Early Days
The Ekibin Quarry is located on land originally acquired by Thomas Blacket Stephens; a businessman, politician and early pioneer of Brisbane. Between 1857 and 1858 Stephens purchased over 194 acres (78.5 hectares) of land on the border of the Bulimba and Yeerongpilly parishes and established a wool scouring and fellmongery business near Ekibin Creek.
The name 'Ekibin' comes from a local Aboriginal word (‘Yee-keb-in', originally Anglicised as 'Ekkibon') reported to mean 'good eating place', specifically referring to vegetation in the creek. This name was somewhat inappropriately adopted as a trademark for the fellmongery business, which involved treating sheepskins for tanning.
The Ekibin name was later extended to the locality, while the local shire, was probably named in honour of Stephens and his family.
Community Use/Rifle Range
Stephens soon added a farming enterprise to the tannery works, which was leased after his death. The Stephens family retained the land which was used for various community facilities, including:
- parkland,
- sports fields,
- a sanitation depot, and
- a rifle range, which opened in 1889
The rifle range was used primarily by private patrons and clubs, hosting shooting competitions through the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rounds that missed the targets would land in surrounding bushland or Stephens Mountain behind the range.
Quarrying
The Ekibin Quarry lies within the Neranleigh-Fernvale beds which is predominant over the south-west of Brisbane. It consists of a metamorphic rock relatively high in quartz and clay minerals showing significant laminations formed from intense movement. The rocks have properties considered suitable for a medium or lower specification roadbase or hardstand engineering fill which was used extensively around Brisbane in the early days.
Much better quarry products are available these days such as hornfels of Mt Coot-tha and Ferny Grove and beyond.
The Stephens' holding appears to have been quarried for road surfacing material from as early as the mid-1880s. However, unlike some of the other quarries in Brisbane, it had not been established as a private company. Instead, the flood-prone land had primarily been left vacant, while the Stephens' family continued to allow its use for recreation, Chinese market gardens and, following the closure of the tannery and the rifle range, for temporary accommodation.
In the 1910s there was an increase in demand for blue metal for the construction of Brisbane's roads which led councils to seek out new reserves of the material. The Stephens Shire Council advertised tenders for cartage of material from the ‘Ekibin Quarry’, a section of the Stephens’ Estate.
The proposed subdivision and sale of the Stephens Estate prompted some newspapers to propose that the Stephens Shire Council acquire the site for recreation purposes. However when the Council eventually acquired 26 acres (10.5 hectares) of the estate, it was for the continued operation of the quarry.
WW2
When it was proposed that the adjacent vacant site be used for a military hospital in 1940, the proximity of the quarry became a concern. 'Evidently it is intended that shell-shock soldiers must not be allowed to forget their gruelling experience in the war areas’, remarked The Worker, a local newspaper of the time, 'hence this decision to add to their sufferings alongside a quarry where blasting goes on continuously.
The quarry was closed temporarily shortly afterwards due to a shortage of workers, but reopened under the control of the Allied Works Council for the duration of World War II.
The quarry works and facilities were extended in the 1940s and 1950s, including the addition of a hot asphalt plant, and small segments of the land were sold from the 1960s onwards for sanitation and electricity services.
South East Freeway
Brisbane City Council ceased quarrying operations when the quartzite was exhausted, which is believed to have beer around the late 1960s. The quarry site has remained vacant since.
Some of the quarry land was resumed in the 1970s for the construction of the South East Freeway.
Above, the quarry in 1951 and, below, the same spot in 2023
The Cache
At the posted coordinates, you will find a sign with the information above. From the sign, answer the following questions:
A = the third digit of the year Stephens died
B = the last digit minus the third digit in the year the council acquired 26 acres from the estate
C = the last digit of the year the quarry reopened under the Allied Works Council plus the first digit in the cost of the asphalt plant
D = the last digit in the year council advertised tenders for cartage
E = the third digit in the year council advertised tenders for cartage
F = the third digit in the year the local shire was established
You will find the cache a short walk away at S27 30.ABC E153 02.DEF.
Once you have calculated GZ, continue south east along the path until you reach a brick shed where you can turn left and head to GZ.If you keep your eyes open, you will spot remnants of the quarry, such as the one pictured above, along the way
On your way make sure to stop at the lookout waypoint to take in the views of Mt Coot-tha
Checksum: A + B + C + D + E + F = 27