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Thiess BrothersPrint Page 
The monument commemorates the contribution of the Theiss brothers (Bert and Leslie) to Australian earthmoving and construction.
Heifer Creek is reputed to have been the turning point where the Thiess brothers changed from a small group of contractors doing mainly rural work such as farm dams and rural roads for local councils, to a group dedicated to infrastructure projects of all sizes.
The Heifer Creek cut is 35 metres deep and was claimed to be the deepest cutting in Australia in 1939. Originally designed to be a tunnel through sandstone, the brothers argued that a cut would be much more economical and convinced the powers that be by submitting price of £4000 less than the tunnel price. This won the day.
At this time, Bert and Leslie Thiess joined in the formation of Thiess Bros which had just bought its first and biggest bulldozer, a brand new Cat D8 known as Gertie.
Location
| Address: | Gatton-Clifton Road, Heifer Creek Campground, Crossing No. 2, Fordsdale, 4343 |
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| State: | QLD |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -27.749056 Long: 152.089674 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Industry |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Saturday 27th May, 2006 |
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Thiess Memorial
Thiess Memorial
This memorial is a tribute to the Thiess family from Drayton, Queensland. The work ethic and pioneering spirit demonstrated by these brothers and their wives contributed to a very large part of the early development of the state of Queensland.
Governing Director of Thiess Bros P/L Les - (later Sir Leslie) is owed a large share of credit for winning Queensland coal and marketing it to the world.
The construction industry as a whole was the beneficiary of the combined vision, mechanical genius and organisational ability of this exceptionally talented family of machinery men.
The significance of this site for their memorial is that the first major job of earthworks the brothers ever did is the big sandstone cutting 7 kilometres northeast of this point "The Heifer Creek Cutting". This task was completed in six months using a Caterpillar D8 (8R model), two air operated jack hammers and a Caterpiller D4.
