Somerset Dam

There is evidence to suggest that in the late 1893, Henry Plantagenet Somerset, a property owner in the Stanley River Gorge area, heard a rumbling in the river and witnessed a huge wall of water thundering down the Gorge. It suggested he sent riders to telegram a warning to the residents of Brisbane of the impending disaster that was about to strike, only to be ignored. Shortly thereafter, Brisbane’s lower areas were underwater in one of the largest floods since European settlement that washed away the Albert Bridge at Indooroopilly.

In the mid 1920’s, preliminary investigation was made into constructing a dam across the Stanley River. In 1933, the bureau of industry recommended the dam be built on the Stanley River just above its junction with the Brisbane River, between Mt. Brisbane and Little Brisbane, providing flood mitigation and water storage for Brisbane, Ipswich and the lower Valley. Government approval in 1934 saw the Stanley River Works Board formed and construction began on Somerset Township and Somerset Dam Wall. 

Due to World War II, construction was halted indefinitely until 1948 when work on the project resumed. The last of the main structure was completed in 1953 and a hydroelectric power station was commissioned. Somerset Dam was completed in 1959 after the installation of the internal machinery and floodgates and named after Henry Plangent Somerset. Some 450 workers were employed on construction while the township population grew to over 1000.