos GLNG and Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Wiggins Island Coal Terminal — one wharf operated by Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET). Trade The port handles over 30 different products, led by coal, LNG and aluminium, in addition to cement, petroleum and timber. The port handles 42 coal types across 84 stockpile zones. The majority of coal handled at the port is coking coal, which is exported to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Italy and France for high-quality steel manufacturing. Approximately 30 per cent of the coal exported is thermal, which is used to fuel the boilers of power stations in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Israel. Source: www.gpcl.com.au/ports-and-trade/port-of-gladstone/

The Port of Gladstone’s formal history began in 1914 as the Gladstone Harbour Board. * Auckland Point was where shipping in Gladstone first began. Live horse exports were the main cargo first handled at the then-wooden Auckland Point Jetty in the mid-1930s. The jetty, complete with a cargo shed and supported on cast iron piles, was connected to the shore by a timber neck linking with an embankment 55 meters long formed by excavated material from Auckland Hill. * The approval for the construction of RGTCT (then known as Clinton Coal Facility) at a cost of $45 million was given in 1976-77 when BHP Co Ltd advised it had secured long term contracts for the sale of coking coal to Japanese steel mills. Construction began almost immediately with Stage One reaching completion in 1997-80. The first vessel to berth at the facility was the MV Iron Capricorn which sailed on 24 April 1980 with 26,196 tonnes (t) of Gregory coal on board. RGTCT was officially opened by BHP Chairman Sir James McNeill, in the presence of the then Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, on 7 May 1980. * Interest in utilizing port land at Barney Point was first expressed by Thiess Peabody Mitsui Coal Pty Ltd in the early 1960s for the purpose of exporting Moura coal. Thiess Peabody Mitsui was prepared to construct a private rail line from Moura to Gladstone and consequently, work began on constructing a wharf around the mid-1960s. * In the late 1970s, Queensland Cement Ltd expressed an interest in establishing a clinker plant at Fisherman’s Landing. Construction of the single-berth wharf cost approximately $3.7 million and work was completed during 1980-81. * South Trees In 1962-63, a consortium - Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) - announced plans to construct the largest alumina plant in the world at Gladstone. * The construction of Boyne Wharf followed the Comalco Ltd decision in 1975-76 to establish a two-potline aluminum smelter at Boyne Island. Source: web.archive.org/web/20111020165825/http://www.gpcl.com.au...