Timeline: Roadburner - giant road-building machine

This gigantic machine was truly one of Australia's great examples of innovation and the old fashioned attitude of "don't just talk about it ... do it". The roadburner literally burnt the black soil to create a ceramic surface about five inches thick and was used for road making in the eastern Darling Downs. Prior to the advent of four-wheel drive vehicles, it was virtually impossible to travel on the black soil in the wet.

 

Two views of the Roadburner.

The roadburner created an all-weather surface that actually proved successful until excessively heavy vehicles eventually cracked the surface by driving over it in wet conditions. As you may know black soil moves, so those small cracks let in water, until the surface finally broke into large chunks, making the road dangerous and impassable.

There are several schools of thought as to the effectiveness of the burning process, but locals who remember the roads built by the roadburner report the surface as being, a "beautiful smooth finish that was a joy to drive on". One section between Brookstead and Cecil Plains (South Eastern Darling Downs) was known for many years as the Red Road. Herein lies a clue to the process of burning the black soil. When extreme heat of a specific temperature is applied to this soil type, the texture changes to take on a ceramic appearance similar in structure to pottery. In fact it changes the colour to a reddy pink, hence the name "Red Road".

In the mid 20s, there was world-wide interest in developing a system of soil modification that would solve road building problems, particularly in black soil regions. The Americans, Russians and even New Zealanders were actively competing to patent the ultimate mechanism. The Americans had developed a static furnace that burnt the soil which was then laid out on logs placed on the road surface. A bituminous material was applied over the soil. The logs then ignited, and aided by the added fuel, temperatures were achieved to transform the soil.

Mr Irvine from Sydney University took this process to the next stage when he patented the Irvine Travelling Furnace in 1927. Production began on what were to become the only two roadburners ever to be made in the world.

Our machine was transported by ship to Brisbane in 1932, did trials between Grantham and Gatton and then moved into the Darling Downs. It finished work before World War II and was never fired up again. It lay silent in the one position for 63 years, until it was moved to the Jondaryan Woolshed in May 1999.

This is a brief precis of a much longer and fascinating story. We believe the real story lies behind the fact that there were no models, no prototypes and few drawings. Production of the two machines began immediately the patent was registered. And who paid for the manufacture is unknown.

The Jondaryan Woolshed Association wishes to thank Mr. Ted Porter and Mr. Max Skeene for their generous donation of this internationally unique monster.