Acacia Ridge
1966 - 1984
In 1954, it had become obvious that the Wickham Street site was too small for good operating and higher volumes, as the 1.57 acre area just did not allow sufficient space for parking finished stock. So, a 153 acre block was purchased at Strathpine, to provide immediate relief for body and vehicle storage, and to build a new Plant at some time in the future.
However, in early 1964, GM announced a new expansion program, including:
”The largest expenditure of the Holden's program will be $16.3 million for a new assembly plant on a 160-acre tract at Acacia Ridge nine miles south of Brisbane.
The new location acknowledges the rapid suburban development south of Brisbane where three new housing developments ranging in size from 20,000 to 50,000 homes will assure a convenient labour supply. It will also take advantage of the junction of the Standard and Narrow Gauge railroads south of Brisbane by being able to ship cars by rail over either line, without transhipping.”
Gerry Muirhead (Acacia Ridge Plant & Equipment) recalls:
The Acacia Ridge site comprising 160 acres (half a mile square) was acquired circa 1963 for I believe 160,000 Pounds. From memory, the project cost to build the Acacia Ridge Plant was about 14 million Pounds. Earth works started about Easter 1964.
The Plant & Equipment Engineer (Duncan McCullough) and the Chief Draftsman (Gordon Gillies) had been in those roles at the old Wickham St Plant. Frank Saunders who was a Body Shop specialist transferred from (Dandenong or Pagewood; I am not sure which at this late time) as a Project Mechanical Engineer. All of the other staff for the Acacia Ridge Plant & Equipment Engineering Department including John Wernham as Equipment Engineer, Tim Moreland as Project Electrical Engineer, myself as Project Mechanical Engineer, Hugh Hall, Kev Bess, Ross Hayes (and another guy I don't remember) as Draftsmen were all employed locally in Brisbane in 1964 with no previous motor vehicle experience. We were fast learners.
During Plant construction and until the new Administration Building was built, the Project Team (P&E Engineering Dept) operated out of a site office located at a high point on the site adjacent to the new Fire Tanks and Fire Pump House.
The Wickham St Plant closed in December 1965 and the Acacia Ridge Plant commenced limited production (Vehicle Assembly operations only) in January 1966 and it was a few months later that the new body shop was commissioned allowing full CKD Operations.. The new Administration Building was finished in 1967.”
People magazine of Oct/Nov 1984 reports:
“The growth of the motor industry during the 1950s and '60s saw the demand outgrow the capacity of the Wickham Street plant. Plans were set up for a new plant in Brisbane and in July, 1964, the first sod was turned and the first pile driven to start construction of the $20 million Acacia Ridge assembly plant.
On January 19, 1965, assembly operations started at Acacia Ridge with the assembly of HD Holdens.
The plant boasted features new to GMH - the roofed railway warehouse area which runs down the centre of the plant and the roller testing booth were firsts for GMH.
When opened, the Acacia Ridge plant was the second new GMH assembly operation to start within a year. A year earlier, the Elizabeth assembly plant had started operation. This gave GMH four assembly operations in Australia.
The Holden Torana was released to the Australian press at Acacia Ridge in September, 1967, and production of the Gemini started in 1975. Acacia Ridge, which had a payroll of up to 1500 employees, built the Gemini (Australia's top-selling car) exclusively until 1982 when Camira was added to the assembly line for some months.
During the 1970s, Japanese manufacturers established plants in Australia with the result that the market was shared by five manufacturers.
GMH facilities, with their capacity to produce 1000 car sets a day, were no longer financially viable and GMH was been forced to consolidate assembly operations closer to the fabricating plants.”
GMH retained a presence in Queensland until Acacia Ridge finalised assembly at the end of October, 1984.
This page is divided into four sections (use links below):
| Year | Description | Link |
| c1977 | Welcome to GMH Acacia Ridge |
| Year | Description | Link |
| Main Dates in Acacia Ridge history | ||
| Year/s | Content | Link |
| c1967 | Acacia Ridge Aerial view - named buildings | JPG |
| c1967 | Aerial view from side | JPG |
| c1967 | Acacia Ridge Aerial view from rear | JPG |
| 1971 | Aerial view | JPG |
Photographs (mainly courtesy Hugh Hall and Gerry Muirhead):
| Date | Description | Link |
| 1964 | Acacia Ridge Plant and Equipment Engineering Dept Staff | JPG |
| 1964 April | Location Map of Qld Plants, showing proximity to Railway lines | JPG |
| 1964 April | General Motors World on GMH expansion plans, including Acacia Ridge | JPG |
| 1964 July | Dignitaries at the turning of the First Sod ceremony | JPG |
| 1964 Sep 30 | First steel erected, at South corner of the CKD building | JPG |
| 1964 Dec 02 | Rail Cutting from North end | JPG |
| 1964 Dec 30 | View of CKD building construction, looking North West | JPG |
| 1964 Dec 31 | CKD Building, looking South West from Boiler House site | JPG |
| 1964 Dec 31 | Rail Cutting & Warehouse steel, looking South | JPG |
| 1965 Jan 19 | First day of production, HD Holdens coming offline | JPG |
| 1965 Mar 01 | Rail Cutting taking shape | JPG |
| 1965 Mar 08 | The President of GM, John F. Gordon visits Acacia Ridge Plant construction | JPG |
| 1965 May 31 | Front Suspension, Wheel & Tyre, Bedford assembly area | JPG |
| 1965 Aug 31 | First Colour Booth, looking South | JPG |
| 1965 Aug 31 | Small Parts Paint Shop, Black Dip Paint area in foreground | JPG |
| 1965 Oct 30 | View of Vehicle Assembly areas with Touch-up and Ovens on right | JPG |
| 1965 December | Vehicle Assembly area with Small Parts Paint shop | JPG |
| 1965 December | Vehicle Assembly Shop CKD Plant, with stored vehicles from Valley Plant | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler House 2 - 1,000,000 BTU/Hr | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler House framing; Cascade condensers on the upper level of Boiler House | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler house High Pressure Hot Water pumping area | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler house - outside welder cooling water pumps | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler house - services distribution area | JPG |
| 1965 | Boiler House - High Pressure Hot Water Distribution Pipework | JPG |
| 1965 | North end of Body shop. Body-in-white conveyor heading towards Paint Shop | JPG |
| 1965 | North Face of building, with Acetylene building & Maintenance Garage | JPG |
| 1965 | Overview of plant from top of a fire water tank | JPG |
| 1965 | Trade waste and Sewerage treatment plant | JPG |
| 1965 | Welder Cooling Water | JPG |
| 1966 Mar 31 | CKD Body Assembly area | JPG |
| 1966 Mar 31 | CKD plant with Guard House in foreground | JPG |
| 1966 Jun 30 | Administration and canteen building erection | JPG |
| 1966 Sep 30 | Administration and canteen building erection | JPG |
| 1966 Dec 30 | Administration and canteen building erection | JPG |
| 1980 Oct | 1st Queensland built Commodore | JPG |
| 1981 Mar | First Diesel Gemini rolls offline | JPG |
| 1984 Oct | Last day! Last cars. | JPG |
| 1984 Oct | Last day! Employee group | JPG |
| Chemtrans lease part of the old Acacia Ridge site | JPG | |