On the first day of spring in 1961, Robert Menzies announced that the commonwealth government would provide the NSW government £2.65 million ($73 million in today's dollars) to upgrade coal loading facilities at Newcastle. The investment would support the then fledgling coal trade with Japan. Read more

When Australians turn on their Christmas lights this year, on average, 60 per cent of them will rely on coal to power their festive display. Read more

The vast north of our country is on track to become a dynamic centre of growth Northern Australia is an economic powerhouse. This breaks with the conventional wisdom of many who assume that northern development has failed in the past. Read more

Northern Australia is an economic powerhouse. This breaks with the conventional wisdom of many who assume that northern development has failed in the past. Read more

One of the latest things to go viral on the internet is a video of an iron train from the view of someone stuck in Port Hedland waiting for it to pass. The challenge is to count the number of wagons. It is easy to lose concentration and everyone seems to come up with a different number. For the record, I counted 236. Read more

The focus is firmly on the north, where major infrastructure works are under way The mining sector feels a little like Mark Twain at the moment -- "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". While many have announced the end of the mining boom, in many senses it actually has not ended. Read more

WHEN the Coalition announced a plan to create farming jobs in Queensland by investing in 14 dam and water projects across the State, the response from environmental groups was swift. The greenies oppose it. Read more

It has been a long-held goal of multiple governments to double Australia’s agricultural production. We can’t grow more food without water, and that means building dams so that we can store water, like money in a bank. Read more

IT HAS been a long-held goal of multiple governments to double Australia's agricultural production. We can't grow more food without water, and that means building dams so that we can store water, like money in a bank. Read more

There is a story that does the rounds on Townsville, that at the end of World War II, the US Army suggested it could blow up Castle Hill and use the rock to build a causeway to Magnetic Island. While painfully jogging up that "hill" the other morning, I wished they had done it, or at least removed the top half. It is amazing what can be done at a time of crisis. At the time of war, the Bruce Highway was the only major road south from north Queensland - making it particularly vulnerable if a quick escape was required. So the US Army did something about it and built an inland route from Cairns to the south; that road still exists today: the Hann Highway.  Read more