Somerset Dam, Stanley River
This was the first major dam in Australia designed specifically to provide flood mitigation as well as storage for urban water supply.
Somerset Dam was named to honour Henry Plantagenet Somerset, a prominent member of the Brisbane Valley community and Member for Stanley in the Queensland (QLD) Parliament from 1904 to 1920. Somerset dispatched a rider to telegraph Brisbane with advance warning of the first of the disastrous floods of February 1893, repeating the action a fortnight later to warn of the third (and second major) flood of that month.
After the severe drought of 1899-1902, Somerset actively promoted a dam at Stanley Gorge with the dual purpose of flood mitigation and water storage.
It was constructed of concrete on the Stanley River, just upstream of its inflow to the Brisbane River, between 1935 and 1953, work being curtailed during WWII.
It provided substantial unemployment relief during the 1930s depression. Soon after completion, the dam almost totally mitigated damage to Brisbane and Ipswich by the 1955 flood, and in 1974, without its major mitigation of that Brisbane River flood, the catastrophic damage bill would have almost doubled.
The oldest grid-connected hydro-electric station (4MVA) operating in Queensland utilises flow from the dam.
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Engineering Heritage Recognition Program
| Marker Type | Engineering Heritage National Landmark (EHNL) |
| Award Date | 8 June 2010 |
| Heritage Significance | |
| Nomination Document | Available here. |
| Ceremony Booklet Ceremony Report |
Not Available |
| Plaque/Interpretation Panel Image | Available here. |
References:
Speech by Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley AO Governor of Queensland
Somerset Dam Images, historic and recent, from John Oxley Library
