Toowoomba Silos Brosgate

The Brosgate silos were demolished by implosion on 1st March 2009 to make way for the new Mitre 10 Hardware store in Toowoomba. The twin 34 metre wheat silos were built in 1974 by Hodge Construction with Mr John Thompson (local resident) supervising their construction. Southern Cross met John during our demolition works and shared his stories of the construction. The twin silos had to be built in four days and it required 36 men performing 12 hour shifts to achieve the target. Every minute counted and even a billy was send up to the workers by crane, so they could have their smoko up on the deck. John had some fond memories of building the old silos and so it would be only right to offer John it he wanted to push the button to bring them down. John was overwhelmed with the offer, not only had he build them but now was now going to demolish them.

As the preparation works continued for the silo’s implosion, Southern Cross now had to work with local authorities and the local business to prepare for the blast. A 250m exclusion was required for the implosion and this put 89 businesses within this exclusion zone that would need to be evacuated. To overcome this, Southern Cross discussed with the local authorities about performing the implosion in the early hours of a Sunday morning which would significantly reduce the amount of people that would need to be evacuated and avoid disruption to local business. This was a positive outcome for local community.

After all preparation works had been completed and our exclusion zone was in place, Mr Thompson stood at the helm and waited for the final warning siren to end. Silence fell and then the announcement come over to radio to fire, in one push of the button, John brought the 34 metre silo down to ground level. A day that John will long remember and a new story for him to reminisce.