Our Story
George Bourne & Associates is a Civil Engineering firm in Barcaldine Western Queensland. The firm was established in 1945 by Mr Clem and Nick Wilson under the name of CH Wilson and Partners. In 1968, the Wilson family left Barcaldine and sold their shares in the firm to George Bourne. George later changed the business name to George Bourne & Associates.
The practice burgeoned as governments, especially local governments, gradually accepted greater responsibilities for the provision of better infrastructure and amenities to enhance life in the outback. The professional engineering services that the firm provided helped make possible the development of roads, water supplies, sewerage, subdivisions, buildings and more that contributed to making life better in the outback.
When George Bourne died suddenly in 1981, Kevin Kerr who had been with the firm since 1969 became the senior partner. He formed a partnership with George’s son Simon Bourne who returned to Barcaldine following his father’s death. Graeme Wills, Keith Luckhurst and more recently Michael Donald have taken on the partnership role with Simon. Kevin Kerr retired in 2006.
Since our inception, particularly in the last ten years, we have grown to provide a service to regional, rural and remote local authorities extending from the Central Highlands Regional Council in Emerald through to the border Shire Councils such as Bulloo (Thargomindah), Diamantina (Birdsville and Bedourie), Boulia and Cloncurry in the north west of the state.
During the past 64 years of continuous operations, our firm has amassed a vast array of experience in providing and managing civil infrastructure services throughout Central and Western Queensland. Our engineers use our fleet of 4 light aircraft and 6 motor vehicles to travel to and from our job sites spread across 35% of the land mass of Queensland. Given the vast area that we cover in our practice, the team at GBA is very attuned to being resourceful and creative to ensure planning and delivery of projects under difficult circumstances of extremes in remoteness and temperature variations.
With Kevin Kerr’s retirement in 2006 we believed it timely to record the history of our Western Queensland Consulting Engineering practice. The result was the publishing of “Engineering the Outback”, a wonderful read for anyone interested in life in outback Queensland shires from both a social and engineering perspective.
Buy the Book!
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"Engineering the Outback"Published in 2006. This is the history of the Western Queensland Consulting Engineers, George Bourne & Associates. Mr Clem Wilson started the firm operation in 1945 with the commitment to "provide better services and amenities in the western towns and better services to country residents". With over sixty years of operation servicing Shires throughout Central and Western Queensland, George Bourne & Associates has grown with the same commitment in mind. |
| If you would like to purchase our book please email admin@gbassoc.com.au | Special Price: $20.00 + postage & handling |
